NOVEMBER 25: The Raptors have officially signed Baynes, according to the NBA’s transactions log. Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca has reported that the second year of the big man’s deal will technically be non-guaranteed rather than a team option.
NOVEMBER 22: Having lost Marc Gasol to the Lakers and Serge Ibaka in a signing with the Clippers, the Raptors have moved quickly to reach an agreement to sign free agent center Aron Baynes to a two-year, $14.3MM contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The second year of Baynes’s contract will be a team option, allowing the Raptors to preserve their 2021 cap flexibility, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Toronto will use a chunk of its mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Though the 33-year-old Baynes may lack the passing acumen or career accolades of the 35-year-old Gasol or the defense of the 31-year-old Ibaka, Baynes is more mobile than the former and has developed into a solid outside shooting threat in his own right. During his 2019/20 season with the Suns, Baynes connected on 35.1% of his 4.3 three-pointers per game, significant career highs as he took pains to modernize his game.
During his lone season in Phoenix, the 6’10” Baynes also set new career-best benchmarks in points and assistants, averaging 11.5 PPG and 1.6 APG in a career-most 22.2 MPG. He also averaged a solid 5.6 RPG. Baynes began his career with the Spurs, with whom he won a title as a deep bench contributor in 2014. He also had two-year stops with the Pistons and Celtics.
Baynes looks to slot in as the Raptors’ starting center, replacing Gasol. In a separate deal today, Toronto is also set to re-sign center/power forward Chris Boucher, who emerged as a consistent rotation option behind Gasol and Ibaka. Boucher may now become Baynes’s primary backup as he continues to develop.
Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this report.
Meh. Raps lost Ibaka and Gasol for a career backup. I understand Giannis is still the goal next summer, but this squad is looking primed for an eventual rebuild.
At this point in their careers I’d take Baynes over Gasol
Their core players (Siakam, VanVleet, Anunoby) are all young and under contract. There’s hardly a rebuild pending. They also won a championship so you can’t really compare them to the lowly rockets.
Says the hater who lacks a life.
That’s seriously understating baynes. He’s become a key role player for the past couple teams he’s been on. Can shoot, gets rebounds, and sets hard screens. The only thing that he has that gasol doesn’t is defense, which even then he isn’t a bad defender just not a great one. So in my mind for 7 mil a year it’s a good deal.
Sports guy has no idea what he is talking about lmao, 2 posts in a row now. Raptors still have young core that is signed long term, fvv, Siakam, anboy, this list goes on. Baynes is a great stretch center who can be delt at deadline for more assets. So they lost a few aging pieces that don’t fit the big picture, especially when giannis is a free agent next year. Raptors have a smart gm that knows success, they might only make playoffs this year but giving these guys a chance to grow and build a strong foundation is how you build a championship caliber team.
I wouldn’t necessarily call the Raptors core young, however. Siakam and Van Vleet are going to be playing the next season as 27 year olds.
Young enough to not blow things up, at least.
I called it, glad they listened!
Called it!
yah you did haha
Yea you did…. you an insider lol? I like the fit for raptors. Get younger and can flip for picks if they don’t contend, think they will though.
Would of been a better fit for the Lakers than Gasol and this stage of their career, but I guess he out-priced for Lakers to get him.