Raptors Notes: Dowtin, Boucher, Trent, Flynn

The status of Raptors guard Jeff Dowtin is a curious case to watch as teams begin cutting down rosters ahead of the official October 23 deadline, Sportsnet.ca’s Blake Murphy writes. Dowtin has an uncertain future with the organization, given he doesn’t own a guaranteed contract and Toronto has 15 others who do.

As Murphy details, the guard had an impressive run at the end of the 2022/23 season, making a case to have his prior contract converted to a standard deal last season. He was on a two-way deal last year before being re-signed to a separate, non-guaranteed standard contract in July. Even though he was a rotation piece at times, Dowtin wasn’t converted to a standard deal last season, and he was thus ineligible for postseason play.

It was presumed that Toronto would quickly re-sign Dowtin to a standard deal in free agency this year, according to Murphy, but that didn’t happen as the Raptors fleshed out the rest of the roster.

Murphy notes the Raptors could theoretically waive or trade another player in order to keep Dowtin, but he has limited time to prove he’s worth doing so in the preseason. If he’s cut, the Raptors don’t own his G League rights, which were acquired by the Sixers’ affiliate, so funneling him to their developmental system isn’t an option.

Dowtin is also a candidate to be claimed by another team if he were to be waived, which makes waiving him and then signing him back to a two-way (after waiving an incumbent two-way player) an unappealing option, and it’s unclear if he’d be willing to do that, Murphy adds.

If Dowtin makes the opening-night roster, his contract is guaranteed for $900K. It becomes guaranteed for $2.02MM if he remains on the roster through January 10.

We have more from the Raptors:

• Forward Chris Boucher is drawing rave reviews for his play during preseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes in a piece evaluating the stocks of Raptors players. Boucher is expected to be a regular part of the rotation, having impressed as a cutter. Koreen writes that Jalen McDaniels, Precious Achiuwa and Thaddeus Young have improved their standing with the team while Dowtin, Garrett Temple and Otto Porter have failed to stand out.
• It appears that Dennis Schröder has supplanted Gary Trent Jr. as a starter for the Raptors. Trent had been a starter almost exclusively since arriving in Toronto in 2021/22, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Trent has expressed a desire to be a member of the starting lineup but said he wanted to help the team in whatever way possible (Twitter link). “Obviously the first two games I’ve been coming off the bench; practices I’ve been with the second unit … so the writing’s on the wall,” Trent said.
• Malachi Flynn appears to be breaking into the rotation, according to Grange. Head coach Darko Rajakovic is committed to using a 10-man rotation and it appears Flynn will be a part of that. Josh Lewenberg of TSN relays (Twitter link) that the point guard dedicated extra time in the weight room this offseason, having put on five-to-seven pounds. According to Lewenberg (Twitter link), Flynn knows he has a big season ahead in the final year of his rookie deal and thinks the coaching change could be a “reset” for him.