Raptors Rumors: Webster, Morant, AD, Agbaji, Sharpe

There have been rumblings around the NBA that Raptors general manager Bobby Webster – who is in the last year of his contract – is facing some pressure to accelerate his team’s contention timeline by making a significant in-season deal, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. However, Grange hears that’s not actually the case.

Multiple sources tell Sportsnet that Webster and the Raptors are already having “meaningful” discussions about a contract extension and that the team’s head of basketball operations has a very strong relationship with Keith Pelley, the president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (the Raptors’ parent company).

“There’s a really good vibe,” one of Grange’s sources said of the relationship between Webster and Raptors ownership. “Everyone is comfortable with each other. The communication is good. It seems like there is a big-picture view of the whole thing. It’s kind of (an) old-school approach to dealing with management. There’s a lot of runway, and no rush. Everything has cooled off (since former Raptors president Masai Ujiri was let go last June). They’ve really come a long way, considering there was an executive search this past summer.”

Following Ujiri’s exit from Toronto, the Raptors conducted a search for a new lead basketball executive but ultimately decided to promote Webster, who had worked in the front office under Ujiri for over a decade. Pelley has no regrets about that decision and told Grange that Webster’s contract status won’t affect the team’s in-season decisions on the trade market.

“There is no pressure regarding the trade deadline or his contract,” Pelley said. “And he is 100 per cent aware of that. The team is moving in the right direction and I’m convinced that Bobby will make the right moves, at the right time, to make us better. This team under Bobby’s direction, will contend for championships.”

We have more on the Raptors:

• While Toronto has been linked to Ja Morant since word broke that Memphis is considering trading him, one insider who spoke to Grange insisted that the Raptors won’t be a serious suitor for the Grizzlies point guard. Grange also expresses skepticism about the likelihood of an Anthony Davis trade between the Mavericks and Raptors, noting that the big man – who will turn 33 in March – is the sort of win-now target who probably doesn’t make sense for Toronto right now.
• To that point, while Grange doesn’t rule out the possibility of the team making a big move sooner rather than later, he hears from multiple sources that the Raptors are prepared to be patient and may be more likely to take a big swing a year from now. As Grange observes, Toronto has a fairly young roster and head coach Darko Rajakovic has repeatedly used the word “rebuild” this season when discussing his team’s progress. While I wouldn’t describe this Raptors team – which is operating in luxury tax territory – as rebuilding, Grange’s point is that the Raptors believe there’s more room for internal development and aren’t in a rush to go all-in right away.
• Ducking the tax and adding frontcourt help still appear to be the primary deadline goals for the Raptors, according to Grange, who reiterates that wing Ochai Agbaji and his $6.4MM expiring contract is the team’s top trade candidate.
• In addition to Magic big man Goga Bitadze, who was connected to the Raptors earlier in the season, Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe is another potential frontcourt target to watch for Toronto, Grange says. He has also heard from multiple sources that second-year Pelicans center Yves Missi is available, though the Raptors’ level of interest in Missi is unclear.