The Toronto Raptors are just a few days away from a franchise-defining free agency period, as names like Fred VanVleet could test the open market. Masai Ujiri has been open about saying that he didn’t enjoy last year’s team, but he still thinks this core is good enough to win now.
According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN, the Raptors are prioritizing bringing back both VanVleet and Jakob Poeltl in free agency despite the possibility of both of them coming for $50 million per year in salary between them in 2023-24 and beyond. That is quite an expensive gamble to take.