This version of the Toronto Raptors might be a bit crowded on the wings, but even with the extra depth, I\u2019d still say that having Ochai Agbaji on the roster is a real plus for a team aiming to compete in the tough Eastern Conference. Agbaji\u2019s start with the Raptors was rocky, and honestly, I, along with many others in Raptors Nation, was ready to write him off. <\/p>\n
But then came the 2024-25 season, and he broke out in a big way \u2014 turning heads and proving he belongs. It\u2019s well known now how dramatically his three-point shooting improved from his first year with the team to his second, to the point where he made history with one of the biggest jumps in three-point percentage in nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n
Even with his surprising breakout, there are still questions about Agbaji\u2019s long-term fit in Toronto, especially with a contract extension on the horizon. The Raptors\u2019 salary cap is climbing thanks to a string of recent deals, so I had a strong feeling that Toronto might consider exploring Agbaji as a trade asset \u2014 either around the draft or later in the offseason. <\/p>\n
But now, here we are in mid-September, just before the 2025-26 season kicks off. Honestly, I\u2019d bet that Ochai Agbaji is going to stay with the Raptors for the foreseeable future, and with that, he could be Toronto’s wild card moving forward<\/a>. And if that\u2019s the case, then Toronto might have the perfect solution when it comes to negotiating an extension, as NBA analysts Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon discussed recently on the Game Theory Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vecenie makes a good point that Agbaji’s main appeal is his athleticism and decent defense. He mentions, “… I wouldn’t say he’s like crazy valuable on defense, but somewhat valuable.” That said, when it comes to figuring out the right price Toronto should offer \u2014 and what would also make Agbaji happy \u2014 Vecenie suggests the following:<\/p>\n Raptors advised to offer Ochai Agbaji a deal similar to Moses Moody<\/p>\n “If he’s willing to do like the Moses Moody deal, at like 3, 37 [three-year, $37 million], I think I would probably do that.”<\/p>\n Sam Vecenie, Sep 14, 2025<\/p>\n Bryce Simon mentions that this kind of deal isn’t going to be a problem for the Raptors to use in a future trade, which is a big relief compared to some of the more burdensome contracts they currently have on their salary sheet. Vecenie also points out that Agbaji isn\u2019t likely to turn into a 20-plus point scorer overnight with that kind of deal. If you’re Toronto, you already have an idea of what to expect from his production, but the real question is: are they willing to commit more money to another player when the team\u2019s ceiling are still uncertain?<\/p>\n But it\u2019s definitely a reasonable offer, and Agbaji definitely deserves some financial recognition for his efforts. At least this kind of deal feels fair for both sides, and it doesn\u2019t really put the Raptors in a worse financial spot. So, we\u2019ll just have to see how the extension talks go from here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This version of the Toronto Raptors might be a bit crowded on the wings, but even with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-164048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}