Jonas Valanciunas, Raptors Agree on Extension

The Toronto Raptors announced today that they have agreed on an extension with star center Jonas Valanciunas. 

The center will sign a four-year, $64 million dollar contract, which puts him in the “max-player” territory.

Valanciunas is a dominant offensive presence but lacks in defensive efficiency department, which is why Coach Casey does not like to give the center minutes in the second half of games. 

However, the Toronto Raptors and general manager Masai Ujiri think they can get better production from Valanciunas on that end by simply having ex-Bulls assistant Andy Greer on the sidelines.

Whether Valanciunas deserves max money is the real question that the Raptors and everyone outside of the NBA is asking. Yes, Valanciunas has been a fairly average starter at the center position thus far in his NBA career, but the salary cap will rise to $100+ million dollars as early as next year, which will make $64 million dollars seem slightly on the low side of things.

The next question on the Toronto Raptors agenda is to find a suitable power forward to start next to the young center that they just locked up. 

The leading candidates seem to be James Johnson and/or Patrick Patterson, which both bring excellent qualities that match with Valanciunas’ skillset.

Valanciunas averaged 12.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per games last year in 80 games.