Raptors sign OG Anunoby

The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday that they have signed OG Anunoby.

The No. 23 pick in the 2017 draft, Anunoby will almost surely have signed for the full 120 percent of his recommended draft slot, as almost all first-round picks do. If that’s the case, his rookie scale deal will pay him $1.65 million this coming season and $1.95 million in 2018-19, with team options for 2019-20 and 2020-21 at $2.28 million and $3.87 million, respectively. All told, he could earn $9.75 million on his rookie deal. Should both options ultimately be picked up (usually the case unless a prospect is a serious bust), Anunoby would be eligible for an extension in the summer of 2020 or become a restricted free agent in 2021.

This is all just a procedural matter, really. In the previous collective bargaining agreement, there was some incentive for teams to delay the signing of first-round picks, as their cap holds were set to 100 percent of scale. Now, the cap hold amount is equal to the maximum for that rookie’s draft slot, so there’s no cap space advantage to waiting. In fact, so long as the plan is for the player to play this year (rather than being stashed overseas), there’s some incentive to sign right away to start the clock on the 30-day no-trade window (Anunoby can’t be dealt until Aug. 8).

There really wasn’t any question the Raptors would sign Anunoby, even coming off of an ACL tear in January. Anunoby is with the team for Las Vegas Summer League, though he won’t be participating in games.

You can read more on Anunoby here: