Kelly Olynyk has signed a contract extension with the Toronto Raptors, and according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the two-year deal is worth $26.5 million. The Raptors landed Olynyk at the trade deadline in a deal that included Ochai Agbaji and a first-round pick going to the Utah Jazz. Olynyk, who was born in Toronto and plays for the Canadian National Team, has averaged 9.6 points per game since joining the Raptors in February.
"We've been a fan of Kelly's game for a long time and are thrilled he will continue his career in Toronto," Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said in a statement.
Olynyk's extension is an interesting curveball for a Toronto front office that rarely makes the expected move. The Raptors spent most of the season trading away veterans like Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, and in the process, they positioned themselves to create over $40 million in cap space this offseason if they wanted to.
A new deal for Olynyk doesn't take them over the cap, but he eats into a significant chunk of that projected space. Given the relatively weak projected free-agent class coming this season as well as the fact that several of the best players expect to be available are recent former Raptors, Toronto may have simply decided that Olynyk represented better value than the sort of players they might have targeted on the open market.
Mid-level money has largely been Olynyk's market over his past few contracts, and he fits well on a Toronto roster that is still low on shooting. He pairs well in a frontcourt with the burlier Jakob Poeltl, and even if Scottie Barnes has improved as a shooter, he'll benefit from having a big man around who can pull defenders away from the paint.
The Raptors still haven't quite settled on a long-term roster plan. Meaningful changes are likely coming over the summer, and Olynyk will probably still have a trade market if they want to explore it. For now, though, they've locked him up to a deal for reasonable value to fill a position of need. All in all, that's a decent bit of business.
