RJ Barrett already made his preference clear: he wants to stay with the Toronto Raptors for the long haul. He said as much in his end-of-season interview, and it fit the moment. Barrett had just experienced his first postseason run with his hometown team, capped by a clutch 3-pointer that pushed the series to seven games.
Even with that desire on the table, the Raptors have not handed him an extension, and that pause says plenty about where they are as a franchise. Barrett’s deal runs through the 2026-27 season, and the money situation is already crowded.
Toronto has major commitments to Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and Scottie Barnes, with more salary potentially arriving if - or when - Kawhi Leonard joins the team. A Barrett extension would not be easy to fit in, even if he were willing to take less.
But the bigger point is the Raptors appear to be taking a slower, smarter approach this time. They already made big bets on Poeltl and Quickley, and those extensions have not aged well.
Those contracts reportedly also limited Toronto’s ability to chase Trae Young or Jaren Jackson Jr. at this year’s trade deadline. That kind of misstep is the one the Raptors can’t afford to repeat.
So far, patience looks like the plan.
That doesn’t mean Barrett is out of the picture. It just means he may have to earn the next deal the hard way.
If he enters next season on an expiring contract, his case will be built on production and fit with this reshaped roster. Leonard’s regular load management could actually help Barrett here.
Whenever Leonard sits, Toronto will need another scorer to carry the offense, and Barrett is the best option on the roster to do that.
There are still questions about how his game meshes with Leonard and Barnes. Barrett has been a respectable shooter from deep, hitting 34.5% of his threes across seven seasons. But if Leonard and Barnes are the clear centerpieces - assuming the Leonard trade gets completed before the season - Barrett will spend plenty of time working without the ball and living off the gravity those two create.
That role asks a lot. A merely solid outside shooter can work there, but it’s not ideal, especially with the spacing already looking tight in a starting group that would include Barnes and Jakob Poeltl in the frontcourt.
Still, the path for Barrett is obvious enough. If Leonard and Barnes are drawing the defense, Barrett should have room to attack the rim and do what he does best.
The real test is whether he can matter when everyone is available, not just when the lineup is short-handed. If Barrett wants to secure another contract in Toronto, he has to show he can help this team win in the full-strength version too.
And when Leonard is out, the opportunity gets bigger. Barrett already showed in the playoffs that he can rise when the moment demands it.
When Brandon Ingram struggled, Barrett stepped in and was the Raptors’ best player alongside Barnes. If he can keep doing that whenever Leonard misses time and Toronto needs someone to steady the offense, he could make himself hard to replace.
In Other News...
Raptors May Already Have An Immanuel Quickley Dilemma In House
Immanuel Quickley has settled into the sort of steady, useful role the Raptors hoped for when they brought him in, but his production has also left Toronto in an awkward middle ground. He has been consistent without fully matching the kind of impact that usually comes attached to a major investment, which is why the conversation around his place in the lineup is starting to widen beyond simple box-score production.
Jamal Shead is one reason that conversation is getting louder. The rookie has not put up eye-catching shooting numbers, but his playmaking and defense have already given the Raptors a different sort of point guard profile to consider, one that may fit better with where the team wants to go. Toronto has not made any decisions, but the fact that this debate is already happening in-house says plenty about how quickly the guard picture could change. [Read more 🡒]
Gradey Dick Trade Talk Puts One Raptors Decision Under The Microscope
Gradey Dicks name has become part of the larger conversation around a possible Kawhi Leonard deal, and for Toronto it naturally turns the spotlight back to how the organization has handled its young wings. The Raptors have spent three seasons watching Dicks production trend the wrong way, even as he remained one of the more notable pieces in their developmental pipeline. With the 2026-27 season looming as a key checkpoint in his career, any move involving him now would carry more weight than a simple roster shuffle.
What makes the situation more intriguing is how quickly a new landing spot could change the equation. ESPN already has Dick slotted fourth on the Clippers shooting guard depth chart behind Keaton Wagler, Bradley Beal, and Benedict Mathurin, which would put him in another crowded competition for minutes if a trade gets done. For Toronto, that is the kind of detail that raises a familiar question: whether moving on now is a reset, or whether the Raptors are giving up on a player who still needed more runway. [Read more 🡒]