Grading the Kelly Olynyk contract extension with Raptors: Did Toronto get it right?

The Toronto Raptors were a team without much of a real plan. Despite being nothing more than a Play-In team at best, Toronto held onto players like Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby for way too long, diminishing their value, before Masai Ujiri finally decided to pull the plug and enter a rebuild.

It looks like the Raptors are attempting to build for the future around All-Star forward Scottie Barnes, but their trade deadline was a strange one.

Trading Dennis Schroder for Spencer Dinwiddie’s expiring contract made sense, but the other move Toronto made saw them trade away a first-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for a young player in Ochai Agbaji who hasn’t shown much at all at the NBA level and Kelly Olynyk, a 32-year-old center on an expiring deal.

As strange as that deal was from the Raptors’ perspective, it does make more sense now that the Raptors inked him to an extension. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first with the details, reporting that the Raptors and Olynyk agreed to a two-year, $26.25 million contract extension, the max possible.

Grading the Kelly Olynyk-Raptors extension

The extension makes a lot more sense than the trade itself. Olynyk, age aside, happens to be a fantastic fit on this Raptors team. If their plan is to truly build around Scottie Barnes, Olynyk is a great complementary piece to have.

Barnes doesn’t provide much in terms of floor spacing, and Olynyk is one of the NBA’s best three-point shooting bigs. Having Olynyk share the floor with Barnes gives the young forward more room to operate as a scorer and as a fascilitator.

Olynyk has established himself as one of the best backup bigs in the NBA in recent years and was having a really strong year in Utah before being traded to the Raptors.

While his shooting has taken a massive nosedive since landing in Toronto, there’s every reason to believe that Olynyk, a career 36.9% shooter from beyond the arc, will continue to be the above-average shooter he’s always been.

This season Olynyk is averaging 8.3 points per game on 54.2/39.8/84.4 splits to go with 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Olynyk was having a great year as a shooter and distributor with Utah but has shot just 26.3% from three-point range in Toronto while seeing his assists dip to below three per game.

His career percentages suggest he’ll turn things around, and if/when that happens, this is a solid deal for the Raptors. Giving Olynyk a shade over $13 million annually might be a bit rich, but the Raptors are a team with money to spend, and with how good of a role player he is, he might’ve gotten even more if the Raptors let him go to free agency.

He doesn’t fit great with their timeline, but he’s a great fit alongside their franchise player, and this is only a two-year extension and the contract happens to be very tradable if Toronto chooses to sell at next season’s deadline. Overall, there isn’t too much to complain about with this deal keeping the Toronto native north of the border.