Do the Raptors have cap space? Making sense of Toronto's 2020 free agency situation

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The Toronto Raptors have a big offseason ahead of them.

While the likes of Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby are under contract for next season, Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka will each be unrestricted free agents, while Chris Boucher will be a restricted free agent.

Those aren't the only players at risk of leaving the Raptors this offseason. Stanley Johnson has a player option for next season and there are three players with non-guarantees for next season.

To get a better sense of Toronto's situation entering free agency, which was originally scheduled to begin on Oct. 18 but has since been pushed back to a date still pending, here's what the Raptors have to work with.

The salary figures below are from ESPN, which are based on the salary cap being the same next season as it was this season. There's a chance the figures will be higher or lower depending on what the salary cap is set at for 2020-21.

Guaranteed salaries

Name 2020-21 salary (ESPN)
Kyle Lowry $31,500,000
Pascal Siakam $27,285,000
Norman Powell $10,865,952
Patrick McCaw $4,000,000
OG Anunoby $3,872,215

Player options

Name 2020-21 player option (ESPN)
Stanley Johnson $3,804,150

According to ESPN's Bobby Marks, Johnson will have five days before the 2020 NBA Draft, which has been rescheduled to Nov. 18, to exercise his player option for next season.

Team options

The Raptors have no team options for next season.

Unrestricted free agents

Name 2020-21 cap hold (ESPN)
Marc Gasol $38,393,550
Serge Ibaka $34,907,406
Fred VanVleet $17,757,691
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson $3,000,000

Restricted free agents

Name 2020-21 cap hold (ESPN)
Chris Boucher $1,985,289
Malcolm Miller $1,985,289
Oshae Brissett $1,523,320

Non-guaranteed

  • Terence Davis
  • Matt Thomas 
  • Dewan Hernandez

Davis, Thomas and Hernandez will each be on the books for $1,517,981 for next season if their contracts are guaranteed.

Unlike Davis and Hernandez, Thomas has half of his contract guaranteed.

Exceptions

The Raptors will have their Mid-Level Exception worth $9.3 million or $4.8 million, per ESPN's Bobby Marks.

Cap space

The Raptors enter free agency over the salary cap because of their cap holds. They could create over $20 million in cap space, but it would come at the expense of them cutting ties with VanVleet, Ibaka and Gasol. They're going to be limited in the amount of money they can spend this offseason, especially with an eye on preserving cap space for next offseason.

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Scott Rafferty is a Senior NBA Editor for The Sporting News