Toronto Raptors

Raptors won't be having contract extension talks with DeMar DeRozan

Published Sep. 23, 2015 3:07 p.m. ET

foxsports

DeMar DeRozan has a player option worth $10.5 million for next season, but unless something disastrous happens, he'll decline it to become an unrestricted free agent.

The reasons are simple: Not only is the salary cap set to spike upwards of 30 percent once the upcoming season is finished, but DeRozan is an All-Star caliber player who should have no problem locking up a long-term, big-money deal in order to gain some future financial security.

Because the Raptors could only offer DeRozan a limited amount on an extension, and because the franchise is well aware that it wouldn't be enough for him to sign, the club is going to forego the contract talks this season.

This doesn't mean that Toronto won't try to retain DeRozan. All it means is that the team will wait to see how the season shakes out before deciding how much his next deal should be worth.

(h/t: Sportsnet)

“There will be no extension talks with DeMar [before the end of the 2015-16 season],” Ujiri told Free Association. “He can only extend for a certain amount of money and I just foresee that DeMar sees himself- and we see him- as more than that type of a player. So I think DeMar is going to wait to see how it goes this year and do the best deal for himself, and we’ll do the best deal for ourselves, too.”