Jalen McDaniels agrees to terms on two-year, $9.3 million deal with Toronto Raptors

Jalen McDaniels has agreed to a two-year, $9.3 million contract with the Toronto Raptors and will leave the 76ers in free agency, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer.

McDaniels joins a Raptors team in transition, after former coach Nick Nurse was fired and then hired by the Sixers. Darko Rajakovic, a longtime NBA assistant getting his first opportunity as a head coach, was hired to replace Nurse last month.

Though Toronto recently lost star point guard Fred VanVleet, who reportedly agreed to a three-year max deal with the Houston Rockets Friday night, they still have intriguing young talent in 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, former All-Star Pascal Siakam and perimeter defender OG Anunoby. The Raptors have also recently constructed a roster full of wing players who fit McDaniels’ prototype, allowing them to play creative defensive schemes, rebound and get out in transition on offense.

This new deal is also a raise for McDaniels, who made an average of $1.5 million per year over his first four NBA seasons.

The 25-year-old wing was acquired by the Sixers from the Charlotte Hornets at last season’s February trade deadline, as part of a three-way deal that sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers.

He averaged 6.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in 24 regular-season games with the Sixers, and often took on difficult perimeter defensive assignments. But he fell out of the rotation as the playoffs progressed, logging 36 total seconds in the final four games of the Sixers’ second-round series against the Boston Celtics.

McDaniels’ length and athleticism, though, are coveted attributes in the modern NBA. He spent the first three-plus seasons of his NBA career with the Hornets, and was averaging career-highs in points (10.6), rebounds (4.8), assists (2.0) and steals (1.2) in his 56 games with Charlotte last season before being traded. He was a second-round draft pick in 2019.

McDaniels is the third 2022-23 Sixer to leave the team in free agency. Reserve stretch forward Georges Niang agreed to sign a three-year, $26 million deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, while backup guard Shake Milton agreed to a two-year, $10 million with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And an even greater roster overhaul is looming, as superstar guard James Harden wants to be traded after exercising the $35.6 player option in his contract for this coming season.

Pesky veteran guard Patrick Beverley agreed to sign a one-year, $3.2 million contract with the Sixers on Saturday afternoon.