Raptors Share Future Plans for Jalen McDaniels Following Disappointing Season

The Toronto Raptors hope they can get more out of Jalen McDaniels following a very disappointing first season with the organization

The Toronto Raptors aren’t writing off Jalen McDaniels quite yet.

It’s not hard to see why Toronto had been excited about McDaniels this past summer. The 26-year-old is long and athletic with the physical traits to be the kind of 3-and-D wing the Raptors have loved in the past. It certainly helped seeing his brother Jaden develop into one of the league’s premiere wing stoppers and Jalen’s 40% three-point stroke over the final 24 games of last season suggested maybe there was more to his game.

To put it mildly, it hasn’t gone as planned.

McDaniels began the season in the rotation for Toronto, but it wasn’t long before the Raptors realized that wasn’t going to work. Since then, the 6-foot-9 forward has squandered every opportunity to show he can be a regular contributor for the Raptors.

In his latest outing Sunday night against the Washington Wizards, he was a minus-10 in four minutes while shooting 0-for-3 from the field in the first half and was stapled to the bench after the break.

“I am still hopeful that he can figure it out and to help us, I think that he's very talented basketball player,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said post-game. “He just needs to find the niche on the court, to be to be the energy and especially on defensive, I think he can really help us on that end of the floor.”

McDaniels has another year guaranteed on his contract and — publicly at least — the organization isn’t willing to say it’s over. The hope, Rajaković said, is to have McDaniels training with the team and working to tap into some of that defensive potential the organization hopes he still has.

“I think he's going to have a great summer,” Rajaković “I think he's going to put a lot of work in. I think next year he's going to be able to really be in the rotation and really help us.”

If Toronto does move on from McDaniels, he’ll count as $4.7 million against the salary cap next season assuming he is not traded.