Toronto Raptors: They retained their core in the best way

Re-signing Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka to short-term deals was the most economical route for the Toronto Raptors.

The Toronto Raptors managed to hang on to their core in free agency this year. They lost Patrick Patterson to Oklahoma City and P.J. Tucker to Houston, but re-signed their stars in Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry.

Kyle Lowry and the Raptors agreed to a three-year, $100 million deal, and Serge Ibaka re-signed to a three-year $65 million deal.

Masai Ujiri retained his stars without handicapping Toronto financially. Signing an undersized, aging point guard to a five-year max contract would have been regretful in the final two seasons of that deal. In 2020, Lowry and Ibaka’s contract will be up, and DeMar DeRozan will be able to opt out of his max deal. Toronto should be able to effectively navigate the landscape from there.

The Raptors will remain very competitive and should again finish near the top of the East. The good news is playoff teams like the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks are likely to fall into the Eastern Conference abyss after losing their stars. The bad news is the Cleveland Cavaliers will remain the favorites in the East, followed by everyone else.

Gordon Hayward set his sails toward Boston, making the Celtics the clear second-best team in the East. The Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards don’t appear to be going anywhere either. The Raptors shouldn’t be viewed as contenders, because just arriving at the Eastern Conference Finals now looks like an uphill climb.

Toronto will likely dump some salaries

Toronto has over $130 million in salary for the 2017-18 season, or about $11 million over the luxury tax line. Their 2018-19 committed salaries are nearly as large, with Norman Powell, Lucas Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo set to become restricted free agents next summer, and Powell should demand a big pay increase.

Toronto will probably have to dump some salaries. Cory Joseph, DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas are the fist names that come to mind. Joseph is probably the most likely to return future draft picks and his name has already popped up in trade talks, according to Michael Scott of Basketball Insiders.

With Serge Ibaka, Lucas Nogueira and Jakob Poeltl capable of playing center, Valanciunas and his $15 million salary is the next logical trade. Lumbering centers who aren’t great shot-blockers are almost liabilities defensively, because they struggle to get back in transition defense and are targeted in pick-and-roll situations.

Although DeMarre Carroll’s production has tapered off due to injuries and age, Toronto could keep him around for a while longer. After Tucker’s departure, the team would have a void at small forward without Carroll, and the Raps may have to sacrifice a draft pick to unload his $15 million salary to another team.

Norman Powell, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl and OG Anunoby will all benefit from playing behind the current core of the Raptors. By the time Lowry, Ibaka and DeRozan move into their early 30s and beyond, some of these younger players will form Toronto’s new core.

Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far

If LeBron James leaves Cleveland for the West coast after next season, the East will be wide open for Toronto’s taking. Winning a championship is the reason why Lowry returned to the city where he came into himself, as he concluded in his article for The Players’ Tribune.

"And if you start something? Man, you finish it."