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2025 Free Agents - Dalano Banton

Despite being a mid-second round pick, Banton played a solid amount for the Raptors as a rookie in '21-'22, especially earlier in the season before Nick Nurse starting cutting his rotation and playing his starters the amount of minutes you don't normally see in the regular season. The Raptors didn't have a ton of passing on their roster, so Banton's skillset came in handy as a playmaker with some size. Banton was also physically a good fit in Toronto as they clearly have the priority of just putting a ton of length on the floor. In '21-'22, he often got the backup point guard minutes over Malachi Flynn, the Raptors first round pick in 2020. However, that flipped in '22-'23, as Banton's minutes declined as he mostly fell out of the regular rotation. Banton will likely need to either shoot better from outside or improve defensively to become anything more than a back-end rotation player, as he's shooting 30% from three thus far, and his overall trues shooting of 49% is well below average. Banton didn't get consistent minutes for the Raptors in '22-'23, but I think he's still an interesting player going forward. He didn't get many minutes for the Celtics in '23-'24, but was productive for the Blazers, having some big scoring games and shooting well. Those games were somewhat meaningless for a Blazers team whose season was essentially over, but if he continues to shoot well he could stick around in the league.

Summary

Banton will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. Since the Trailblazers will be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Banton's Early Bird rights until he is re-signed or signs elsewhere, so his cap hold is not really relevant. The Trailblazers could offer Banton a starting salary of up to 5% more than the average salary (likely around $13.5 million) using the Early Bird exception, which will be more than enough should they wish to bring him back. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Banton as even teams without cap space could use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. There's even a chance that Banton only gets minimum offers.

Cap Considerations

Aaron Holiday (1 year minimum, 2023) Brandon Boston, Jr. Isaac (1 year minimum, non-guaranteed, 2024) Ty Jerome (2 years, $5 million, 2023)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Trailblazers, Mavericks, Clippers, Bulls, Magic

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.5 million ($2.3 million cap hit) with the Trailblazers

Last updated: 8/19/2024

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