The Raptors have joined in on the draft-day trade action.
Toronto has traded forward Jalen McDaniels to the Sacramento Kings for guard Davion Mitchell, forward Sasha Vezenkov, the draft rights to Jamal Shead and a 2025 second-round pick via Portland, the team announced on Friday.
Mitchell, 25, has been in the NBA for three seasons after winning an NCAA title with Baylor and getting drafted by the Kings ninth overall in 2021. Known as an impressive point-of-attack defender, he meets an area of need for the Raptors’ 25th-ranked defence and matches the timeline of current core members Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
In 2023-24, Mitchell made 72 appearances for Sacramento and averaged 5.3 points while shooting 36 per cent from beyond the arc in 15.3 minutes per game. The 3-and-D specialist’s role had diminished since his rookie year — when Mitchell averaged 11.5 points and 4.2 assists — because of a crowded Kings guard rotation.
Vezenkov, 28, is coming off his first NBA season after spending most of his career overseas. He was drafted 57th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in 2017.
He boasts a decorated resume, as the 2023 EuroLeague MVP and top scorer (17.6 points per game). With the Kings, Vezenkov made 42 appearances — missing 22 games due to an ankle injury — and averaged 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes of action per game while shooting 37.5 per cent from distance.
Meanwhile, Sacramento received McDaniels after he signed a two-year, $9.3-million contract with Toronto last off-season. In his one season with the Raptors, the 26-year-old averaged 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds on a 41.2-per-cent true shooting clip. They marked his lowest numbers across the board since entering the league as the 52nd-overall pick in the 2019 draft.
McDaniels’ best NBA season came with the Charlotte Hornets two years ago when he averaged 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals through 56 games and a career-high 26.7 minutes a night.
The deal was a cost-cutting move for the Kings, who’ll now get under the luxury tax and won’t have a rookie to select and sign from the second round of the draft — instead focusing on 13th-overall pick Devin Carter.
For Toronto, they ended up with pick 45 in the 2024 draft as part of the deal and used it to select Shead, a guard out of the University of Houston. The NCAA Big 12 Player of the Year joins Ja’Kobe Walter (19th), Jonathan Mogbo (31st) and Ulrich Chomche (57th) as the Raptors 2024 rookie draft class.