Summary

Hollis-Jefferson had very little interest from teams as a free agent last summer, and did not show anything this season that would likely change the minds of any teams.

 

At 6'7",  the former Arizona Wildcat is not ideally suited to play as a big, but doesn't have the skills to play as a wing either. It's easy for many to look at Hollis-Jefferson and hope he can play a similar role as Draymond Green. However, accomplishing that is extremely harder said than done. Green is one of the smartest defenders in the NBA (if not NBA history), and has learned to make plays out of the short roll. Hollis-Jefferson does not have the positional instincts and awareness that would make him impactful on the defensive end.

 

In addition, his offensive game is vastly underdeveloped, as he is not a threat from outside, and has consistently finished in the very bottom in points per shot attempt for his position, per Cleaning the Glass.  

 

Cap Considerations

Hollis-Jefferson will be an unrestricted free agent with an $3 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. Since the Raptors will only have his Non-Bird rights, they will be somewhat limited in their means of re-signing him. The most they could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is a contract starting at $3 million.

 

However, even if Hollis-Jefferson does demand more than $3 million, the Raptors could create enough cap space to re-sign him, depending on what happens with their other free agents. Alternatively, if the Raptors re-sign all their veteran free agents and remain over the salary cap, they could use the all or part of the $9.3 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to re-sign him.

 

Teams other than the Raptors will have multiple ways to sign Hollis-Jefferson, as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, or Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. He could also potentially be had at the minimum-salary.