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2022 Free Agents - Freddie Gillespie

Summary
Although he's not super tall at only 6'9", he has legitimate length with a 7'4" wingspan that he can use to contest shots inside. He has the ability to slide his feet and defend on the perimeter, but we need to see more of that for him to prove he can really stay in front of defenders at the NBA level.

Offensively, Gillespie has a ways to go to be a rotation-level player. Other than getting offensive rebounds at a high rate, he doesn't provide much on offense. He doesn't have great touch, and thus fails to score at an efficient rate, dating back to his college days at Baylor. He doesn't have the athleticism to be a great lob threat, so he'll need to improve that touch in order to score well inside.

Gillespie will already be 25 when he hits free agency in 2022, so there's also not a ton of hope that he can make drastic improvements.
 
Cap Considerations
Gillespie will be a restricted free agent with a $2 million cap hold and Qualifying Offer, and the Raptors will have his Early Bird rights. However, the Raptors may not tender him a QO, which would make him an unrestricted free agent. If the Raptors re-sign Gillespie using the Early-Bird Exception, they could offer him a starting salary of up to 105% of the average salary this past season (roughly $10 million), which would be more than enough.

Since Gillespie will only have two years of service, he will be subject to the Gilbert Arenas provision. This means that any offer sheet he signs with a team besides Toronto can have a starting maximum salary of $10.1 million, but the third and potentially fourth years of that contract can have a large jump (up to the max). His cap hit would then be the average salary over the life of the contract. If the Raptors match, they could choose for his cap hit to either be his actual salary per season or the average over the life of the contract, provided the average fits within the Early Bird Exception or cap space.

I do not expect this to come into play for Gillespie, as I think any offers for him would fit within the full Non-Taxpayer MLE over the length of the contract. Most likely, Gillespie will be an unrestricted free agent with only minimum offers, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.

Potential Teams: Raptors, Thunder, Trailblazers, Wizards, Spurs

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $1.8 million (non-guaranteed) with the Raptors

Last updated: 10/8/2021

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