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In the wake of Dallas moving on from Jason Kidd, there have been rumblings of both Duke's Jon Scheyer and Michigan's Dusty May being linked to the vacancy. But ever since Masai Ujiri was hired to run basketball operations last month, the belief around the league is that the most likely outcome for Dallas is elevating one of the NBA's rising assistants. That's what Ujiri did the other two times he hired a coach, both with the Toronto Raptors: In 2018, he replaced Dwane Casey with Nick Nurse. In 2023, he replaced Nurse with Darko Rajakovic.
The next obvious move is an extension for Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, who is also entering the final year of his existing contract. The timing on that move has yet to be determined, but multiple sources have confirmed it’s in the works.
Doug Smith: Other extensions: Dan Tolzman, vice-president, player personnel and assistant general manager; Keith Boyarsky, vice-president, basketball strategy and research; and Tyla Flexman, vice-president, operations. Next up: New deal for coach Darko Rajakovic expected any time soon
Josh Lewenberg: A month (or so) of rest and rehab would allow BI to start ramping up in early June, which still gives him a full offseason of work. That is key. As Darko noted earlier this week, last summer was about getting/staying healthy, but needs to prioritize skill development this summer.
It’s expected that both general manager Bobby Webster and head coach Darko Rajakovic will be offered contract extensions in the coming weeks, Sportsnet has learned. Each of them have another year left on their current deal. As one well-placed source put it: “You don’t have your head coach and general manager head into the final year of their contracts as lame ducks, not after a playoff year.” As another said: “It will happen when it happens,” referring specifically to Webster, “but it will happen.”
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Josh Lewenberg: Darko on CMB: “Getting to understand who he is as a person & what he’s about made me fall in love with this guy. He’s an amazing human being… We’re so lucky to have him.” Plan for summer is to keep getting stronger/faster to sustain full season, develop face-up game + shooting
Michael Grange: Darko Rajakovic has a long list of things that Collin Murray-Boyles will be tasked with over the summer, but shooting is down the list: “He's going to obviously be working on his shooting, but I'm not putting prime on that in his development at this point.”
Vivek Jacob: Darko Rajakovic and his family has donated US$79,761 across SickKids Hospital in Toronto, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and the University Children's Hospital in Belgrade. Raptors had 2,417 assists this season, Rajakovic had committed to US$33/assist.
Josh Lewenberg: Rajakovic said Ingram is going to see a specialist this week to learn more about the treatment plan for his heel injury. Re: Quickley's hamstring, same injury as Doncic, will miss a couple more weeks but shouldn't impact his summer. Expects both to be back on court in 3-4 weeks
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Josh Lewenberg: Scottie Barnes is now down to 58% of his final form, per Darko. "I just realized there is more room for growth." 😂 Rajakovic said the plan this summer is for Barnes to focus on his skill development, off the dribble moves, finishing at the rim, and continue working on his shooting.
