Toronto Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas can be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2015-16 season, but it may not have to come to that as the two parties work out terms on a potential extension.Continue for updates.Valanciunas, Raptors on Verge of $60 Million DealMonday, Aug. 17Zarar Siddiqi of Raptors Republic cited a report from Lithuanian journalist Jonas Miklovas thatsaid Valanciunas and the Raptors were in discussions on a long-term contract. Then, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported the 23-year-old big man could be in line to earn $60-plus million over the next four years. He added Valanciunas flew back to Toronto in order to move negotiations along.On Aug. 4, Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote Valanciunas was "a lock to demand a max-level extension." Even with the NBA's exploding salary cap, paying him a max deal would've been crazy from the Raptors' perspective. Last year, Valanciunas averaged 16.5 points and 11.9 rebounds per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.com.While he's in line for a big payday, Toronto also has to retain enough space to potentially re-sign Terrence Ross, who is a restricted free agent in 2016, and the combination of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, who have early termination options in 2016 and 2017, respectively.Paying Valanciunas roughly $15 million a year is a much more reasonable sum, especially when you consider Enes Kanter, who is a comparable player to Valanciunas andmaking $70 million over the next few years.If anything, Kanter is slightly worse, as CBSSports.com's Matt Moore pointed out:According to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, that was a consideration for Raptors management:You could argue Valanciunas hasn't progressed as expected over the last few years, but Toronto is making the right decision to extend him, especially for such a sensible cap figure.And with Valanciunas out of the way, Toronto can focus more on re-signing the likes of Ross, DeRozan and Lowry in the future.
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