Raptors’ 2025 NBA free agency target: Amir Coffey
The Toronto Raptors have a well-documented, largely mediocre track record when it comes to signing free agents.
Headlined by plenty of big whiffs on guys like Hedo Turkoglu and the not-so-LeBron James stopper DeMarre Carroll — to the point that some of the franchise’s most impactful off-season signings have often been for players from overseas (i.e., Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker) or by taking chances on relative uncertainties like Amir Johnson and Bismack Biyombo.
And while Amir Coffey is neither of those things, he has the chance to join that short list of positive free agent additions, should the Raptors acquire his services.
Before I get into it, however, I have to point out my interest in the six-foot-seven sharpshooter was not naturally sparked. It came by a combination of comments from my last free agents piece and Raptors Republic’s very own Trevon Heath vouching for the fit on a recent edition of the Pull Up Tre podcast.
Coffey enters free agency on the heels of a breakout season in which he put up career-high averages in scoring (9.7), rebounds (2.2), made field goals (3.3) and games played (72) on 47.1/40.9/89.1 shooting splits.
The sell on him joining the Raptors is fairly simple: his length and grit on defence would offer more point-of-attack defence, while his productive outside shooting would offer greater spacing.
Starting on offence, Coffey is a career 38.4 per cent 3-point shooter and was 18th in the NBA last year in terms of percentage for players who attempted at least three shots from beyond the arc per game. More specifically, Coffey shot 45.7 per cent from the corners and 37.9 per cent on above-the-break looks, all of which were much, much higher than the Raptors, who ranked bottom 10 in both those areas.
As it’s been noted ad nauseam, the Raptors were a team that generated tons of the right shots, but converted very few of them. Coffey could help change that trend in a hurry next season.
Meanwhile, the undrafted guard was no slouch putting the ball on the floor either, shooting 43.4 per cent on pull-ups in 2024-25, while being a 74th percentile mid-range scorer, per Cleaning The Glass.
Coffey also showed promise when filling in for a bigger role. In 29 minutes per game through his 13 starts with the Los Angeles Clippers last season, he averaged 12.8 points on 43.4 per cent shooting from distance.
On the defensive side, admittedly, the undrafted guard’s upside is somewhat of an uncertainty, considering the numbers say the No. 3-ranked Clippers’ defence was worse with him on the floor last year. But I’d chalk at least some of that to the lineups he was a part of as Coffey finished with a 110.6 defensive rating — top 50 in the NBA for those who played at least 70 games — and was eighth on his team with his career-high 1.7 defensive win shares.
At the very least, he has the skills to be a neutral defender more often than not, while generally being a positive on offence for the Raptors.
It’s also worth noting that Coffey was essentially squeezed out of the Clippers’ rotation by the end of last season, progressively falling down the pecking order to the point that head coach Tyronn Lue didn’t deploy him for even one minute during their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets.
Some of that was simply the abundance of useful wings on L.A.’s roster, namely Kawhi Leonard and Bogdan Bogdanovich, who was acquired mid-season. Meanwhile, guys like Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. also usurped Coffey in the rotation with more consistent impact on both ends of the floor, while we all saw the veteran Nicolas Batum’s impact on the Clippers’ playoff run.
That logjam and a poorly-timed knee injury would at least explain some of why Coffey went from averaging around 26 minutes pre-All-Star break to hovering just over 20 MPG come the end of the season.
As for what Coffey could garner on the open market, he might be one of the few value players within the Raptors’ price range.
While some suggest the soon-to-be sixth-year guard could be had for around the veteran minimum of approximately $3 million for a player with his tenure, even if Coffey did get a pay raise from the $3.7 million average annual salary over the life of his last deal, it’s not expected to be by much in the cap crunch era NBA teams are now in thanks to the new CBA. For instance, the Athletic’s Jovan Buha pegged Coffey as a player who could split the tax player mid-level exception, which is set to be approximately $5.7 million next season (per Spotrac).
As a reminder, the Raptors are currently looking at roughly $7.8 million in space prior to signing any incoming rookies (or superstar trades). But even if Toronto were to get over the cap limit, using the Bi-Annual exception (projected at $5.1 million) could be a tidy way of adding Coffey while also giving him a worthwhile raise.
Ultimately, Coffey is a consummate pro who knows his role, with the potential of being more in the right environment. All while projecting to be the kind of free agent addition the Raptors have so rarely hit on.
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