Stanley Johnson, Raptors Agree to 2-Year, $7.5M Contract After Missing on Kawhi

Free-agent small forward Stanley Johnson has agreed to a two-year, $7.5 million deal with the Toronto Raptors, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical and Stadium.

Johnson's agent, Nima Namakian of BDA Sports, also told Charania that the second year of Johnson's contract includes a player option.

Charania believes Johnson has found an "excellent opportunity" with the NBA champions:

Toronto's signing of Johnson came after ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Kawhi Leonard had signed a four-year, $141 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to join forces with Paul George.

Johnson, 23, averaged 6.9 points on 38.9 percent shooting last year for the Detroit Pistons and New Orleans Pelicans. He made just 28.8 percent of his threes and grabbed 3.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game.

The Pels renounced his rights at the end of the 2018-19 season, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Detroit picked the former Arizona small forward with the eighth overall selection in the 2015 NBA draft. He has struggled to find his offensive niche in the NBA after a successful collegiate season in which he had 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game for a 34-4 Wildcats team that reached the Elite Eight.

Over four NBA seasons, Johnson has averaged 7.0 points on 37.4 percent shooting.

Defense is a different story, however: He finished 11th in defensive real-plus minus among 92 qualified small forwards last season, according to ESPN.com. That followed a No. 23 ranking the year before.

Detroit dealt him to New Orleans in a three-team deal that also involved the Milwaukee Bucks in February as part of a deal centered around Thon Maker and Nikola Mirotic.

While Johnson's offensive repertoire has room for improvement, he'll be just 23 years old at the beginning of next season. He's not a finished product by any means and could develop further on that end for Toronto, which could help him realize the potential that saw him drafted in the top 10 in 2015.

Johnson can't come close to matching what Leonard brought to the table offensively in Toronto, but he isn't far off defensively and is still coming into his own in that regard.

Given the Raptors' lack of quality options at small forward and shooting guard, Johnson has a chance to start next season if he can beat out one of OG Anunoby or Norman Powell.

The deal is low-risk in nature for both sides, and if Johnson enjoys a breakout campaign on a solid team next season, he will have a chance to re-enter unrestricted free agency and land a bigger deal on the open market next offseason.