The Toronto Raptors roster is all but finalized after the team waived five players Thursday.
The only surprise, given that the team entered training camp with 14 guaranteed contracts, was that the team waived second-year centre Ulrich Chomche, who was poised to start the second year of the two-year, two-way deal he signed with the club after being drafted 57th overall.
Chomche, a native of Cameroon, was the first player to be drafted by an NBA team out of the Basketball Africa League and NBA Academy Africa when he was selected in the 2024 draft.
The six-foot-11, 19-year-old Chomche was very much considered a development project by the Raptors, but they were enthusiastic about his prospects, especially after he showed well at Summer League in July.
But Chomche was held out of training camp this month to an undisclosed medical condition and, according to league sources, will not be eligible to play in an NBA game until he is assessed and approved by the league’s fitness to play panel.
According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the fitness to play panel is used to determine “whether players with potentially life-threatening injuries, illnesses, or other medical conditions (or any of the foregoing that have the potential to result in paralysis or other permanent spinal injury) are medically able and medically fit to practise and play basketball in the NBA.”
The Raptors dealt with a similar situation with former centre Christian Koloko, who never played during his second season in 2023-24 due to what the team called a respiratory condition that was eventually reported to be a blood-clot issue. He was waived by the Raptors to create a roster spot after the team traded Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers in January 2024. Koloko was eventually cleared to play and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2024-25 season and is on their roster now.
Chomche being waived opens a two-way spot on the roster and the expectation, per league sources, is that Mississauga’s AJ Lawson – who was also waived Thursday – will be signed into that spot.
Also waived Thursday were Jared Rhoden, Olivier Sarr, and David Roddy.
The Raptors will most likely begin the regular season on Oct. 22 in Atlanta with one open regular roster spot, which provides some flexibility if they want to sign another player, promote one of their two-way players to a regular contract or simply leave it open and whittle away at their projected $3.3-million luxury tax bill.
Toronto’s final pre-season game is Friday at Scotiabank Arena against Brooklyn.
