The Toronto Raptors leaned more heavily into their reputation as a team that loves long-armed forwards by signing Jalen McDaniels in free agency. The 25-year-old joins Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, rookie Gradey Dick and many others on a Toronto team that is entering a new era.

McDaniels, a lanky, 6-foot-10 forward with a seven-foot-long wingspan, spent the back half of last season with the Philadelphia 76ers after being traded by the Charlotte Hornets. He showed some shooting potential but will mostly be used for his versatile defense. New head coach Darko Rajakovic can use McDaniels in a variety of lineups and help him continue his transition into an effective 3-and-D player.

Last season, across 80 games (56 of which came with the Hornets), McDaniels averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 33.2 percent from deep. The Raptors signed him to a two-year contract worth $9.3 million.

In his introductory press conference with the Raptors, McDaniels explained why taking his talents north of the border made sense for him. “I felt like it was a good fit for me,” he said. “They have a lot of guys like myself — long, athletic, very versatile, can bring different thing to the table on the court. I feel like I just it their playing style and fit with the guys on the team as well…It feels good just to be wanted by the organization and actually gonna be here. I'm just excited to be here. Just gonna play hard and do my thing out there.”

The Raptors' offseason has been defined mostly by trade possibilities involving Siakam and Fred VanVleet leaving for the Houston Rockets in free agency. Replacing VanVleet with Dennis Schroder was a solid move, though they will likely not be able to optimize McDaniels (and other players) due to their lack of high-level point guards. Although Siakam is a solid playmaker, Toronto will need to get more offense

Still, Jalen McDaniels should prove to be a solid addition to the Raptors. He has the potential to get even better and should be a great fit off their bench.