As Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday evening, the Toronto Raptors are close to signing free agent guard Jodie Meeks to a 10-day contract.
Free agent guard Jodie Meeks is signing a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 20, 2019
The signing is not official yet, and the Raptors have until Thursday to make it so — that’s when they’re required to get their roster back up to 14 players under contract, following the various moves they made at the trade deadline.
Meeks is coming off a 25-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances at the end of last season, when he played with the Washington Wizards. The Wizards traded Meeks to the Milwaukee Bucks back in October; the Bucks eventually waived him, but kept him on the roster long enough for him to officially serve out the remainder of his suspension. Nevertheless he hasn't played NBA basketball since April of last year.
Meeks is a three-point specialist with a career mark of 37%; he’s cracked 40% three times in his nine seasons, including a career-best 44% just two seasons ago. That’s an area the Raptors definitely need some help in, so although minutes will likely remain sparse for Meeks, he should find spot duty as a gunner — assuming he’s in game shape, of course.
The fact that the Raptors are only signing Meeks to a 10-day leaves them with the flexibility to sign someone else once the contract is up; there could still be some new free agent buyout candidates hitting the market in the next week or so (the buyout cutoff date for playoff eligibility is March 1.