Toronto Raptors Sign Jaden Bradley to Multi-Year Deal
The Toronto Raptors have moved quickly to lock in one of their own.
Jaden Bradley, the 6-foot-3 guard taken 50th overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, has signed a multi-year deal with the franchise, the team announced. The Raptors stayed quiet on the financial details, but the commitment speaks loudly enough: they see real upside in the former Arizona star.
From Final Four stage to NBA runway
Bradley arrives in Toronto with a college résumé that reads like a steady climb. As a senior at Arizona last season, he was the engine of a Wildcats team that punched its ticket to the Final Four, earning Big 12 Player of the Year honours in the process.
He averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals across 39 games, logging 30.6 minutes a night. Big 12 First Team. Big 12 All-Defensive Team. The awards matched the workload.
Before that, he cut his teeth as a freshman at Alabama in 2022-23, where he made the SEC All-Freshman Team, then spent three seasons at Arizona from 2023-26, sharpening his game and his reputation. For a kid from Rochester, N.Y., it has been a straight-line rise through some of college basketball’s toughest environments.
Summer League snapshot
His first taste of Raptors basketball came in Summer League, where the numbers didn’t pop off the page, but the outline of his game was clear. In five games, Bradley averaged 6.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 20.5 minutes, shooting 32.4 per cent from the field.
The efficiency will need to climb. The feel is already there: a guard willing to rebound, organize, and defend, not just hunt shots.
Roster chess: Smith converted
Bradley’s signing did more than just secure a rookie. It triggered a knock-on move in the backcourt.
By bringing Bradley onto a standard NBA contract, the Raptors opened up a two-way slot — and wasted no time filling it, converting guard Malachi Smith into that spot.
Smith, 26, split last season between Brooklyn and Long Island, showing he can handle both the NBA tempo and the G League grind. He averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 15 games with the Brooklyn Nets, then ramped up his production in the G League with the Long Island Nets, posting 14.4 points, 5.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds across 39 appearances.
One rookie guard locked in. Another guard tethered to the organization on a two-way. For Toronto, this is how a backcourt is rebuilt: piece by piece, bet by bet — with Bradley now stepping into the biggest stage of his career.
