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 50th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, has signed a multi-year deal with the franchise, the club announced, cementing his place in a backcourt the front office clearly believes can grow together. True to team policy, the Raptors kept the financial details behind closed doors, but the commitment speaks loudly enough.

At six-foot-three and 205 pounds, Bradley arrives as more than just a developmental flyer. He’s coming off a decorated senior season at Arizona, where he was the engine of a Wildcats team that powered its way to the Final Four. Big 12 Player of the Year. Big 12 First Team. Big 12 All-Defensive Team. The résumé is already heavy for a 22-year-old guard.

Across 39 games last season, Bradley averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 30.6 minutes, blending playmaking with on-ball pressure that coaches love in March and front offices covet in June. Arizona leaned on him in big moments, and he delivered often enough to walk away with the conference’s top individual honour.

The Raptors got an early, condensed look at how that game might translate in Las Vegas. In five Summer League outings, Bradley posted 6.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 20.5 minutes per night, though he shot just 32.4 per cent from the field. The numbers weren’t eye-popping, but the organization clearly saw enough in his command, pace and defensive activity to invest in a longer runway.

For Bradley, it’s another step in a steady climb that started far from the desert. A native of Rochester, N.Y., he spent his freshman year at Alabama in 2022-23, earning SEC All-Freshman Team honours, before transferring to Arizona for three seasons from 2023-26. Each stop added a layer: SEC-tested as a teenager, then a polished, two-way leader in the Big 12.

Toronto’s decision to elevate Bradley to a standard NBA contract had a knock-on effect. It opened a two-way slot, and the Raptors wasted no time filling it, converting guard Malachi Smith into that role.

Smith, 26, brings a different kind of experience. He split last season between the Brooklyn Nets and their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, showing enough versatility to keep his name on NBA radars. In 15 games with Brooklyn, he averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists, carving out minutes as a capable rotation guard. His G League workload was heavier: 39 appearances, 14.4 points, 5.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game, the kind of all-around production that makes a two-way deal a logical next step.

So the Raptors leave this transaction with two guards on clearly defined paths: Bradley stepping into the full glare of an NBA contract, Smith fighting to turn a two-way opportunity into something more permanent. For a franchise intent on reshaping its perimeter core, these aren’t just roster moves on paper. They’re bets on which guards will grow fast enough to matter when the Raptors are ready to contend again.