Darko Rajakovic ‘Still Hopeful’ Jalen McDaniels Can Figure It Out

Things have not gone to plan for Jalen McDaniels with the Toronto Raptors.

The team signed McDaniels this past offseason to a two-year, $9.3 million deal.

This means that McDaniels has $4.7 million guaranteed to him next season and that will go against the Raptors salary cap assuming he is not traded.

The Raptors were hoping the 26-year-old was going to be a nice piece in the second unit, but he has been the complete opposite of that.

He has struggled to find any sort of rhythm to his game and has been borderline unplayable at times.

He is coming off an 0-3 outing against the Washington Wizards. McDaniels only played 4 minutes and was a -10.

In the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 5, he scored just 2 points in 13 minutes and was a -9.

It is concerning that he has been unable to carve out any real significant minutes especially considering the Raptors have dealt with a handful of injuries.

Despite his struggled though, head coach Darko Rajakovic is still confident that McDaniels can turn it around for Toronto via TSN’s Josh Lewenberg:

“I am still hopeful that he can figure it out and help us. I think he’s a very talented basketball player. He just needs to find that niche on the court… I think he’s going to have a great summer. I think next year he’s going to be in the rotation and help us.”

There have been some bad free agent signings in Raptors franchise history and McDaniels might be one of them.

Can he turn things around?

Even though Rajakovic is optimistic that McDaniels can turn things around, it is hard to imagine that he will have a place in the rotation next season.

With four games left, McDaniels is running out of time when it comes to making a good impression on the team.