Former KU shooting guard Svi Mykhailiuk agrees to two-year deal with Toronto Raptors
Former Kansas shooting guard Svi Mykhailiuk is about to play for his fourth NBA team in four seasons as a professional basketball player.
Mykhailiuk, a 6-foot-7 native of Cherkasy, Ukraine, who turned 24 on June 10, has agreed to a free-agent contract with the Toronto Raptors, his representation, SIG Sports, announced Saturday on Twitter.
The deal is for two seasons with the second season having a player option, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Several contenders expressed interest in the sharpshooting wing before he reached agreement with the Raptors,” Charania wrote on Twitter.
Mykhailiuk was a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers (No. 47 overall) in the 2018 NBA Draft.
He averaged 6.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in 36 games last season with the Detroit Pistons. He hit 57 of 171 threes for 33.3% last season in Detroit while playing 17.6 minutes a game.
He and a future second-round draft pick were traded mid season to Oklahoma City in exchange for Hamidou Diallo. Mykhailiuk started nine games in OKC, hitting 48 of 143 threes for 33.6% in 23 minutes per contest. Following the 2020-21 season, Oklahoma City had free-agent rights for Mykhailiuk but rescinded the team’s qualifying offer. Thus he became an unrestricted free agent.
Mykhailiuk played 39 games for the Lakers and three for Detroit in 2018-19, his rookie season. He played 56 games for Detroit in 2019-20. He’s a career 36.2% shooter from three in the NBA after hitting 44.4% of his threes his senior season at KU en route to 14.6 points per game.
“With the Raptors, if Mykhailiuk can ratchet up his shotmaking, he may well find a role on a team that is lacking in high volume shooting and shot creation,” Josh Kern of raptorshq.com wrote Saturday.
“He’ll be battling in camp with the likes of Yuta Watanabe, Ish Wainwright, Sam Dekker and Isaac Bonga for one of the deep rotation spots, but given that Pascal Siakam will miss the start of the season, there’s plenty of room for someone to step and make an impact. Defensively, though, it’s hard to see Mykhailiuk finding favor with head coach Nick Nurse, who expects a lot from his players on that end. Although Mykhailiuk has decent size and a good set of shoulders, he doesn’t have the length that the Raptors seem to prize. So once again, it’s another project for the Raptors’ vaunted player development staff. We’ll see if they can help Mykhailiuk take his game to the next level,” Kern added.
Mykhailiuk had a big game against Toronto last season, scoring 22 points (with nine rebounds) in OKC’s 113-103 win over the Raptors on March 31 in Oklahoma City. He hit 4 of 8 threes and had two blocks in 36 minutes.
Shane Zilberberg of Raptorsinsider.com noted that Mykhailiuk’s Raptors contract is fully guaranteed.
“What Mykhailiuk brings to the Raptors is shooting and intangibles on the offensive end, and this should be a helpful boost to the bench to relieve some of the scoring pressure off sophomore guard Malachi Flynn,” Zilberberg wrote Saturday. “He should prove to be a valuable addition to the bench with his spacing, and with a player option on the second year, he should certainly be eager to prove himself with a bigger role on a younger Raptor team.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Former KU shooting guard Svi Mykhailiuk agrees to two-year deal with Toronto Raptors."
