Speaking to reporters on Thursday, including Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca and Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter links), third-year guard Jamal Shead said his new extension with the Raptors came together relatively quickly.

“I thought the offer they gave me was really fair. Honestly, above fair,” Shead said of his three-year, $24MM extension. “They believe in me and we’ve had really good communication.

“… It’s just good to be wanted, so I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t go to waste.”

Shead will earn $2.3MM this season before his extension kicks in during the 2027/28 campaign. The third year (’29/30) of his new contract is a team option, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

Here’s more on the Raptors:

• After previously detailing some of the adjustments that center Jakob Poeltl made this offseason to address a back issue which bothered him for much of 2025/26, Lewenberg says the Austrian big man was “looking spry” during Thursday’s open scrimmage (Twitter link). Poeltl played in a career-low 46 regular season contests in ’25/26 and his production and minutes both declined as well.
• A handful of players were unable to participate in Thursday’s scrimmage, Grange tweets. First-round pick Allen Graves (groin), third-year forward Jamison Battle (back) and veteran Kyle Anderson (knee bruise) were all held out for precautionary reasons, with camp invitees Nate Bittle (foot) and Andre Jackson Jr. (hamstring) joining them on the sidelines. Alijah Martin (knee) and Kawhi Leonard (reconditioning) were limited to drill work, Grange adds.
• In a full story for Sportsnet, Grange examines why Leonard should help improve Toronto’s three-point shooting this season after the team has struggled in that area each of the last three years.  “The NBA style of play has transitioned over the years, and last year I just wanted to try and shoot 10 or more threes. I shot a great percentage off the dribble (37.9%, which was sixth best among players with at least 200 attempts), so I just wanted to raise it up and see if I could keep a high percentage and just try to be effective and help my team win games,” said Leonard, who averaged career highs in three-point attempts (6.8 per game) and makes (2.6) last season. “And hopefully I could continue up here and raise my percentage and attempts as well as possible.”