January 7 is an important date in the NBA for some teams. There are numerous players in the league that have contracts that become fully guaranteed on January 10. Being a player goes on waivers for 48 hours though, the team must decide whether to keep or waive them on January 7 to ensure they don’t receive the guarantee if they decide on doing the latter. One of those players with a non-guaranteed deal is Toronto Raptors center Bruno Fernando.
It seems as if the Raptors have come to their decision, and Bruno Fernando will no longer be a member of the team as Toronto has decided to waive him.
Raptors Waive 6-Year Veteran Before Contract Is Fully-Guaranteed
Bruno Fernando Waived By Raptors Ahead Of His Contract Becoming Fully-Guaranteed
Toronto has decided to waive the 26-year-old Fernando. This is according to Michael Grange of SportsNet who tweeted out the news. He also stated that the Raptors will likely keep the roster spot open and possibly use it for a player on a 10-day contract (which are now allowed to be used as of January 5).
Official announcement forthcoming but it appears that the Raptors have indeed waived Bruno Fernando, whose contract would have guaranteed Tuesday. Expectation is Raptors will keep roster spot open and use it on 10-days in the short term.
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) January 7, 2025
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In the offseason, Fernando agreed on a deal to join the Raptors. The contract that he agreed to initially called for it to become guaranteed once the regular season began. The wording in the deal was changed though, likely because Fernando would have been released before the start of the season if the deal was guaranteed from the get-go.
The six-year veteran mostly started the year in Toronto’s rotation, appearing in 14 of the team’s first 19 contests. He played double-digit minutes in six of those 14 games. Over the last 17 Raptors outings, Fernando has only appeared in three of them. Two of those three actually saw him in the starting lineup, but in one of those starts, he just played two minutes.
In his 17 outings with the Raptors, Fernando played only 8.6 minutes per game. He posted averages of 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists. Fernando shot 26-49 from the field (53.1%) and 6-8 from the free-throw line (75.0%). Fernando will make a little north of $1 million from his time with Toronto. His deal will be prorated from the $2.43 million he would have made if it became fully guaranteed.
Has Potential Suitor Overseas
The 6-foot-9 Fernando was selected in the second round (34th overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Maryland. A couple weeks later, the 76ers dealt Fernando to the Atlanta Hawks. Over his six seasons in the league, Fernando has played for the Hawks (two stints), Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, and Raptors.
In 220 career regular season games, Fernando has averages of 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists. He has career shooting splits of .543/.122/.653. His most productive year came last season with Atlanta as he averaged career-bests of 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in 45 games. On March 23, 2024, Fernando scored a career-high 25 points against the Charlotte Hornets.
While it’s unclear if his NBA journey will continue this season, there is a potential suitor for Fernando overseas. According to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops, Fernando possibly could land with the Turkish club Fenerbache Beko of the EuroLeague.
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