Raptors to Call Up Raptors 905 Guard as Injuries Mount in Toronto
The Toronto Raptors are calling up Javon Freeman-Liberty.
The 24-year-old sophomore guard may see his first NBA playing time Wednesday night against the Miami Heat, having been recalled from the G League as Toronto battles a slew of injuries in the backcourt.
Freeman-Liberty has been a star for the Raptors 905 this year, averaging a team-high 22.3 points with 3.5 assists, and 7.2 rebounds per game this year. It has, however, been a tumultuous year for Freeman-Liberty as both he and the 905 have battled injuries of their own all season.
A 6-foot-3 Chicago native, Freeman-Liberty joined the Raptors following an impressive Summer League showing with the Chicago Bulls. He spent all of last season with the Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s G League affiliate, but was offered a better opportunity with Toronto over the summer.
Toronto has tried to make Freeman-Liberty more of a point guard this year. He’s still a below-average three-point shooter, connecting on just 33.3% of his threes this year with more turnovers than you’d like from a lead guard. But he’s shown he can be a high-level finisher with burst to get to the hoop.
“You always need players on the court who can collapse the defense and touch the paint and Javon is an unbelievable paint-touch player. He finds a way to get downhill and his shot has come along so well that now you can do both,” 905 coach Eric Khoury said of Freeman-Liberty earlier this season. “He can shoot if they go under or if they go over the top he’s collapsing the paint and you trust him to make the right read every time whether that's a finish or a kick-out. … So there's a heck of a player for us and he's somebody who kind of creates a lot of advantages.”
Toronto has already ruled out Jakob Poeltl, Otto Porter Jr., and Christian Koloko. Gradey Dick and Gary Trent Jr. are both questionable to play. If they are out, Freeman-Liberty may see playing time off the bench alongside Dennis Schröder in Toronto’s backcourt.
