Andre Jackson Jr. Lands Non-Guaranteed Deal With the Raptors

Andre Jackson Jr. has a new home, or at least a shot at one. The former UConn wing signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Toronto Raptors, a one-year, non-guaranteed deal that hands the Raptors his G-League rights if he doesn't stick on the opening-night roster. It's a fresh start, but the fine print matters here.

Jackson isn't walking into playing time. Toronto has all but one roster spot filled heading into training camp, which means he's scrapping for the final seat on the bench. This is the kind of deal a team hands out when they like the player but aren't committing a dollar until he earns it.

From Champion to Afterthought

The context on Jackson's NBA career is a slide, not a climb. Milwaukee grabbed him 36th overall in the 2023 draft after he helped UConn win its fifth national title, where he stuffed the box score with 6.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists across 36 games. That well-rounded profile was the whole appeal.

His NBA peak came fast and then flattened out. In 2024-25, Jackson played 67 games with 43 starts and put up 3.4 points and 2.7 rebounds a night. Modest, sure, but real minutes. Then last season the bottom fell out: 8.5 minutes per game across 48 appearances, with a pile of DNPs from Doc Rivers.

So the arc is a defensive-minded guard-wing who never turned his effort and connective playmaking into consistent scoring or a reliable rotation role. Toronto is betting the change of scenery and a wide-open bench give him a lane. The Exhibit 10 says they're not betting much.

What It Means for the Raptors

Practically, this is a depth flyer. Even if Jackson makes the roster, he'd slot in as a low-usage defensive piece behind Toronto's established rotation. His offensive game hasn't developed enough to force minutes, and his last full season of run produced numbers that barely register in most formats.

There's a nice footnote for Storrs faithful, though. UConn had nine players log NBA minutes last season and is adding Tarris Reed Jr. and Alex Karaban while losing Tyrese Martin to FC Barcelona. If Jackson sees the floor anywhere this year, the program would likely hit 10 players in a single season for the first time since the 2000s.

The Fantasy Fallout

Let's be blunt: there's nothing to do here yet. Jackson has no meaningful fantasy footprint — his career-best line of 3.4 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 2024-25 wouldn't crack a standard-league bench, and last year's 8.5 minutes a night is a non-factor in every format. A non-guaranteed deal for the last roster spot is the opposite of a fantasy trigger.

The winners in this story aren't fantasy assets at all — they're the UConn program and Jackson's own career runway. For your roster, the players who matter are the ones already locked into Toronto's rotation, and this signing doesn't threaten a single one of them.

Verdict: leave him on the wire. Don't spend a waiver claim, don't stash him in deep leagues, don't even bookmark him. If he somehow wins the roster spot and carves out 20-plus minutes on a defense-heavy role, revisit it — but that's a September-preseason question, not an August one. For now, this is a name to file away, nothing more.