Khem Birch

After three-and-a-half mostly unremarkable seasons in Orlando, Birch was waived in April 2021 by the Magic. Two days later, the center-deprived Raptors signed the Canadian-born Birch, who then started 17 of Toronto's final 19 games. In those 19 contests, Birch delivered a useful 11.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks over 30.4 minutes per game. That production led to a three-year agreement from the Raptors in August. Also in August, the Raptors released center Aron Baynes, leaving Birch and Chris Boucher to battle for the bulk of minutes at the five. Granted, Toronto did acquire the 6-foot-8 Precious Achiuwa in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Kyle Lowry to Miami. But Achiuwa will probably spend more time fighting Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes for minutes at the four. On the whole, Birch delivers consistent, if not spectacular, results. Over his final 17 games (all starts), he averaged 12.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 blocks while shooting nearly 55 percent from the floor. Chances are, Birch won't walk into a 30-minute-per-game role again, so he's best targeted as a late-round flier for managers in two-center leagues.

Birch completed his third campaign in Orlando last season and essentially filled the same role as in his first two years, albeit with a bump to 19.2 minutes per contest with the aid of a career-high 24 starts. The UNLV alum was a key fill-in when Nikola Vucevic missed 11 games with an ankle injury from late November to mid-December and finished with averages of 4.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.0 assist over 48 games. Birch is a solid rebounder who's best suited at power forward, as he's undersized for the five at 6-foot-9, but he won't offer much in the way of offensive contributions. With the Magic returning all five starters and valued veteran Al-Farouq Aminu scheduled to return to the frontcourt rotation from a knee injury that limited him to 18 games in his first season in Orlando, Birch's role figures to be modest once again unless multiple injuries strike the big men in front of him.

After going undrafted in 2014, Birch spent a year in the G-League before moving overseas for two seasons. Last year, however, he was given another opportunity to play in the NBA. Birch played 42 games for the Magic, averaging 4.2 points and 4.3 rebounds across 13.8 minutes. The UNLV product was also able to rack up three double-doubles and 12 contests with at least one block. With the addition of Mohamed Bamba with the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft, minutes will be harder to come by for Birch, and it seems likely he'll spend significant time on the pine and/or in the G-League.