The AltRaps Blog

globesports.com: Raptors exercise option on Bargnani
The Toronto Raptors exercised the third-year team option on forward Andrea Bargnani’s rookie contract Friday.

The move, made during a press conference in the office of Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, locks up the seven-foot Italian through the 2008-09 season. The team retains a fourth-year option on Bargnani for 2009-10.

“Andrea has more than lived up to the enormous expectations thrust on him last season as the top pick of the draft,” Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a release. “Exercising the option while in Andrea’s hometown of Rome could not be more fitting.”