The Raptors acquired Ochai Agbaji alongside Kelly Olynyk at least year’s trade deadline, and he’s looking like a steal while he blossoms in his third season in the league, Sportsnet.ca’s Michael Grange writes. In nine games with seven starts, Agbaji is averaging 13.0 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 56.8% from the field and 42.4% from three. He’s impressing as a two-way option on the wing.
“He’s been really good for us on defense. I’d say that’s his biggest strength, his activity there, his versatility there,” teammate Jakob Poeltl said. “He’s filling a kind of little-bit-of-everything role on offence for us, where he’s doing a lot of good cutting, spacing the corners for threes and stuff like that. Being aggressive in the fast break. So, yeah, we need more of that.”
According to Grange, the Raptors liked Agbaji in the 2022 draft, but he was selected 14th overall. Already equipped with the then-projected No. 31 overall pick from the OG Anunoby trade, Toronto was prepared to give up the draft capital necessary (No. 29 overall) to acquire Olynyk and take a shot on Agbaji.
Agbaji’s current average is more than double what he posted last season and Grange writes that he put in a ton of work this offseason in mini-camps and alongside Gradey Dick.
“Everyone had their own path,” Agbaji said. “Some guys figure it out in two minutes, some people it’s two years, three years or even longer. But I feel like the work I put in this off-season has prepared me for this moment and the work I continuously put in is for the rest of my career, really. This is just the starting point, and I’m going to try and keep it going and stay focused on what I need to do every single night to get myself to that level I’m capable of playing.”
We have more from the Raptors:
- Davion Mitchell‘s ultimate fit with the Raptors is still yet to be determined, but he’s making the most of his opportunities so far, Grange writes in a separate piece. Acquired in a trade that sent Jalen McDaniels to Sacramento, Mitchell is one of the team’s more productive players through the early part of the season. He started the first eight games of the season with Immanuel Quickley out, averaging 10.0 points and 6.3 assists. With Quickley back and rookie Jamal Shead impressing early on, it’s unclear what kind of role Mitchell has with the team moving forward, Grange writes. For his part, Grange points out that Mitchell has graded out as the best perimeter defender in the league so far this year.
- Both Ja’Kobe Walter and Jonathan Mogbo, the Nos. 19 and 31 overall picks in this year’s draft, respectively, exited the Raptors’ Wednesday game against the Kings with injuries. Walter re-aggravated the shoulder injury that caused him to miss training camp and the first five games of the season, with leaves him with a day-to-day designation, Grange details in the same piece. Mogbo suffered a hip pointer, and the duration of his injury is unclear.
- Despite an awkward ending to his Raptors tenure that saw him traded to the Spurs in 2018, Kings forward DeMar DeRozan still feels a strong bond with the franchise, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen writes. “I just feel like it, I’m embedded there — it’s a second-nature thing,” DeRozan said. “Anything the Raptors need [from] me, I feel like I’m an extension of that family for the rest of my life.“