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Raptors Notes: Lineup, Mogbo, Barnes, Trade Candidates

December 20th, 2024 at 5:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors deployed their youngest starting lineup in franchise history in Thursday’s game vs. Brooklyn, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca, who notes that the average age of Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Ochai Agbaji, Gradey Dick, and returning star Scottie Barnes was 22 years and 187 days. Agbaji, who is 24, called it “crazy” that he was the oldest starter in the lineup.

Missing reliable regulars like Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, the Raptors lost a winnable game to the Nets by a score of 101-94, but there were some intriguing takeaways, including the use of Mogbo as a switchable small-ball five, Murphy writes.

Toronto has been better defensively with Mogbo on the court this season and the rookie has provided some reasons for optimism with his play on the offensive end of the floor too, according to Murphy, though he’s still in the early stages of his NBA development.

“There is a lot, for sure, for him. He is learning a lot and every time,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said of Mogbo prior to the loss. “When you learn different positions that he’s played lately, different matchups, at some point it comes to you slowing down a little bit with your aggressiveness. But we are working through that, and we want him to be aggressive, we want him to be forceful and when he does that, he’s the player that we like.”

Here’s more on the Raptors:

The Raptors haven’t had much good fortune so far this season, but the team caught a break with Barnes’ speedy return from his ankle injury, notes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). The All-Star forward was originally projected to miss “several weeks” due to the sprain, but ended up missing just two games and returning to action 10 days after sustaining the injury. He had 16 points and six assists in 36 minutes on Thursday in his first game back.
Eric Koreen of The Athletic breaks down the Raptors’ roster into “trade tiers,” evaluating which players are the most and least likely to be on the move at this season’s deadline. Koreen classifies veteran swingman Bruce Brown, who is on a $23MM expiring contract, as Toronto’s most likely player to be traded, and suggests Chris Boucher, Bruno Fernando, Davion Mitchell, Kelly Olynyk, and Garrett Temple are the other top candidates to be moved.
Within the same story, Koreen says he views Barnes as essentially untouchable, with Barrett, Quickley, Dick, Agbaji, Mogbo, Walter, and Jamal Shead also unlikely to be dealt. That leaves Poeltl, who probably won’t be untouchable but also likely won’t go anywhere unless Toronto gets a very strong offer, Koreen says.
In case you missed it, the Raptors remained in the top 10 in Sportico’s latest NBA franchise valuations, coming in at $4.66 billion.

Raptors Notes: Olynyk, Brown, Quickley, Mogbo, Rhoden

December 8th, 2024 at 10:16am CST by Rory Maher

After missing the first 21 games of the season with a back injury, Raptors big man Kelly Olynyk made his season debut in Saturday’s loss to Dallas, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Olynyk explained that his back unexpectedly tightened up after a training camp practice, and it took six weeks for him to recover.

“Playing basketball is what I love to do,” Olynyk said of finally returning to the lineup. “So you know, whenever you get to wake up and play basketball, it’s a great day. Obviously, it took a lot longer than I wanted, probably the team wanted, everybody wanted, but those kind of things happen. You’ve got to take your time. You can’t rush it, but it’s nice to get back out there and get into the flow of things.”

The 33-year-old forward/center had an excellent night, recording 13 points, four rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes without missing a shot (3-of-3 on three-pointers, 4-of-4 on free throws).

Here’s more on the Raptors, mostly from Grange:

Bruce Brown appears to be close behind Olynyk in making his own season debut after undergoing offseason knee surgery, with Grange saying the veteran swingman “should be back any time.” Long viewed as a trade candidate, Brown is on an expiring $23MM contract.
Immanuel Quickley‘s return to action does not appear to be imminent, however. According to Grange, there’s still no recovery timeline for the 25-year-old, who sustained a torn ligament in his left elbow on November 10.
As Grange writes, despite losing to Dallas, Toronto had some impressive performances from its young players, with head coach Darko Rajakovic singling out rookie forward Jonathan Mogbo for the “awesome” job he did defending Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. “Jonathan’s super versatile. He can guard one through five,” said Olynk. “ … So that’s really exciting, and he can rebound, he can run, he can put the ball on the floor and handle it a little bit. He made some shots today. As he continues to develop that three-point shot, it’s going to be, obviously, big for him and for us, but he has that athletic ability around the rim. He caught a lob today that looked like he got boosted in the air. It was unbelievable. But you know, his skill set will definitely, I think, complement mine, and mine will complement his. So looking forward to that.” The 31st pick of June’s draft, Mogbo finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 21 minutes.
Third-year guard Jared Rhoden spent training camp with Toronto on an Exhibit 10 contract, but was waived before the season began. Charlotte claimed him off waivers and converted him to a two-way deal, but he was recently cut by the Hornets to make room for Isaiah Wong. According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), Rhoden will join Toronto’s G League affiliate, the Raptors 905, which controls his returning player rights, but the team will have to release someone to make room for him.

Eastern Notes: Simmons, Mogbo, Cavaliers, Jackson, Rollins

November 9th, 2024 at 11:48am CST by Tristan Tucker

With Nic Claxton back in the starting lineup, the Nets needed to move someone to their bench. That someone was Ben Simmons, who came off the bench in an overtime loss to the Celtics on Friday, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype notes (Twitter link). Simmons, who had started 326 of his 338 career games entering the night, finished with eight points, seven rebounds and eight assists in the defeat.

Head coach Jordi Fernandez opted for a starting lineup that consisted of Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas, Claxton, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Simmons, Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams and Keon Johnson rounded out the rotation off the bench.

“Whatever the team needs me to do, whether it’s come off the bench or starting, I gotta do,” Simmons said, per Erik Slater of Clutch Points (Twitter link). “That’s what coach wants right now. It is what it is.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Jonathan Mogbo‘s been one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA this season –the No. 31 overall pick is averaging 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in a crucial role for the Raptors. Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes that Mogbo is getting a crash course in the NBA and is acing it, with his plus-21 mark for the season ranking first among Toronto’s rotation regulars. The rookie forward played some defensive possessions with Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis as his primary assignment.
The Cavaliers are off to a franchise- and league-best 10-0 record after drubbing the Warriors on Friday night. Jason Lloyd of The Athletic writes that the Cavs are playing a confident brand of basketball and this could mark the start of something special. “There’s a quiet confidence about this team,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s a humility but they know they’re good. … It’s almost like they know they have to take the next step. It’s there. It’s present.“
Bucks forward Andre Jackson Jr., who recently received a promotion to the starting lineup, is dealing with a hip pointer and only played 18 minutes in a loss to the Knicks on Friday, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). In other news, two-way guard Ryan Rollins played 12 minutes off the bench, recording seven points. Bontemps writes that Rollins has overtaken Delon Wright in the rotation, as Wright didn’t play on Friday.

Injury Notes: Raptors, Zion, Morant, Melton, Vassell

November 8th, 2024 at 5:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Raptors rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, who missed the preseason and the first five games of the regular season with a sprained right AC joint, has re-sprained that joint and will be reevaluated in a week, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.

It’s not all bad news on the injury front for Toronto though. Rookie forward Jonathan Mogbo is listed as probable to play on Saturday after exiting Wednesday’s game with a hip pointer, while starting point guard Immanuel Quickley has been upgraded to questionable after missing the last eight games with a pelvic contusion (Twitter link via Murphy).

There’s optimism Quickley will be back in action this weekend, either on Saturday vs. the Clippers or Sunday vs. the Lakers, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Pelicans star Zion Williamson was ruled out for Friday’s game against Orlando about 90 minutes before tip-off (Twitter link via the team). As Christian Clark of NOLA.com notes (via Twitter), Williamson has now missed three of the team’s past four games with three different injury designations. He was sidelined by right hamstring tightness on Sunday, right thigh soreness on Monday, and left hamstring tightness today. With Zion out, the injury-plagued Pelicans are running out a starting lineup of Jose Alvarado, Brandon Boston, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Yves Missi alongside Brandon Ingram, tweets Clark.
After leaving Wednesday’s win due to hip and hamstring discomfort, Grizzlies star Ja Morant will miss Friday’s contest vs. Washington due to right hip soreness. The point guard will undergo more imaging on Saturday to assess the severity of his injury and determine a return timeline, head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters today (Twitter link via Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com).
Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton, who has missed five consecutive games due to a low back strain, has been cleared to return for Friday’s showdown vs. the 9-0 Cavaliers, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Draymond Green (right knee contusion) and Brandin Podziemski (illness) will also be available for Golden State, giving the team a fully healthy roster (Twitter link via Slater).
As expected, Devin Vassell remains on track to make his season debut for the Spurs on Saturday after nine games while recovering from foot surgery. The team has listed him as probable to play vs. Utah, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

Raptors Notes: Agbaji, Mitchell, Walter, Mogbo, DeRozan

November 7th, 2024 at 10:12pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Raptors acquired Ochai Agbaji alongside Kelly Olynyk at last season’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 (seven starts), Agbaji is averaging 13.0 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 56.8% from the field and 42.4% on three-pointers. 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 and Toronto didn’t control its own first-round pick. Equipped at last season’s trade deadline with the projected No. 31 overall pick in 2025 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 scoring 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 story. Acquired in a trade that sent Jalen McDaniels to Sacramento, Mitchell has been one of the team’s more productive players through the early part of the season. He has started the past eight games with Immanuel Quickley out, averaging 10.0 PPG and 6.3 APG. Once is Quickley back – and with rookie Jamal Shead impressing early on – it’s unclear what Mitchell’s role will look like, Grange writes, but the fourth-year guard has graded out as the best perimeter defender in the league so far this fall.
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.“

Eastern Notes: Ball, Holland, Raptors, Hornets, G League

October 30th, 2024 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

After the Bulls announced on Tuesday that Lonzo Ball has been diagnosed with a sprained right wrist and will be sidelined for at least 10 days, the veteran point guard spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the injury, explaining that it falls between a Grade 1 and Grade 2 sprain, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN.

“If I play on it right now while it’s still swollen, it could get to a Grade 3. That would require surgery,” said Ball, who had a brace on his right wrist. “Trying to avoid that obviously. Let the swelling down, hopefully tape it up and get back to it.”

It’s an unfortunate setback for Ball, given that his comeback from two-and-a-half lost seasons due to knee surgeries had been off to as good a start as he and the team could have hoped for. Although Ball’s early-season numbers (4.7 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game on 35.7% shooting) don’t jump off the page, he hasn’t experienced any setbacks related to his left knee and the team has a +20.3 net rating in his 47 minutes of action.

“An unfortunate moment, but it happens,” Ball said. “Hopefully I get over it as fast as possible and get back to business.”

Here’s more from across the Eastern Conference:

No. 5 overall pick Ron Holland has played a modest role so far for the Pistons, averaging 13.3 minutes per night through his first four NBA games and contributing 5.3 PPG and 3.3 RPG. Still, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has liked what he’s seen from the 19-year-old rookie, writes Spencer Davies of RG.org. “The thing that’s been most impressive is he’s just fearless,” Bickerstaff said recently. “You watch some of the guys that he’s gone after defensively, gotten in a few skirmishes already. But (he) just hasn’t backed down from anybody. To be a rookie and young at that, to come in and take on challenges of these proven, veteran guys, I just have a ton of respect for that.”
Once lauded for the rises of unheralded prospects like Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam, the Raptors‘ player development program hasn’t had nearly as many wins in recent years. However, that could be changing this season, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic, who takes a look at the promising early-season progress Toronto is seeing from rookies Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, and Jamison Battle.
James Jordan, who had been serving as the Hornets‘ executive vice president and chief operating officer, will move into a senior advisory position beginning this weekend, as Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer details. The older brother of former Hornets owner Michael Jordan, James Jordan has been employed by the franchise since 2013.
The Bulls‘ and Pistons‘ G League affiliates are among the teams to announce their training camp rosters this week. The Windy City Bulls’ roster includes veteran NBA guard Ryan Arcidiacono and former lottery pick Joshua Primo, while wings Lamar Stevens and Dereon Seabron are among the former NBA players on the Motor City Cruise’s squad (Twitter link).

Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Brown, Celtics, Mogbo, Raptors, Thibs

July 25th, 2024 at 10:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Chris Mannix of SI.com about his relationship with longtime teammate Jaylen Brown, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said he never wanted Brown traded, but admitted that he could have expressed that sentiment more vocally earlier in his career as trade rumors swirled around the 2016 lottery pick.

“I’ve always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye,” Tatum said. “He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, ‘Man, I don’t get involved with any of those talks.’

“I never went to (Celtics president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) or went to any player like, ‘Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.’ I show up and I want to do my job and play basketball. And looking back on in those moments, I didn’t know how that could affect somebody, because I was never in that situation. I feel like maybe I could have done a better job of publicly saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody, we want JB.’ I just was always like, ‘I want to stay out of it.'”

The Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals in five of Brown’s first seven seasons, but were unable to break through and win a championship until 2024. Now that they have that title under their belt, Tatum is relieved that he and Brown should no longer have to face questions about whether it can thrive together and win at the highest level.

“We’ve figured out that we need each other,” Tatum told Mannix. “We have learned how to coexist. And we know we need to be the best version of ourselves in order for all of this to work. We weren’t necessarily the best play-makers early in our careers but we developed into guys that really bleed the game. We want to be a great example of guys that play on both ends as a floor and guys who are the best teammates that we can be.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

After locking up most of their rotation players to multiyear deals, the Celtics project to have the NBA’s first ever $500MM roster in 2025/26, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. That $500MM+ figure, which includes both player salaries and luxury tax penalties, will loom large over the organization as the team looks to defend its title and the ownership group looks to sell a controlling stake in the franchise.
Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca takes a closer look at the unconventional path that Raptors rookie Jonathan Mogbo – the No. 31 pick in this year’s draft – took to the NBA and details how the 6’7″ forward boosted his stock significantly during the pre-draft process. According to Lewenberg, entering the second day of the draft, the Raptors did some extra homework on the projected first-round picks who were still available after day one – such as Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy – but ultimately decided they preferred Mogbo, whom they’d ranked in the early 20s. Eventual No. 41 pick Adem Bona was also high on Toronto’s board and received some consideration at the start of the second round, Lewenberg adds.
Tom Thibodeau‘s new three-year extension with the Knicks doesn’t include any option years, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. While Begley doesn’t have the full salary details on Thibodeau’s new deal, he says it’s is “in line with the current market for head coaches” (Twitter link).

Raptors Announce Several Signings, Including First-Rounder Walter

July 4th, 2024 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors have announced a series of signings, confirming in a pair of press releases that they’ve signed second-round picks Jonathan Mogbo and Jamal Shead to standard contracts and undrafted free agent Branden Carlson to a two-way deal. Those agreements were all previously reported.

The team also announced that it has signed first-round pick Ja’Kobe Walter to his rookie scale contract.

The 6’5″ Walter was one of the top recruits in the nation heading into college. He made an immediate impact with the Bears as a freshman in 2023/24, starting all 35 games he played and averaging 14.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 37.6% from the field and 34.1% from three-point range. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and earned third-team all-conference honors.

As the No. 19 pick in the draft, Walter figures to earn about $3.47MM salary as a rookie and $16.79MM across the entirety of his four-year contract. Those numbers assume he signed for 120% of the rookie scale amount, which almost every player does.

With Walter, Mogbo, and Shead all signed, the Raptors are up to 13 players on guaranteed standard contracts, with Immanuel Quickley and Garrett Temple expected to fill the 14th and 15th roster spots once their deals are official.

The team’s other draftee, No. 57 pick Ulrich Chomche, is considered likely to end up on a two-way deal, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. However, the team is still waiting to officially acquire Chomche and can’t complete that signing yet.

Second-Round Pick Mogbo Agrees To Three-Year Deal With Raptors

July 4th, 2024 at 8:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors have agreed to a three-year, $6.11MM contract with forward Jonathan Mogbo, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link).

It’s the maximum amount allowed under the current CBA’s second-round exception, as our breakdown shows. Mogbo will earn about $1.86MM as a rookie, which is equivalent to this year’s minimum salary for a player who already has one year of NBA experience. The third year will be a team option.

Mogbo played last season with San Francisco, averaging 14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks. With the draft split into two rounds last month, Mogbo was the first pick of the second round.

Toronto resisted offers for the pick because they liked Mogbo’s versatility. He’s also a childhood friend of franchise player Scottie Barnes.

Under the previous CBA, over-the-cap teams would have needed to use a chunk of their mid-level exception to give a second-round pick like Mogbo a third year, as we outline in our glossary entry on the second-round pick exception.

Raptors Notes: Mogbo, Quickley, Shead, Chomche

June 28th, 2024 at 1:54pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors selected San Francisco’s Jonathan Mogbo with the first pick in the second round because they like his game, but it didn’t hurt that he was a childhood friend of Scottie Barnes, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN. The former AAU teammates grew up together in Florida and still train together during the offseason. General manager Bobby Webster said the team wasn’t aware of their friendship – which dates back to the fourth grade – when it started scouting Mogbo.

“Around the league a lot of guys grow up playing with each other, and I think those relationships are fun to see from afar, but you can probably imagine the basketball [piece] has to work and we have to like him as a player,” Webster said. “By doing that it creates a basis for that relationship to be fun, and I’m sure they enjoy it, but he has to fit as a basketball player first.”

Mogbo is only 6’6″, but he was used as a big man in college because of his 7’2″ wingspan. He’s considered a potentially elite defender with a questionable shot, but the Raptors are impressed by his versatility and believe he can adjust to a wing role in the NBA.

“It probably feels like a bit more of a Raptors pick,” Webster added. “An athletic wing who can do a little bit of everything. There’s probably some development curve for him, shooting-wise. But I think, physically, [he has an] NBA body… He can really run, can really jump. So that felt like us; the makings of a two-way Raptors wing.”

There’s more from Toronto:

There may be some “sticker shock” regarding Immanuel Quickley‘s new five-year, $175MM contract, but it should wind up being an average salary for a starting NBA point guard, contends Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Koreen points out that 11 point guards will already earn more than Quickley next season, and Jamal Murray, Jalen Brunson, De’Aaron Fox and Derrick White may surpass him soon. Koreen adds that Quickley will get 8% annual raises while the salary cap is expected to rise by 10% each year, so the new contract will steadily become less burdensome.
Although they opted to keep the 31st pick, the Raptors’ front office got plenty of phone calls between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, Koreen states in a separate story. Webster is among several executives who prefer the new draft format with the first and second rounds on separate days. “There’s a little interesting dynamic in the late first, early second, and that’s what we’ve kind of found with 31,” he said. “In some ways teams would almost prefer the early seconds. They cost a little bit less (against) the tax.”
Toronto appears to have promised a guaranteed contract to Houston guard Jamal Shead, who was selected with the 45th pick. Sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic that the NCAA’s Defensive Player of the Year turned down more than a dozen two-way offers before getting guaranteed money from the Raptors (Twitter link).
Toronto paid $1MM to acquire the 57th pick from Memphis, sources tell Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). It was used to select Cameroon center Ulrich Chomche, making him the first player ever drafted from the NBA Academy Africa, which Raptors executive Masai Ujiri helped to develop.