Ochai Agbaji takes a leap towards being a rotation player

One of the more durable players during an injury-filled 24/25 campaign for Toronto, Ochai Agbaji enjoyed a career year in a development season for the young Raptors.

Agbaji came over to the Raptors in the 23/24 season at the trade deadline along with Kelly Olynyk (flipped at the deadline with Bruce Brown for Brandon Ingram). Going the other way was a first-round pick that turned out to be Isiah Collier, a solid point guard for Utah, but Toronto was able to hit on Jamal Shead in the second round of the 2024 draft, so that didn’t turn out to be too big of a loss. Otto Porter Jr. was also a part of the idea, and he wasn’t on an NBA roster during this season. Kira Lewis Jr. suffered the same fate as Porter. It looks, right now, like a win-win trade on both sides, as Collier finished off the season on a high, and Agbaji has flashed great potential to be a rotation piece. It also helped Toronto land Brandon Ingram, which we’ll get to see how it turns out next season.

Let’s talk about his stats now. He surpassed almost all of his career highs this season in the important categories, except for free throws made, free throw percentage, turnovers and blocks. His 10.4 points per game were 2.5 points higher than his previous high, which came in his rookie season. He started a total of 45 games in an injury-riddled season for Toronto after setting a previous high of 28 in his sophomore season with Utah and Toronto. The biggest leaps came from his percentages as Ochai was just .2 shy of shooting 50 percent and just .1 short of being a 40 percent three-point shooter. His efficiency and good shot selection were a huge part of his game during the 24/25 campaign, and he did it at a decent rate of 8.3 shots per game. His rebounding went up by 1 rebound per game from his previous high of 1.8, and he was also a slightly better playmaker with a 1.5 average of assists across the season.

Outside of his tremendous shooting leap, his second biggest leap was on the other side of the ball. Agbaji has been known as a solid defender, but this season he had a career high of 0.9 steals per game along with 0.5 blocks per game, which was just .1 short of his sophomore record. It’s not just blocks and steals, though. Agbaji had a ton of nights where he was asked to defend the opposing team’s best player, and he did a great job of limiting their success as his defensive win shares (advanced stat) shot up from 0.6 in his sophomore year to 1.5.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at Agbaji’s shot chart over the season. It’s no surprise that he was above league average in all areas of the floor except for just 3. But two of those areas are at the mid-range, where he rarely took a shot.

As you can see, not a lot of shot attempts to really complain about it. His shot chart is a very prototypical shot chart of a 3-and-D player. Most of his three-point attempts came from both corners, which makes sense. He also shot above 40% in both corners, which is a great sign for his future.

His only three-point area below league average came from the right elbow, as it was his second-least-attempted shot area beyond the three-point line, but he came short by more than 4 percent.

Surprisingly, he attempted just one more shot from the left elbow and was a whole eight percent higher than the league average, which was his best shooting area from the three-point line.

Although 3-and-D players mostly sit in a corner and wait for their opportunity, Agbaji has shown the ability to put the ball on the floor and take it to the rim. That’s another great trait to have for 3-and-D players, as it will keep the defence on their toes since you’re not a one-trick pony who just chucks open shots. Almost 48 percent of his shots came at the rim, and he was a few points above the league average.

After a disappointing first quarter season with the Raptors where Agbaji shot 39 percent from the field and just 21 percent beyond the arc in 27 games, it looked like the Ochai trade could’ve been a mistake, but the Kansas product came back stronger than ever, had his best season of his young career and has now made himself a contender to become a part of the Raptors future moving forward.

The post Ochai Agbaji takes a leap towards being a rotation player first appeared on Raptors Republic.