Raptors bring the heat in Summer League romp over Bulls
The Toronto Raptors were in Las Vegas on Friday, playing a Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue headlined Chicago Bulls squad and wearing jerseys with a distinctly smaller Raptors chevron. An NBA 2K26 Summer League logo decorated centre court.
All these things made it clear this was a Summer League game, the Raptors play did not.
Toronto’s assortment of defensive-minded guards picked up full court, hounding the Bulls youngsters for 94 feet. Never mind that Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter combined for over 2500 minutes and 29 starts last season, they were out for blood. Walter did leaping jumping jacks in an inbounder’s face on the sideline. Shead lived in opposing jerseys, drawing a signature offensive foul from Wooga Poplar. Walter sprinted from the corner and tore the ball from Chomche’s man’s hands on a high post-up. If this was supposed to be an offseason tune up, they didn’t get the memo, playing like they were fighting for the roster spots already securely in their possession.
The Raptors relentlessly accosted the Bulls ballhandlers, making every possession as uncomfortable as possible. And the effort was initiated by their starting lineup of four seasoned soon-to-be sophomores and Colin Castleton, all of whom played significant NBA minutes for the Raptors last season.
Last season’s rookie quartet – particularly Shead and Walter – fall in the category of “too good for Summer League,” and that’s certainly what they’re out to prove. Friday’s 116-72 battering of the Bulls was a good first step, but it was AJ Lawson and Alijah Martin who really stole the show off the bench.
All four guards were part of the immense defensive pressure the Raptors applied to the Bulls, suffocating them at the point of attack and in rotation. While Chicago extended their pickup points at times, the contrast in the space the Raptors offence was allowed was often staggering. Toronto forced an obscene 33 Bulls turnovers as a result and outscored the Bulls 32-16 in fastbreak points.
And they managed all this without top defensive prospect Collin Murray-Boyles, who was out with an adductor strain.
Walter banged a transition pull-up 3 for the first points of the game and former Raptor Javon Freeman-Liberty (led all Bulls with 21 points) responded with a semi-transition triple of his own for the Bulls’ first field goal. Aside from that offence was mostly a grind to start as the Raptors shook off some rust.
Shead and Castleton each threw the ball way away as the Raptors nearly matched the Bulls in the first quarter with seven turnovers. Toronto made 19 total turnovers in the game. While some were errors in execution, they also come as a byproduct of the Raptors pass-heavy offence, and the ball was humming. After a broken press every Raptor touched the ball before a missed 3 by Chucky Hepburn. Later Hepburn got middle and found Battle, who hit Martin on a baseline cut who found Lawson for an open corner 3.
Lawson had a whale of a game, going berserk in the third quarter to put it to bed for good. He jumped a pass and fed Walter in transition who showed patience on the finish through contact.
Later Lawson forced another turnover recovering from a blitz. He had back-to-back drives to the rim, the second of which he finished after grabbing his own board twice. The Toronto-born wing hit triples on either side of a Bulls timeout to cap off the heater, scoring 14 points in the frame and finishing with a game-high 22. He did everything, even sprawling on the floor secure his second steal. Lawson is among the group fighting for the Raptors final roster spot as his deal is non-guaranteed.
Castleton, the other non-guaranteed Raptor, showed similar fight, diving for loose balls three separate times. While the six-foot-11 centre blocked Buzelis in the first, his play in the paint was lacking on both ends overall as he struggled to protect the rim and smoked a couple layups. But he was strong on the glass, set good screens, and even successfully guarded Buzelis 45 feet from the basket. It was a mixed bag.
It was a big Ulrich Chomche game, as the Cameroonian youngster appeared more comfortable and measured. On offence he made better contact on ball screens than last season with the 905, carving space for both Shead and Walter to get downhill and finish at the rim. Walter put his apparent 12-pounds of added muscle to use as he threw ahead a dribble into space and finished through contact.
Walter ran a get with Chomche and lobbed him for free throws. The 19-year-old big used his length to steal a SLOB pass and finished the transition runout. Chomche quickly racked up three steals and added two blocks with his exceptionally disruptive rotations.
The Raptors intriguing and gritty young guard tandem of Shead and Martin took the reins as they first started to run away with things in the second quarter combining for eight points on a 14-1 run.
Martin warned that Raptors fans wouldn’t want to miss his game and didn’t take long to make good on that promise. He blew by Freeman-Liberty and detonated on Bulls big man David Muoka with a massive poster. The six-foot-two guard evidently has some serious bounce.
Raptors also came out flying in the fourth. Martin canned a triple off a wide pin down and Mogbo immediately grabbed a steal, dishing to Martin and getting the lob back for a transition slam. Shead gave Mogbo another lob the next possession as a 9-0 Raptors run extended their lead beyond 30.
The Mogbo show continued as yet another lob from Martin was thrown down emphatically. Benches emptied soon after as Mogbo’s fifth dunk of the game put the exclamation point on the Raptors Summer League opening romp.
A couple notes to wrap up, Martin hit another baseline fader later in the fourth. Between his athletic pop, shot-making and hard-nosed defence, there is a ton to like.
Also, the Raptors ran the same sideline-out-of-bounds play a couple times. A stagger into a get action for Shead as the inbounder. The first time the ball eventually found Martin and he took it directly at Buzelis finishing with an impressive left-handed push. The second time it was followed by a veer screen for Shead by Castleton. Shead drove the paint and tipped back his missed floater for another two.
This has all the makings of an exceptionally fun Summer League. Next game is on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET against the Orlando Magic!
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