A too-early projection of the Toronto Raptors’ rotation

Summer League has only just finished, but it’s always what’s next in the basketball world.

And what’s next for the Toronto Raptors is training camp, then preseason, all before the 2025-2026 regular season, where, by all accounts, expectations are fairly high north of the border.

The expectations are elevated because of the talent on this Raptors team; from face of the franchise Scottie Barnes, his new running mate and last year’s trade deadline acquisition Brandon Ingram, recently extended big man Jakob Poeltl, a pair of former New York Knicks in RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, a superb sophomore class, and another top 10 pick all in the mix.

It’s all this talent and depth that makes projecting Toronto’s rotation for next year a bit tricky, especially with roster battles clashing at seemingly every position up and down the squad.

Let’s take a very early look at what the Raptors’ rotation could look like for this upcoming season.

The starters

While the Raptors have a young core that was highlighted in Las Vegas at Summer League, Toronto features five established players in the league who will more than likely start for the Raptors in Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Ingram, Barnes, and Poeltl.

It’s nearly impossible to try and figure out how this group will do, though the inclusion of the former All-Star Ingram is figured to help Toronto’s half-court offence issues.

The 6-foot-8, 190-pound wing only appeared in 18 games last season for the New Orleans Pelicans and hasn’t played since Dec. 7 with a left ankle sprain. The 27-year-old averaged 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.5 stocks while shooting 46.5 per cent from the field and 37.4 per cent from distance across those 18 contests.

Plopping the 2020 Most Improved Player award winner alongside this group of the other four players is intriguing because they have barely played together themselves, and when they have, it hasn’t been ideal.

Barnes, Barrett, Quickley, and Poeltl have only played 374 minutes together total ever; that’s not even eight full games. They only played 140 minutes together last season, and they weren’t particularly good. The foursome registered a -11.2 NET rating, which was the worst among four-man lineups (minimum 140 minutes) on the Raptors and the 545th worst out of 582 four-man lineups league-wide.

It’s a small sample size, and it was inconsistent minutes with players in and out of the lineup, but you would rather the numbers be good than bad. Like they were in 2024, recording a 10.8 NET rating in 234 minutes together.

“BBQ,” featuring just Barnes, Barrett, and Quickley, by the numbers, weren’t effective last year as well. The trio put up a -12.7 NET across 285 minutes, the 784th worst three-man lineup in the association last season (minimum 285 mins). Though in 2024, they registered a 2.9 NET across 439 minutes, much improved.

Having this starting lineup just play together, let alone how they look together, is the most fascinating part about the Raptors moving forward.

The subs

As for the bench, roster battles across the squad amongst players under 25 years old headline the group.

Gradey Dick vs. Ja’Kobe Walter, Collin Murray-Boyles vs. Jonathan Mogbo, and, to a lesser extent, Jamal Shead vs. Alijah Martin and Ochai Agbaji vs. Jamison Battle are all interesting matchups to monitor as they will determine how the minutes are distributed.

It is a good thing, however, as iron sharpens iron, and having depth, plus the versatility to give different looks, is something that is in fashion in the modern NBA and something the Raptors could possess.

Of course, most of the aforementioned superb sophomore class finds themselves here, and how all of Walter, Mogbo, Shead, and Battle look in year two and where they slot in the rotation on a more competitive team will be intriguing.

Where the rookies fit in is also interesting, especially Murray-Boyles. The ninth overall pick averaged 16.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 58.6 per cent from the field, 26.5 per cent from three, and 70.7 per cent from the free throw line in his sophomore season at South Carolina.

The draft capital suggests the 20-year-old will get the opportunity. What he does with those minutes, especially defensively (which was intriguing at Summer League), is the fun part.

Not to be forgotten, Sandro Mamukelashvili will more than likely soak up a large majority of the backup centre minutes. The 6-foot-11, 240-pound big averaged 6.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 0.6 stocks while shooting 48.0 per cent from the field, 34.9 per cent from distance, and 72.5 per cent from the charity stripe over 126 games with the San Antonio Spurs.

The bench

On every roster, of course, not everyone is going to play. This is not to say that these players are bad, but with all the talent featured north of the border, someone is going to be left out.

AJ Lawson, Collin Castleton, Garrett Temple, plus the three two-ways in Chucky Hepburn, Alijah Martin, and Ulrich Chomche figure to be on the outs of the rotation right now.

Temple and the trio of two-ways being in this group is pretty self-explanatory. The 39-year-old Temple has taken on a more veteran role over the past couple of seasons, almost acting as an assistant coach, only playing in 55 games for Toronto over the past two seasons.

Though any one of or multiple of the two-way’s could factor into the rotation for spurts, they are only allowed a set number of games in the NBA, and given Toronto’s deep roster, its figured these three will lead the Raptors 905 in the G League.

For Lawson and Castleton, their contracts are currently non-guaranteed. Right now, it’s unknown if one or both will even be on the final team, given Toronto is right up against the tax threshold. Though the Brampton, Ontario native, Lawson has done just about as good of a job as you can.

Projected rotation

With all that said, this is an early look at what the Raptors’ rotation could look like, not including the non-guaranteed contracts.

PG: Immanuel Quickley, Jamal Shead, Chucky Hepburn*

SG: RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter, Alijah Martin*

SF: Brandon Ingram, Ochai Agbaji, Jamison Battle, Garrett Temple

PF: Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles, Jonathan Mogbo

C: Jakob Poeltl, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Ulrich Chomche*

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