Raptors select Gradey Dick at 13th overall in 2023 NBA Draft
The Toronto Raptors are adding a new face into the mix.
At this year’s NBA Draft taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Toronto selected Kansas’ Gradey Dick 13th overall.
A shooting guard who spent one season in the NCAA, Dick averaged 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game this year.
As a high school senior at Sunrise Christian Academy, Dick earned the 2022 National Gatorade Player of the Year honours, an honour that had also gone to players such as LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Dwight Howard, and Andrew Wiggins.
The Raptors opted to stay at 13th overall rather than trading up higher into the draft, with rumours that they could be parting ways with either O.G. Anunoby or Pascal Siakam in order to move into the top three of the draft.
He becomes the 36th Raptors player drafted in franchise history since they came into the league as an expansion franchise in 1995.
Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman confirmed earlier this week that the team had given serious consideration to moving up in the draft, though nothing appears to have come to fruition after weeks of rumours.
“You don’t want to be caught off guard just because we focused on [draft pick No. 13] the whole time. How realistic it is that we can move up? I don’t know. But at the same time, you don’t want to not be prepared for it,” Tolzman said.
At press time, the Raptors have no other draft picks in this year’s draft.
7-foot-4 phenom Victor Wembanyama, as expected, went first overall to the San Antonio Spurs, while Charlotte’s Brandon Miller and Portland’s Scoot Henderson rounded out the top three in this year’s draft.
It’s been a busy season of rumours for the Raptors, who hired Darko Rajaković as the franchise’s 10th head coach earlier this month following the departure of Nick Nurse after five seasons.
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