Raptors select Ja'Kobe Walter 19th overall in 2024 NBA Draft

The Toronto Raptors have a new player in the mix.

On Wednesday night at the 2024 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the Raptors made their pick at 19th overall, selecting Ja’Kobe Walter from Baylor, as broken by The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

The 6’4 guard put up 14.5 points in 35 games, averaging 32.3 minutes a game. He also put up 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.2 blocks, and 1.1 steals per game in his lone NCAA season.

The new addition is expected to meet with the media later tonight, and arrive in his new home city later this week to get a full tour of the team facilities.

The pick is Toronto’s third first round selection in the last four years, having taken Scottie Barnes at fourth overall in 2021, while taking Gradey Dick at 13th overall in 2023.

Toronto acquired 19th overall with a pick obtained from the Pascal Siakam trade with the Indiana Pacers earlier this season. Toronto had their own selection convey to the San Antonio Spurs via last year’s trade for Jakob Poeltl, where Rob Dillingham ended up being selected at eighth overall before being traded immediately to Minnesota.

Shortly after being picked by the team, Barnes himself was on the other side of a FaceTime call, a favour Dick is willing to return to Toronto’s draft selections this year.

“I’m all for that,” Dick said. “If they want to FaceTime me, I’ll be right there. Scottie did a great job with that, and I’m excited to see who comes here.”

The Atlanta Hawks held the first pick in the draft this year, taking Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher. The Washington Wizards selected another French player in Alex Sarr with the second overall pick, while the Houston Rockets rounded out the top three by taking Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard.

Tomorrow, they’ll be the first team picking in the second day of the draft, holding a second-round pick that originally belonged to the Detroit Pistons and is slated to be 31st overall.

“We’re preparing for the phones being busy leading into that pick, because as we all know, there’s there’s always players that unexpectedly fall to the second round,” Raptors assistant GM Dan Tolzman said yesterday of the team’s second-round selection.

TSN4 is currently broadcasting the draft action in Canada.

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