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Raptors have over 50% shot at top-5 NBA Draft pick

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Nov 6 2024, 9:56 pm
Raptors have over 50% shot at top-5 NBA Draft pick
John E. Sokolowski/Imagn Images

Even though their season is officially just two weeks old, the Toronto Raptors are gearing up for the 2025 NBA Draft.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri has been spotted on the scouting trail this year, including looking at top prospects Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, who play for Rutgers and St. John’s, respectively.

 

Sitting in 13th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 2-6, a whole host of injuries and no realistic path to contention, it makes sense why the team would be looking ahead to next year’s top prospects, which include the consensus No. 1 pick, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg.

That’s not to say Toronto has been unwatchable this season, however. They’re being outscored on average by 5.6 points per night, up slightly from 6.4 last season, and four of their losses have come by a margin of six points or less.

According to Tankathon’s latest odds, Toronto has a 55.3% chance of drafting in the top five next season, the first time they’ve done so since landing Scottie Barnes at fourth overall in 2021.

And while past iterations of Raptors teams have failed to reach the NBA’s upper echelon of teams while trying to punch above their weight, it appears that everyone in the organization is on board with using the 2024-25 campaign as another developmental year for the team.

“I would use the word rebuilding. That’s the right word,” Ujiri said at the team’s media day prior to the season. “I think we have a clear path now going forward. I think we set a path [when] we went into the draft last year and got a couple of young players, and we want to continue to grow and build this team around Scottie [Barnes], who is 23 years old. So, yes, in sports, you always want to be competitive, and you play to win. We’re going to play to win. But it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that loud and clear.”

While it’s still quite a ways out from the NBA’s Draft Lottery, you can probably expect Toronto to find itself among the top contenders when that day does come.

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