Toronto Raptors fall in 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
The Toronto Raptors found a bit of a clearer picture of their future on Monday night.
The Raptors headed into the lottery with 7.5 per cent odds to land the top pick, seventh-best among the 14 slots competing for the opportunity. Taking place at a stage in Chicago, the Raptors ultimately fell to ninth in the lottery.
The Dallas Mavericks won the first overall pick, despite going into the process with just 1.8 per cent odds of landing it.
San Antonio, Philadelphia, and the Charlotte Hornets round out the top four picks.
The official order of the first 14 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/TMAwuzRSVw
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 12, 2025
It was the third time in five years that Toronto had ended up in the lottery, previously having picked Scottie Barnes at fourth overall in 2021 and Gradey Dick at 13th overall in 2023.
Toronto president Masai Ujiri was the Raptors’ on-site representative for the evening.
The top prize in this year’s lottery is star Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, widely projected to be taken with the first pick.
“If you want some players that will be sticking around for a long time… Duke’s great,” Toronto forward Barrett told the media last month at the team’s end-of-season media availability.
Barrett, like Flagg, had also spent one college season at Duke, while both players attended Florida’s Monteverde Academy during their high school years.
Utah, Washington, and Charlotte all had equal 14 per cent shots at the top pick, the best odds in this year’s class.
Toronto is coming off a season where they finished with a 30-52 record, finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference. Save for a one-game loss in the play-in round in 2023, the Raptors haven’t been in the playoffs since 2022 and have won just one round since winning the NBA title six years ago.
“I think it was a good season for us. Year one of the rebuild. Now it’s time for the next chapter, and it’s time for us to take the next step,” Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic told reporters at his end-of-season media availability.
The NBA Draft is a little over a month away, taking place on June 25 at the Barclays Center in New York City.