Toronto Raptors general manager speaks about NBA Draft challenges
Anyone who’s closely followed the Toronto Raptors could tell you about the unique challenges that the team faces as the NBA’s lone Canadian franchise.
There are issues with player recruitment in free agency, extra visas needed for players during the draft workout process, and the time that the team had to play the whole season in Tampa, Florida, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restricting cross-border travel.
But one issue that the Raptors face that also afflicts 29 other franchises is the recent rise of NIL branding (standing for name, image, and likeness) that has overtaken American college sports in the past few years.
Previously, college stars would have to wait until turning professional before cashing in on big pay days, with the signing bonuses on their first NBA contracts often the first time they’d receive any compensation for playing basketball.
But since 2021, college athletes in the United States have been able to accept sponsorship deals through endorsements and school-backed booster clubs, with direct pay-to-play programs debuting in the 2025-26 collegiate season.
Taking part in a Hello and Welcome Podcast live taping with William Lou and Alex Wong, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster spoke about the changing NBA Draft landscape and the financial capital of players now entering the NBA.
“Years ago, you’d be a college athlete, you get your scholarship, you go to college… and then you come to the NBA, but you really have no sort of money,” Webster said. “What we’re seeing now is kids come to us in the draft, they may have a couple million dollars in their bank account, may have a better understanding of branding or may have a better understanding of what their worth is when they go to do a sponsorship.”
The NBA Draft is set for June 25 and 26 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with the Raptors having a top-10 pick for the 15th time in franchise history.
Toronto holds the ninth overall and the 39th overall picks in this year’s draft, and is weighing its options for who to pick.
One of the tidbits that Webster shared was a recent front office role the team brought on board to deal with the new world of college athletics and new players coming into the league.
“You’re just getting kids that are much more sophisticated in understanding who they are their brand what type of deals they can do… we hired sort of a branding person on the basketball side which never would have happened [in previous years],” Webster said. “Before, we were like ‘Okay come to the Raptors… where are you going to live? You’re going to get a chef, nutrition, basketball, all of that.’ And now they’re just more interested in [branding], so we have to sort of service that in a different way than I think in the past.”
Based on a LinkedIn scan of MLSE’s employees, the best descriptor of Webster’s role appears to be Sam Bhachu, listed as working in Player Relations & Talent Marketing for the Raptors and Toronto FC.
“The kids in college are making so much money now,” Webster added. “What we saw in this year’s draft was [players] may go back to [college] because they’re offering you two, three, four million dollars to play college sports, so it’s not as lucrative to come to the NBA anymore.”