The Toronto Raptors have an costly payroll, which suggests they have to produce outcomes this season.
The Raptors will head into the 2025-26 marketing campaign simply over the posh tax, not a spot to be for a crew that was simply within the lottery a season in the past.
The Raptors parted methods with crew president Masai Ujiri and now enter a brand new period below Bobby Webster, who the crew promoted to prime government.
The Raptors want to point out massive enhancements below Darko Rajakovic this season or else main modifications may very well be coming.
NBA Evaluation previews the three most fun Raptors gamers to be careful for this season.
RJ Barrett is coming off the perfect season of his profession with the Raptors.
He averaged 21.1 factors, which led the crew in scoring together with 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 58 video games.
Barrett was constantly aggressive and was in assault mode, which produced many massive performances from him.
The largest query is how will Barrett match into Toronto’s present core. Will his skillset be redundant? Or will he be capable to flourish with the Raptors’ different prime stars? How he meshes into the Raptors’ new beginning lineup is one thing to watch.
If issues don’t go to plan for the Raptors, Barrett will probably be a first-rate commerce candidate, given the monetary state of affairs the crew is in.
The Raptors traded for Brandon Ingram ultimately season’s commerce deadline, which was a shock.
It was an fascinating win-now transfer from a crew that was within the early levels of their rebuild. Nonetheless, Ingram is locked up in Toronto after signing a three-year $120 million deal.
Ingram’s profession has been overshadowed by accidents. The 28-year-old hasn’t performed in additional than 64 video games since his rookie season.
With the Pelicans, he did make the All-Star crew within the 2019-20 season, however hasn’t been in a position to return to All-Star kind since.
Nonetheless, in Toronto Ingram has an opportunity to rejuvenate his profession. He’s nonetheless one of many prime pure scorers within the sport and he’ll give the Raptors a real go-to choice, one they haven’t had since Kawhi Leonard.
If Ingram can keep wholesome, he ought to be capable to feast in a system that may see him be the principle point of interest on offense. This may very well be an opportunity for Ingram to get his profession again on monitor and if he delivers, he might even wind up being an All-Star this season.
Scottie Barnes wants a bounce again season.
Whereas his defensive efforts have been spectacular, his offensive numbers dipped.
In 2024-25, he averaged 19.3 factors and noticed his capturing numbers decline from the 12 months prior. Barnes shot 44.6 % from the sector and his three-point proportion plummeted to 27.1 %.
Barnes regressed on offense compared to his All-Star season. The hope now could be that Barnes will be capable to complement Ingram and can get simpler seems with Ingram attracting a lot of the consideration.
Barnes’ playmaking and defensive versatility are his robust fits, however he must be extra aggressive with the basketball.
When Barnes elected to assault the rim extra relatively than accept three-point pictures, his offensive sport was way more efficient.
Barnes remains to be one of many shiny younger gamers within the sport and if the Raptors are going to go far this season, they want him to regain that elite two-way play. If he does, he might develop into an All-Star as nicely this season.
