We have questions about the mismatched Toronto Raptors roster

The Toronto Raptors are limping into 2026 in ugly fashion. Friday’s dispiriting blowout loss to NBA-worst Washington might have been the lowest moment yet this season.

If you’d asked anyone in the organization back in early October if they’d be OK with a record above .500 heading into the New Year, you’d get unanimous nods of the head (even if the team drops Sunday’s visit by Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors plus Monday’s tilt with Orlando and Wednesday’s with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the high-powered Nuggets, all at home, Toronto would still be 18-17).

While the record is indeed a win, considering how low the bar was, with seasons of 25 and 30 victories in Years 1 and 2 of the Darko Rajakovic rebuilding era, it’s still fair for Raptors fans to not be thrilled with the overall state of the franchise and to have some questions about where things are going.

We have some too:

WILL THEY EVER BALANCE THE ROSTER?

Having one centre on an NBA roster is an interesting dice roll. It’s not ideal, but if you have an ironman up front it’s not the end of the world.

Having one centre on an NBA roster and that player, Jakob Poeltl, being somewhat injury prone in recent years (50 games played in 2023-24, 57 in 2024-25, with a cranky back causing him to miss a third of the games so far in 2025-26) can only be argued as poor management. Bobby Webster and Toronto’s front office did some weird things in the past when working under Masai Ujiri, like stacking the roster with interchangeable 6-foot-9 players, deciding a viable 7-footer and point guard depth behind Fred VanVleet wasn’t necessary, which didn’t work. Now they’ve been collecting wings, rostering Poeltl as the only player taller than 6-foot-9 and forcing franchise player Scottie Barnes and intriguing rookie Collin Murray-Boyles or excellent free agent signing Sandro Mamukelashvili to play out of position at times in Poeltl’s absence (or when he’s available but subbed out of games).

Things can’t go on this way. Toronto sits 24th in rebounds per game, fouls a lot and wear and tear on Barnes is building as he battles against behemoths. It’s a testament to the team punching above its weight, so to speak and executing well that they only allow the ninth-fewest points in the paint despite being undersized. Barnes being a defensive player of the year candidate so far has a lot to do with that. But again, this can’t go on. It’s hurting the Raptors competitively not having enough size. It seems to be impacting the players too, who have mentioned the issue a few times recently and they are risking injuring Barnes and Murray-Boyles by pitting them against the NBA’s biggest and strongest players too often.

THE SHOOTING GUARD RIDDLE

RJ Barrett’s agent, the legendary Bill Duffy, gained some valuable negotiating ammunition towards Barrett’s next contract thanks to what happened since he got injured. The team has gone 12-5 with Barrett in the lineup this season, 6-9 without him, including a handful of blowout defeats against the likes of Charlotte, Washington and Brooklyn, hardly the class of the NBA.

Barrett’s absence isn’t why the losses have piled up. It’s probably not even the second-biggest factor, but he’s been greatly missed because of his abilities to attack defences and also be a reliable catch-and-shoot threat.

The hope was one of Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter or Ochai Agbaji would be able to step up, but that hasn’t happened. The best you can say about the trio is Walter has shown some flashes and been OK overall (he’s averaged 6.9 points and 0.9 steals, shooting 35% on three-pointers in 15 games since Barrett got injured, mostly making an impact defensively, but is also a team-worst -83 in that span). Agbaji, a trade candidate given the positional logjam and since he’s a free agent next summer, has only shot 26% from three in his last 13 games and has looked little like the positive surprise of a year ago.

It’s much, much worse where Dick is concerned. Toronto was thrilled to land Dick, considered the best shooter in his class in 2023. And while he’s had some positive stretches over his three seasons in Toronto, it’s shocking that he’s shot only 41% from the field and 35% from three so far. This year the numbers are down to 39% and 31% (including 33% and 25% when Barrett has been out). It’s actually surprising that Rajakovic keeps putting him on the floor, considering how ineffective he’s been (to be fair, early in the year Dick’s on/off court stats were good even with his shooting numbers way down). He only turned 22 last month, but no Raptor needs to start showing something positive more than Dick.

The trio have been given enough chances at the expense of Jamison Battle, who actually produces when he takes the court.

IS QUICKLEY THE PG ANSWER?

The front office believed Immanuel Quickley was the centrepiece of the deal sending OG Anunoby to New York that also returned Barrett (and the pick that became Jonathan Mogbo, which looks like a whiff, negated slightly be wisely grabbing Jamal Shead 14 picks later).

Quickley nearly won sixth man of the year while with New York, but wanted more than the team was offering on a new contract. The Raptors overpaid for Quickley (it’s unclear who they were competing against), but felt his skill-set was an ideal match for that of Barnes and that he was ready to become a full-time starting point guard instead of an instant offence scoring combo guard. They believed he could be something like his former Kentucky teammate Tyrese Maxey (not the current All-NBA level Maxey is at, but the all-star or close to all-star version of a few years ago). There are times where Quickley has looked the part. He’s rained three-pointers on opponents, he’s had big assist games and is popular with teammates, but Quickley’s also been inconsistent and often appeared more dangerous at off-guard, alongside Shead (similar to his Knicks game, just a bit expanded).

Quickley annual average value ranks 17th amongst point guards, but he’s not played at that level. At least his contract is flat at $32.5 million for the next four years. As the salary cap rises and others leapfrog Quickley it will look a bit better. Still, he needs to play well for longer stretches for this Raptors build to work.

@RyanWolstat