Darko Rajakovic Makes Statement on Key Improvements One Young Toronto Raptors Player Has Made

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Svyato Rovenchuk | Last updated Feb 5, 2025 11:19 AM ET

The Toronto Raptors returned to the loss column on Tuesday night, something that has been somewhat of an irregularity during this recent stretch of games. They dropped a competitive 121-115 ball game to the New York Knicks at Scotiabank Arena. Despite that, there were still plenty of positive takeaways from this one.

The Knicks' lead was as large as 23 points at one point of this game. However, the Raptors managed to rally in the second half, not allowing their opponents to leave the building without the matchup being a hard-fought one. Toronto outscored New York 35-30 in the third quarter and 29-23 in the fourth.

With the Raptors being short a couple of key pieces against the Knicks, the second-year head coach leaned on rookies Ja'Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead, and Jonathan Mogbo for considerable minutes.

The Raptors' 31st pick in the 2024 NBA Draft received some solid praise from Rajakovic after the game, as originally reported by Michael Grange.

"[I'm] really happy," the Raptors head coach told the media when answering a question about Mogbo. "You can see how aggressive he was on defence. He did a good job using his length. I thought he did a really good job, and all of that is thanks to the great experience he had with 905.”

Mogbo had some notable comments of his own to add about his growth during the forward's rookie season.

"Number one thing is just trying to play hard and just be a positive teammate," the Raptors rookie told reporters. "I feel like that kind of grew last couple days, last couple weeks. So just trying to maintain that and translate it over to the NBA. Just go out there, play hard, just play with a passion for the game. I feel like when I do that, everything else clicks."

With the NBA Trade Deadline less than 48 hours away, there may be some more opportunities for Mogbo to be regularly featured as a part of the rotation in the near future.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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