Inside The Raptors 2026 Draft Strategy

It’s tea leave reading season in the NBA. With the Knicks crowned as champions, all attention has shifted to the start of the process: the draft.

The Toronto Raptors are in a unique position, in an ultra-deep draft, to add talent to a core that has entered it’s competitive window. Their Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Player Personnel, Dan Tolzman, spoke to the media today about how things could shake out for them.

On the Raptors draft process:

Armed with both the 19th and 50th picks in this draft, the Raptors will be busy on the two-night event scheduled for next week. With a week to go, the workouts are done, and the analysis begins as they try to create some sort of order on their draft board.

“We’re at the point now where we’re digging into the film more, the discussions internally, and really breaking down the head-to-head discussions more so than anything else,” Tolzman said on Tuesday. “Workouts are only a part of it anyway, and so we’ve been having meetings throughout the process as well, but now it’s, it’s really digging into that part going forward.”

Tolzman, who’s been with the Raptors since 2013, first working in their scouting and player development department, was recently promoted to Assistant GM in 2017 and has kept that title since Masai Ujiri’s departure last year, albeit with expanded responsibilities.

While every draft is different, Tolzman says that the Raptors’ approach has always stayed the same:

“We’ve always taken the same approach as far as best player available on the list. If that can line up with what the team needs at the time, positionally or depth-wise, that’s the best-case scenario, but we’re not too worried about what the team has done, as much as getting talent in the door.”

Bigs or Guards:

Now to the nitty-gritty. At 19, the Raptors don’t really control their destiny. Waiting for 18 teams to make a selection shapes the majority of your options when you’re on the clock. That said, there seems to be a large group to work with within their range. The top 4 are locked in some order, barring something truly shocking happening: AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson, and Cameron Boozer. The rest of the lottery should include names like Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown Jr., Keaton Wagler, Aday Mara, Brayden Burries, and others, but after that? The world is your oyster.

Within the Raptors range, and in this draft in general, there is a glut of guards and bigs to take a swing on, all with varying skillsets and abilities. But one of the more difficult things for teams to discern in the draft process is finding intel on players to learn about their character and how it would fit into their culture.

“There’s definitely a certain type of player we look for, in terms of being able to impact both sides of the ball, offense, defense… and get good characters that are willing to bring that level of toughness not only to the game, but away from it,” Tolzman told me when I asked about fit. “So many of these guys we’d be looking at with #19 or even #50, they’re just scratching the surface of what they can be, but it’s going to be on them to get to the next level, so they have to have the right approach.”

There aren’t many guards within the Raptors’ range that fit the two-way description. Labaron Philon Jr, Cameron Carr, or Ebuka Okorie have shown in stints and moments that they can defend at a high level, but they all lack the physical tools to be big-time defenders at the NBA level. Christian Anderson and Bennett Stirtz are both high-character guys who seem to match the Raptors culturally, but is that enough to offset their limitations as defenders?

As far as their preference for a guard or big goes:

“We definitely want to know both groups well and the order within them… if a lot of guards do go early, then there are a lot of bigs in our range as well. Comparing each position side to side and then, how do you stack them all, is the process we’re in right now.”

While Tolzman, naturally, kept his cards close to his chest, he did include an interesting wrinkle about the type of skillset they’re looking for in any potential addition to their frontcourt.

“For our team, we don’t have the lob threat, shot blocking. That’s probably the side of the bigs that we’ve lacked, and if it’s not the draft, then it could be free agency, but it’s something that is going to add a wrinkle to the offense that could unlock some stuff for us.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Seeing how Scottie Barnes was one of the best at rim passing in the regular season and playoffs, and how he unlocked Collin Murray-Boyles as a roller, clearly shows that adding another rim-running, lob threat could further unlock things for them. The players who match that description in their range? Jayden Quaintance, Morez Johnson Jr, and Chris Cenac.

Moving up or down:

Ultimately, the draft is treated as a sort of transaction window as well. All 30 teams will assess their rosters and their opportunities to improve around the margins. But in a stacked class like this, how much more difficult is it to make trades?

“If you’re going to try to move up into the draft this year, it’s probably more so than in years past; there’s like a premium you’re probably going to pay,” Tolzman said. “We haven’t really quite got a grasp on what picks are available and what the asking price might be for that yet. These are the kind of discussions we have the week leading up to the draft.

In the end, it seems like the Raptors are happy with their options at 19.

“I mean, we’re keeping our all of our options open, in terms of, whether it’s move up, whether it’s move back, pick something up, like there’s all these different scenarios that we’re going to listen to and see what’s out there, but at the end of the day, if we stay at 19, we’re really happy with what that picks at.”

It’s the right call. With a draft as deep as this one, the Raptors will have a lot of options with pick 19. What direction they choose could shape how the rest of their off-season looks.

Back to reading the tea leaves.