‘Restock the cupboard’: Raptors add to pipeline on Day 2 of NBA Draft

Are the Toronto Raptors back? 

Once upon a time they were the front office that seemed to earn all the little wins that didn’t seem all that important until they came together to create the kind of bigger victories championships are made of. 

Like, was anyone convinced that trading Greivis Vasquez — a middling back-up point guard for the 46^th pick in the 2015 draft and a pick in the 2017 draft would be franchise changing?

Turned out it was a huge moment as the 46^th pick in 2015 turned out to be Norman Powell and the 2017 pick became OG Anunoby. 

Signing an undrafted rookie was just a footnote until he turned out to be Fred VanVleet. 

Even going back further, there wasn’t a big fuss when then-Raptors general manager Brian Colangelo traded Gary Neal and what ended up being the 12^th pick in the 2013 draft (Steven Adams) for an under-appreciated, pudgy point guard named Kyle Lowry.

That worked out well. 

It will take a considerable amount of time to find out if any of the moves the Raptors made on Day 2 of the 2024 NBA Draft will have any lasting impact whatsoever, but you have to give them marks for the effort. 

Before Toronto even got the second round started with the first pick of the second round, they garnered attention for trading Jalen McDaniels to the Sacramento Kings for point guard Davion Mitchell, who was taken ninth overall in 2022, and European veteran Sasha Vezenkov, who just finished his first NBA season. The Kings also added the 45^th overall pick to the package, and a second-round pick in the 2025 draft belonging to the Portland Trail Blazers. 

It was a pure salary dump by the Kings, who were desperate to avoid the luxury tax. The Raptors took on an additional $8.3 million in payroll, a move the saved the Kings both the salary and kept them under the tax. 

It was the start of what could be a busy week for transactions. Toronto has until Friday at midnight to decide whether they want to pick up the $23 million option on Bruce Brown’s contract. Similarly they still have a window to reach an agreement on a new deal for Gary Trent Jr. before he becomes a full-fledge free agent on July 1^st. 

Raptors general manager Bobby Webster on Brown: “We wanted to get through [the draft] obviously, it’s been a decision we’ve been thinking about. So we have until, I believe midnight [Friday] and I’m sure everyone will find out here.”

And on Trent Jr., Webster said: “We’ll get to work on that. Absolutely thought about it, because …  we have flexibility all that but … you want to be strategic about what’s tradable, what’s not tradable. We have some big contracts coming up in the future, so it’ll just have to be something that makes sense for everyone.”

The Raptors have at the very least added some quality depth options. 

Mitchell is heading into his fourth season and projects as a competent back-up point guard, a position the Raptors haven’t been able to fill for a couple of seasons. Last year he played in 72 games, starting four and averaging 15.3 minutes a game playing behind De’Aaron Fox for the Kings. His per-36-minute production shows promise: 12.4 points and 4.4 assists with low turnovers totals and a career-best 36.1 per cent from three. His calling card is his on-ball defence, an area Toronto struggled with last year. 

Vezenkov was an NBA rookie at 28 years old and the former EuroLeague MVP struggled at times to defend on the perimeter for the Kings, but he shot 37.5 per cent from three off the bench and might prove to be more comfortable playing for Darko Rajakovic.

Regardless of the upside, the Raptors adding two potential rotation players and two second-round picks for a player — McDaniels — who couldn’t crack the Raptors rotation even during their 2-19 finish is a sneaky great move. 

As for the actual draft itself, the Raptors spent most of the day fielding trade options for the No. 31 pick — the first in the second round — before ultimately deciding to keep it, making an intriguing choice in Jonathan Mogbo who grew up playing club and high school basketball with Scottie Barnes. The pair remain close, and Barnes posted a video from Mogbo’s draft party. At minimum, it should be good for team vibes, providing the incoming rookie can successfully make the jump to the NBA. 

“We didn’t realize the closeness of the relationship until we started watching him,” said Webster. “[But] a lot of guys grew up playing with each other. And I think those relationships are fun to see from afar. But you can probably imagine, the basketball has to work, and you have to like him as a player and all of that. And so I think that just by doing that, it creates a basis for that relationship to be fun … but he has to fit as a basketball player first.”

The Raptors are hoping that he can develop as a shooter — Mogbo didn’t make a three in two seasons of Division 1 basketball and shot just 57.8 per cent from the free throw line — but after that there’s plenty to like about the late bloomer who played two seasons of junior college before a late growth spurt changed his trajectory. 

“Probably feels like a bit more of a Raptors pick. Kind of an athletic wing who can do a little bit of everything,” said Webster. “There’s probably some development curve for him shooting wise. But I think physically [he has an] NBA body, 6-7, 6-8, 220 pounds, can really run, really jump. So that felt like us sort of the makings of a two-way Raptor wing. And so obviously there’s a pretty meaningful runway for him to get there. But I think his journey and for those who don’t know, it’s a six-foot kid out of high school and kind of grows into it, doesn’t have a ton of exposure, two junior colleges, kind of ends up in University of San Francisco. It feels a bit more like some guys we’ve drafted over the years.”

With the 45^th pick Toronto took another tough-minded point guard in Jamal Shead, who started 112 games over the past three seasons for the Houston Cougars who went 97-15 with him starting at point guard. He’s the reigning NCAA defensive player of the year who had a 3.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio but will need to improve his shooting to carve out NBA minutes as he shot just 29.6 per cent from three. 

The Raptors made one more move to acquire the No. 57 pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, which they used to select Ulrich Chomche, a 6-foot-11, 18-year-old product of the NBA Academy with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. The expectation is Chomche will be given a two-way contract and develop in the G-League.

Webster couldn’t comment on either player because the trades hadn’t been finalized by the league office. 

But in the big picture, the Raptors used the two-day draft to add more players, and ideally more talent, which is much-needed. 

“We need to add some more young core pieces and they’re all not going to hit,” said Webster, “But we need to start having those in the pipeline and the more picks, the more assets, the more flexibility. That’s how you sort of start to you know, restock the cupboard as we kind of go through this rebuild.”

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