Season Wrap: The 2024-25 Toronto Raptors

  • By Mike Passador

    Last Updated on May 30, 2025 12:40 pm by Keston Paul | Published: May 30, 2025

    The Raptors have been trying to thread the tightest of needles over the last couple of years; developing young talent and adding prospects through the draft but also jumping at the chance to acquire proven talent. It has prevented the team from hitting the top of the lottery odds — and cost draft picks in the process — and this season the Raptors made their boldest move yet.

    How’d It Go?

    Entering the season, the hope was for the Raptors to take a step forward and hang around the postseason chase thanks to the pairing of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley. Adding Quickley was the team’s big move in 2023-24, and his ability to drill triples from all over is a great fit — on paper — with Barnes’ mid-range bully-ball and passing acumen. With Jakob Poeltl stabilizing the defense and RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick expected to provide secondary scoring, the Raptors clearly had too much talent to put themselves in the thick of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.

    Quickley got hurt on opening night, which threw a major wrench into the plans. Barrett was also banged up after straining his shoulder late in the offseason and the Raptors immediately had to put Barnes into a larger offensive role than they were expecting. For all of his skills, Barnes isn’t a go-to scorer at this point, and it left the Raptors behind the eight ball. This stretch of games wasn’t without positives, as Poeltl turned in a run of monstrous performances and Dick showcased improved form in all facets, but the wins were not abundant. It was a splash of cold water for the team and as Quickley’s absences stacked and stacked, another year of playing the lottery odds became the clear choice.

    The Raptors decided to go against the grain at the trade deadline, however. They sprung for the expiring contract of injured former All-Star Brandon Ingram, adding a talented player but a questionable fit to a roster that was already running the treadmill of mediocrity. Much like their trade for Poeltl, the Raptors are trying to amass whatever young contributors they can and then buy low on legitimate talent when opportunities arise. Ingram missed the last 58 games of the season with an ankle sprain and never suited up with the Raptors, but they forked over a three-year extension anyway. Only time will tell if their gamble pays off.

    The rest of the season saw the Raptors out-tanked by teams that had bottom-barrel rosters, but they were able to take solace in the progress of young players like Ochai Agbaji, who became a knockdown shooter, Jamal Shead, whose defensive mettle made him a rotation fixture, Jamison Battle, who delivered some much-needed spacing, and Jonathan Mogbo, whose all-around game makes him a potential fit in all kinds of lineups. The Raptors weren’t able to be as competitive or as bad as they would’ve liked, but they finished the season with a more talented, deeper roster than when it began. We’ll see if that’s enough to put the organization back on track.

    Coaching

    Darko Rajakovic was brought in to shepherd this team into a new era and there aren’t many bones to pick with his work. Offensively, he has instilled a culture of movement that the players have taken to. This past year was the second in a row where the Raptors ranked second in the league in AST%. That the team finished bottom-five in offensive rating is more a result of so many missed games for its top offensive players than an indictment of the overall philosophy. Notably, this style of play has inspired the best stretches of ball we have seen from RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl, with core guys Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley both in and out of the lineup. It has been difficult for the Raptors to score given a pervasive lack of shooting, but the players haven’t strayed from the path.

    On the other side of the court, the Raptors went from 26th to 15th in defensive rating. That’s a huge gain and largely due to a healthier season from Poeltl, but the Raptors are adding more versatile talent while Rajakovic is coaxing better defensive effort out of pretty much everyone. Barnes showed flashes of being an elite defender, while Ochai Agbaji, Jamal Shead and even Gradey Dick were competitive and engaged in ways we didn’t necessarily expect. The real fruits of Rajakovic’s labor may not be seen for another year or two but the ground work looks good. Not every intriguing youngster will turn out to be a real NBA player, but Rajakovic’s history of player development should help the team create a few rotation players to complement a core that has a decent amount of talent.

    The Players

    Scottie Barnes
    SF, Toronto Raptors
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    24-25 TOR 65 65 32.8 7.3 16.4 44.6 3.5 4.6 75.5 1.2 4.3 27.1 19.3 7.7 5.8 1.4 1.0 2.8
    23-24 TOR 60 60 34.9 7.5 15.7 47.5 3.3 4.2 78.1 1.7 4.9 34.1 19.9 8.2 6.1 1.3 1.5 2.8
    22-23 TOR 77 76 34.8 6.0 13.2 45.6 2.5 3.2 77.2 0.8 2.9 28.1 15.3 6.6 4.8 1.1 0.8 2.0

    ADP: 18.8/20.6 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 56/66 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 46/63 (8/9-cat)

    The Raptors have hitched their wagon to Barnes, a do-it-all forward who can handle the ball, make plays, bully his way to the rim and provide elite multi-positional defense. There are some missing pieces there but it’s a great base of skills for reality and fantasy alike, and fantasy managers were expecting him to take another leap as the sun in Toronto’s solar system. For all of his talents, however, Barnes still looks like a player who is at his best when he’s raising everyone else’s floor rather than trying to carry the mail all on his own. The Raptors’ injuries had a cascade effect that prevented Barnes from playing the role that suits him best; Barnes rarely got consistent run alongside all of Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, and while he made major strides as a defender his offensive numbers suffered. The dips in FG%, FT% and 3P% (as well as blocks) sending him out of the early rounds. There were too many nights when the Raptors needed Barnes to go get buckets all on his own, and not enough talent around him to unpack the paint or ease the burden.

    On the flip side, Barnes was the rare star player on a tanking team that played games deep into the year. The Raptors wanted Barnes to hit the 65-game mark to remain eligible for postseason awards. While he was not named to any All-NBA teams and was clearly unlikely to get the honor, the organization did not want to sport any technical responsibility for the franchise guy coming up short. Although Barnes wasn’t going at top speed in March and April, having him at all was better than not. In a perfect world, Barnes’ FG% (and particularly his 3P%) will improve alongside a stronger, more present supporting cast. It’s basically the only route he has to improve his fantasy value given the diminishing returns on his counting stats; Barnes already plays a lot and those numbers can only go so much higher.

    Jakob Poeltl
    C, Toronto Raptors
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    24-25 TOR 57 56 29.6 6.4 10.2 62.7 1.7 2.5 67.4 0.0 0.1 33.3 14.5 9.6 2.8 1.2 1.2 1.9
    23-24 TOR 50 50 26.4 5.0 7.6 65.6 1.2 2.1 55.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 11.1 8.6 2.5 0.7 1.5 1.5
    22-23 TOR 72 71 26.5 5.4 8.6 62.9 1.7 2.8 59.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.5 9.1 2.7 0.9 1.2 1.7

    ADP: 93.0/116.7 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 73/69 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 51/43 (8/9-cat)

    Poeltl’s acquisition and subsequent extension raised some eyebrows given where the Raptors were in the contention curve, but he has proven to be a shrewd pickup for a team that badly needs rim protection. This season, the Raptors gave Poeltl a larger role in Rajakovic’s offense and the big man blossomed with the extra responsibility, all the while carrying the team’s defense. The tank didn’t officially start until Poeltl started missing games, turning the Raptors into a swinging gate near the rim. The Raptors went 9-16 without Poeltl in the lineup, though seven of those wins came in March and April against Utah (twice), Washington, Brooklyn (twice), Philadelphia and Charlotte — not exactly opponents trying to secure victories.

    The points, rebounds, steals and free throw percentage are all new personal bests for Poeltl. The Raptors allowed him to take on a larger offensive role, testing the limits of his game as a playmaker and scorer while leaning on his defensive mettle. It resulted in an outstanding start to the campaign, with Poeltl posting early-round value up through the All-Star break – including his ugly .658 mark at the charity stripe. Unfortunately he slowed down from there, as an eight-game absence for a hip injury ushered him into lower workloads and full nights off down the stretch. Even so, the season goes down as a smashing success. Poeltl dropped two 30-point efforts (in back-to-back contests) and another 10 north of 20; the season prior he topped out at 19 points in a game. He had nine games of five or more assists and grabbed enough steals to offset a dip in blocks. This was the best version of Poeltl we’ve seen yet, and his game could very well be one that is elevated when he’s surrounded by more talent.

    Want access to the rest of this Season Wrap? You’ll need to have a FANTASYPASS membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! 

    Premium Access Required:
    Error: Cannot find AJ Lawson in player database

    May 30, 2025, 12:40 pm