Toronto Raptors Roster Breakdown | Who Should Stay or Get Cut?

Toronto Raptors Roster Breakdown | Who Should Stay or Get Cut?

Like every summer, the Toronto Raptors have some incredibly difficult decisions to make about who makes the roster and who is going to get cut. But in this particular offseason, the Raptors also have to make some decisions about who they’re going to keep and perhaps who they are going to trade. Let’s get into it. Welcome back everybody. This is Amateur Sports, the YouTube channel that is completely dedicated to giving you Toronto Raptors content. Make sure you drop a like if you enjoyed this video and subscribe for more content just like it. And I say just like it because it’s all Raptors content here, but it’s not all going to be quite like this cuz I’m in my different setup today cuz we have a tier list. What we’re going to be doing today is going through the entire Raptors roster as it currently stands and evaluating how safe these players are as far as making the roster and how safe these players are as far as not getting traded. And we’re going to be doing it with this tier list here. We have all the players who are locks, which is self-explanatory. the players who are safe, which is also pretty self-explanatory. The players who the Raptors could trade and could consider trading. We have the players who are not safe and are looking over their shoulder potentially going to get cut. Players on two-way contracts, meaning they can go up and down freely from the Raptors 905 in the G- League with the Raptors in the NBA. The players on exhibit 10 contracts. And what exhibit 10 contracts are is players who are signed for the summer for the Raptors, but they get an incentivized bonus to sign with the Raptors 95 in the G-League if they are waved. So, if they’re waved by the Raptors and go to the Raptors 95 in the G-League, they get that financial bonus. If they sign with any other G-League team, they do not get that bonus. So, again, it’s that incentivization to sign with our G-League affiliate. Usually, that means that player is going to get waved. We saw last season with Jameson Battle that you can be on an exhibit 10 deal and earn your way onto a two-way contract or more through your good play in the summer. Final category is the players who we need to wave or the players who are free agents. And I just have to let you know before we start, this is being recorded on July 16th, 2025. At the time you are watching this, you’re watching this when it just comes out. I am on vacation and I am currently right now doing my best to make sure that there is plenty of content populating the channel while I’m away on vacation, which means I have to do a lot of videos in advance like this one. So, if the roster that I go through in this video is inaccurate in any way, slightly inaccurate, if a player has been waved already or another player has been signed, I apologize. I am doing my best and doing what I can to keep the content coming out while I am away on vacation. So, please bear with me. Apologies again in advance. Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s start off with Jamal Shed. That is a player that is going to be the backup point guard for the Raptors to start the season. He had a good summer league, has looked like he’s gotten better. I think this is a player who is very relatively safe. Really embodies a lot of the culture that the Raps are trying to bring to the team. This defensive mindset, this hardworking mindset, I think even going into second season, you know, he’s one of the older players despite being a second season because he came out of college as a senior. I think he’s already turning into one of maybe the leadership figures, especially for the younger guys in this team. I really like Jamal Shed. I hope he does progress as a backup point guard offensively. We’ll see what strides can be taken. Defensively, know how talented he is, but he is he is quite safe. I’d say Colin Murray Bole is your ninth overall pick in the first round. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. You drafted him ninth overall. That is a player who is who is going to be safe. He is not going to be going anywhere. The Raptors are going to be keeping a hold of this guy. Looking forward to seeing him as a rookie. Next up, Yakob Purle. Kind of a complicated one because I would want to say he is like a lock because of how much I respect him as a player and how important he is to the Raptors roster because we just don’t have a lot of players like this. But he did get floated around in some trade discussions in the off season. So, I think for that reason, we have to put him safe just for that fact. But I but I would comfortably put him as a lock as well. He’s not going anywhere. Or Shamsh comes up next. And as much as he’s like a safe player, he’s on one of the two-way contracts. So he will be put into the two-way tier. Again, he’ll be getting reps with the Raptors 905. But if we need him in the NBA, we can call him up. You know, there’s injuries or the Raptors want him. And hey, there’s a lack of center depth in the Raptors. So maybe they will feel like they need him, especially after some very good summer league performances. We’ll have to see what he does in preseason. But he he’s on the two-way contract. I think it could stand for another year of a lot of reps with the 905 and a lot of developmental strides being taken over there. Garrett Temple comes up here and this could be a bit of a puzzling one I think for some Raptors fans, but you got to put him in the safe tier. Look, the Raptors, the coaching staff, the players, the front office, they very much value Garrett Temple as a vet for this team for the presence he brings to the locker room and the presence he brings on the bench. Like, you know, I don’t know what goes on in the locker room, but you hear the coaches and his teammates. They sing his praises for the type of vet that he is on the bench. What we can see anytime the Raptors make a big play, he’s on his feet cheering the guys on. Anytime the Rap players are going back to the bench for a timeout, whatever, he’s one of the first guys up, dapping them up, giving them high fives, and he’s always sitting next to the coaching staff. They clearly value him. They would not have given him a fully guaranteed contract for the year if he wasn’t safe. He’s got to be in the safe tier. Now we go to our first player on the exhibit 10 spots. This is David Roddy. I believe it was the 2022 draft where I was just absolutely enamored with this player. He was a projected second round pick. I wanted the Raptors select him at 33 overall the year they took Christian Koko. I thought he would easily fall to 33 and be available at 33. Ended up going much higher in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies who must have also seen some good signs, but it hasn’t translated to the NBA. I think a good player to take a shot on an exhibit 10. Not a player I expect to crack the roster, but one I’m excited to see play with the Raptors 905. Elijah Martin’s up next. He’s the 39th overall pick by the Raptors in the second round, and he was a player given one of the two-way spots. One of the things he’s going to have to work on in the in the G-League is just sharpened up the three-point shooting. 35% three-point shooter across five seasons of college basketball. But if we can get that even sharper, that will lead to a potential I mean, potential future at all in the NBA. But again, another player I’m looking forward to seeing with the Raptors 905. This is a complicated one up next, and it’s Oce Abaji. Now, Abaji is a player I like. I think he’s good, and I think he brings a lot of traits the Raptors don’t really have on their team, mainly in shooting and in defense. Shot like 40% from corner threes last season. Good defender. I really like him. The issue is the Raptors just can’t really afford him. He’s due an extension at the end of the season, first of all, that they can’t really afford. And as of right now, the Raptors are over the luxury tax threshold, meaning they will be a tax team. Now, they don’t have to address this in the offseason. You can address that and go under the tax midway through the season, but Abaji is the easiest player to move on from because of that extension due at the end of the year. For that reason, he is definitely a trade candidate and a player the Raptors will be exploring what’s out there for. It’s a shame that he’s a good player, but that’s just the reality of the current situation with the roster. So, we’ll have to wait and see, but they they will be shopping him in the summer and potentially into the season. Grady Dick comes up next and he’s got to be in the safe tier. Like, he just has to be one of the safer players in the team. Now, what’s going to make Grady Dick take his game to the next level is we know how good the shooting is. But if he can bulk up a little bit more, which it kind of seems like he is, and he become a better defender, like he just has to become a serviceable defender in the NBA, which he just isn’t right now. He just has to get to that point. And if he does, he will be a fantastic roster player for this team, elite role player. But we’re just not quite there yet. still safe, still firmly in rotation, but hopefully some defense is being worked on there. Jameson Battle comes up next, and it wasn’t quite a fantastic summer league for Jameus Battle. It was it was okay, but it was a good season last year with the Raptors. He’s a good defender, very good three-point shooter. I’m going to put him in the safe tier. I like Jameson Battle. I think if there was a tier in between safe and not safe, I might put him in that tier. He’s not quite unsafe. I think he’s decently safe. He’s definitely closer to safe than he is unsafe, but I think that if the Raptors found a guy they really liked, he would be one of the first people they look at to potentially wave to make room, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think he will be on the roster to start the season. Sandro Mamu Kalishi, recent free agent signing by the Raptors. They wouldn’t have signed him as a free agent if he wasn’t safe. Uh he’s on a onepus1 contract with a player option for the second season. It brings something different. It brings us a big who can provide some outside threat scoring from three. It’ be interesting to see the lineups and interesting to see if he can crack the regular rotation, but I think he’s safe based on the notion I just described. Jonathan Mo backup power forward. I like Jonathan Mo. There’s quite a few players kind of clogging up the depth which maybe might lead to him not being in rotation really, but I think he’s still safe going into a second season. And the Raptors will still want to see more of Jonathan Moa before making a decision about his future. Up next, we have Tyler Digenheart. The Raptors signed on an exhibit 10 deal. Didn’t like didn’t see any of him really in summer league. Um not really any play time, so not a player I expect to to be making waves in the in the summer. Looking forward to seeing him with the Raptors 95 in the G-League after that exhibit 10 deal. Same can be said for Clifford Omaruy. They really like these guys. They would have gotten some more game time in summer league. They didn’t. So, another player on exhibit 10 deal. I look forward to seeing in summer league as a interesting big 6′ 11. Chris Buchet is up next. And the only reason Chris Buchcher is even in this video is that the comments don’t say where’s Chris Buchet? What’s going on with Chris Buchet? Chris Buchet as of right now is not under contract with the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors, we’ve already talked about it, don’t have really any money. They cannot afford Chris Bucher. The era of Chris Buchchet seemingly is over. He’s already a free agent. The Raptors can’t afford him. Some team will probably be able to pay him more. I don’t even know the Raptors can pay him anything. So, he’s a free agent. Going to stay that way until another team signs him. But again, I think his time is over, unfortunately, with the Toronto Raptors. So, if you want Buchet back, I got bad news. Now, you know what’s going on. Scotty Barnes comes up next, and I I think that’s like the biggest lock on the roster. The entire long-term future is being built around Scotty Barnes at the moment. Sure, there could have been some flotation of his name in some superstar trade discussions, but I think ultimately the Raptors make a superstar trade. The idea is to put that superstar next to Scotty Barnes. Brandon Ingram, not quite the long-term future, but definitely a lock for a player they are building around for the short-term future at the very least. They shelled out a bunch of assets to get him at the trade deadline. They’ve given him a big extension. He’s here to stay for this season. It is a lock, I believe, for the Raptors to build around him for the short-term future. As I mentioned, I think Emanuel Quickley, who’s up next, is relatively safe. I know the contract some people don’t like. I think it will look better over time, but there’s not a lot of point guard depth in this roster. He is the starting point guard. No real replacements if we lose him. He’s got to be really safe here. I think he’s going to be a very pivotal piece to the Raptors going into the upcoming season. Sure, there could be some flotation of his name in some trades again for those superstar names. the Raptors. We’re looking at big fish hunting and all that, but for Emanuel Quickley, that’s not a guy I think they’re going to be shopping really at the moment. The same cannot be said for RJ Barrett. Now, you already know the rumors. We already know this is the case. The Raptors are exploring what’s out there, engaging the market for RJ Barrett. I’m not sure. I know you like him. I know a lot of people like RJ Barrett. This is the situation. It’s not a fantastic fit for the roster. It just isn’t. There isn’t a lot of floor spacing here. RJ Barrett doesn’t provide the floor spacing the team needs and he doesn’t provide the defense the team needs either. I know we can work on this stuff, but it’s a clunky fit with quickly Barnes, Ingram, Pearl in the starting five. I expect there not to be a trade worthy enough of trading away a player of RJ Barrett’s abilities because he is a good player and I do like him. It’s just I am confident the Raptors, I mean, we already know they are going to be seeing what is out there. Again, I believe they won’t get a trade good enough to make a trade, an offer good enough to make a trade, but I believe they will be looking for something and seeing what is out there. He is definitely a player as a trade candidate. Up next, Colin Castleton. I watched this guy last season with the Raptors. I wasn’t impressed. I watched him in summer league with the Raptors. I was even less impressed. I I was honestly quite astonished how bad he looked at summer league. a player with his experience in the NBA already, his experience in the G-League already, he was getting played off the floor. At least should have been in some games. He was getting way too many minutes. He looks so out of place in a summer league situation where when you are on a non-g guaranteed deal, which he is, which means if the Raptors cut him before the start of the season, he gets nothing. I thought he’d be looking a lot better in summer league. He wasn’t. Pretty easy for me to say this is a guy you wave to make room for others. Now we go to Jacobe Walter. After a great summer league, a promising first season, he’s safe. I’m excited to see what Jacobe Walter can do in year two with the Raptors. Very excited for that. Chucky Heburn up next. I liked him in summer league. Just hounds people as a defender, showcase some three-point threat in summer league, but he’s on one of the two-way contracts. We’ll shove him into the two-way tier. This leaves us with AJ Lawson. Now, the Raptors are allowed to have 15 main 15 standard contracts on their main roster. 15 standard contracts. Then they’re allowed to have an additional three players on two-way contracts. So, as it stands, is there room for AJ Lawson also on a non-G guaranteed deal? We’ve got 8 10 11 12 13 14. So, we’ve got 14 on the main roster here plus to three two-way. There is safe there is a spot for AJ Lawson to be safe, but the Raptors certainly will have the possibility to decide to save on that money or even look to a different player. AJ Lawson has to be in the not safe tier and the only player that is in that spot really. And just the reality for AJ Lawson is is that he signed that non-G guaranteed deal, meaning if he doesn’t make the roster, the Raptors don’t pay him anything. The Raptors will essentially be looking for a reason not to pay him. Now, to his credit, he was so good in summer league, he might force their hands. He’s got NBA experience with the Raptors. He’s got NBA playoff experience, was it with the Dallas Mavericks, and he looks so good in summer league that again, he might be forcing our hand here and force himself onto the roster. There is space for him, but absolutely, he is the last name on the list and he should be looking over his shoulder. He is not safe, but I think that with the roster spot available and the way he’s played, he will get there. In the NBA, you just need guys on your roster who you can trust on the floor. AJ Lawson is potentially the last guy on our list for roster players. I can trust him on the floor. That is a good thing. That might get him over the line and make the roster, but 100% that is not a player who is fundamentally safe. Agree, disagree with my tier list. Let me know in the comment section down below. Drop a like if you enjoyed. Subscribe for more and um keep it locked. More vacation content, but I’ll be back soon.

The Toronto Raptors have some difficult roster decisions to make in the offseason. Which players should they keep and who should they waive? And who might they actually look to trade? 👀

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