Allen Graves didn’t have to look far for his first NBA welcome committee.
Not long after the former Santa Clara forward was taken No. 19 overall and became the 13th player from the school to reach the league, his phone started buzzing with messages from two of the Broncos’ most recent NBA alums: Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski and Thunder star Jalen Williams. Podziemski went one step further, steering Graves toward a familiar helping hand in Trayce Jackson-Davis.
“They were telling me they’re proud of me and just to keep going,” Graves said after his summer league debut. “Brandin texted me and said Trayce is my guy and he’s gonna look out for you.”
Jackson-Davis, who spent two-and-a-half years with the Warriors before being traded to the Raptors before February’s deadline, had already been in the mix during offseason work. Graves said, “When we did the (offseason) mini-camp, I was talking to Trayce a lot.”
That connection has mattered in Las Vegas, where Graves wasted no time showing why Santa Clara believed his game would carry over. In his debut against the Celtics, the 6-foot-8 forward posted 22 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
The role looks different now. At Santa Clara, Graves spent more time around the interior; in the pros, he’s sliding to the wing. But he says the adjustment hasn’t required a wholesale reinvention.
“I knew that I would translate very well because of my IQ,” Graves said. “I feel like I can adapt at an elite level, and what I’m going to continue to do going forward is using my brain … reading the defense, I’ve been doing it my whole life. I obviously wasn’t the most athletic guy, so I had to know angles, had to be able to read the defense.”
That’s been his calling card all along. Graves doesn’t need the ball glued to his hands.
He works in the gaps, moves without stopping, and finds the right pocket of space while teammates keep the offense humming. When the moment comes, he’s usually in the right place for an open 3, a deflection, a loose ball or a rebound.
Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek saw that coming after Graves helped push the Broncos to a near-upset of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“He has an incredible work ethic and he’s passionate about the game,” Sendek said. “With his skill level, his basketball feel and IQ, his toughness, he checks a lot of boxes, and I think ultimately will be a very successful NBA player.”
Graves finished his college career averaging 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while earning West Coast Conference sixth man of the year and freshman of the year honors as an all-conference selection.
Toronto, meanwhile, is leaning into exactly what Graves already does well. Rather than asking him to stretch into something unfamiliar during summer league, the Raptors want the rookie to keep it simple: defend, rebound and create disruption.
“‘We want you to play hard, we want you to get deflections, cause chaos on defense, and then go get rebounds, crash the glass every time,” head coach Darko Rajaković told Graves before the games began. “Then everything else will fall in line.”
With Barnes and other Raptors watching from the sidelines in Las Vegas and offering advice in real time, Graves sounds comfortable with the assignment. The message from the team has been clear: stay within himself and let the rest come naturally.
“I can just go out there and play my game, play free,” Graves said. They’re like, ‘We don’t expect you to do anything that you haven’t done, that you’re not comfortable doing.’”
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