The Raptors got taken apart by the Timberwolves on Sunday night, falling 117-94, but Ja’Kobe Walter gave Toronto something worth building on.
Scottie Barnes had a rough first look without Kawhi Leonard, and the team as a whole was overwhelmed. Still, Walter stood out as one of the few bright spots. In his first game pushed into the starting lineup, he might have been Toronto’s best player.
RJ Barrett opened the game well and carried a heavy load in the first half, but his influence faded after that. Walter, by contrast, stayed steady all night.
He put up 22 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block while going 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-8 from three. Against a Minnesota team that projects to be one of the league’s most dangerous perimeter-scoring groups, Walter answered with a strong shooting performance and did it without giving up the rebounding activity and defensive value he’s shown this season.
The Raptors’ spacing issues remain impossible to ignore. With Jakob Poeltl starting at center, that problem only becomes more obvious. But Walter has been exactly the kind of perimeter jolt Toronto has needed through three games.
His first two outings weren’t perfect - he was 3-of-12 from three before Sunday - but the attempt volume still matters. Last season, he showed he could hit 40 percent of his threes, and Toronto needs that kind of willingness from him. When the shots go down, the payoff looks like Sunday: a game where he shot over 60 percent from deep.
Walter also accounted for half of Toronto’s made threes against Minnesota. Without him, the Raptors would have finished 5-of-30 from beyond the arc.
Cleaning the Glass has him with 67 percent of his shots this season coming from three-point range, and that has to remain part of his profile. He brings more than the kind of narrow role Jamison Battle is associated with, though. From the start of this season and in preseason, Walter has shown he can still make the right play as a passer or as a scorer even when his main job is launching threes.
Add in the nightly defensive energy, and it’s easy to see why he already looks like Toronto’s best bench piece.
A third-year jump always seemed possible for Walter, just not this soon or in this form. The coaching staff has likely encouraged him to be more aggressive from deep, too.
Whatever the cause, the results through three games have been encouraging. If he keeps playing this way, his value - and the value of a possible extension next summer - only goes up.
In Other News...
RJ Barrett Is Making Toronto's Next Roster Decision Much Harder
The Raptors have been searching for dependable offense whenever Kawhi Leonard is out, and RJ Barrett has quietly made himself part of that answer. In a difficult night against Minnesota, Toronto had trouble generating much of anything offensively, but Barrett still found a way to stand out, continuing a stretch in which he has looked like one of the teams most reliable scoring options.
What makes this more complicated for Toronto is the timing. Barrett has been productive enough to force real questions about his long-term fit, especially with trade and contract decisions looming, and his ability to carry a heavier load when Leonard is unavailable only adds to the case for keeping him around. For a team trying to sort out its next step, that kind of production does not make the decision any easier. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Need More From Collin Murray-Boyles Than Defense
Collin Murray-Boyles is still finding his footing as the Raptors sixth man, and the early returns have been quieter on offense than Toronto would like. Through three games, he has averaged 5.7 points, and in a recent loss to the Timberwolves he finished with just three points while still giving the team a team-high seven rebounds, a reminder that his activity and physicality are already part of the rotation even when the shot isnt falling.
Toronto can live with some growing pains from a young reserve, but it also needs Murray-Boyles to become more than a defensive and rebounding presence if that second unit is going to hold up. JaKobe Walters start in place of Kawhi Leonard offered the other side of the equation, as he led the Raptors with 22 points and looked efficient from beyond the arc, giving the offense the kind of lift Toronto would like to see more often from its bench pieces. [Read more 🡒]