The Toronto Raptors are 4-4, but one problem is already staring them in the face: Jakob Poeltl’s slow start is making the need for a different kind of center impossible to ignore.
Poeltl came back into the lineup against the Denver Nuggets after sitting out two games with left shoulder bursitis, but the return didn’t change much about the conversation around him. Toronto lost 128-109, and Poeltl finished with eight points and five rebounds in 19 minutes. For the first time this season, he also came off the bench, while second-year big man Collin Murray-Boyles got the start.
The early numbers haven’t helped Poeltl’s case. In his first five starts, he averaged 4.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and one assist in 20.2 minutes. For a Raptors team with championship aspirations, getting that kind of production from a $27 million center is a real issue.
Toronto has built a roster with plenty of two-way talent. Scottie Barnes, Kawhi Leonard, Ja’Kobe Walter, Allen Graves and Murray-Boyles give the team enough defensive pieces to stay solid on that end, which helps explain why the Raptors are tied for 13th in defensive rating at 111.1 despite Poeltl’s underwhelming rim protection.
But the bigger point is that this group looks like it’s one elite rim protector away from becoming something much more dangerous. That’s why Milwaukee Bucks big man Myles Turner stands out as such a clean fit.
Turner has averaged 2.8 blocks through his first eight games this season, and he has also posted at least two blocks per game in eight previous seasons. Poeltl, by contrast, has never done that.
The defensive upgrade is obvious, but Turner brings another layer Toronto badly needs: spacing. He’s shooting 31.6 per cent from three this season, but he hit 38.3 per cent last year and 39.6 per cent in his final season with Indiana.
The fit goes beyond the box score. Turner’s game would slot naturally next to Barnes and Leonard, giving Toronto more lineup flexibility and a lot more defensive punch. The Raptors could roll out a defense-first group with Jamal Shead, Barnes, Leonard, Murray-Boyles and Turner, or use him in a more traditional starting five alongside Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, where his backline protection would matter immediately.
There are still questions. Turner’s rebounding remains a concern, and he has about $83.6 million left on his three-year deal, which runs through his age-33 season. Even so, the contract lines up with Leonard’s recent extension, and it gives Toronto a realistic path to making a move that better matches its championship window.
If the Raptors want to build on the improvements they made this offseason, they need a center who can protect the rim, stretch the floor and deliver steady production. Turner may not be the perfect answer, but he looks like the kind of upgrade that would let Toronto move on from Poeltl without having to give up a mountain of draft capital to get it done.
In Other News...
Raptors May Have Found An Unexpected Answer During This Ugly Stretch
During an ugly stretch that has tested Torontos rotation, Collin Murray-Boyles has started to look like more than a promising young piece. His defensive activity has stood out, and so has the kind of versatility that lets the Raptors use him in different spots without losing energy or edge. He has also chipped in offensively enough to make the case that his impact is not limited to one end of the floor.
With Jakob Poeltl struggling and Leonard unavailable, the idea is simple enough: Murray-Boyles might be Torontos best temporary answer at center. It is still an opinion more than a confirmed change, but the logic is hard to ignore when the team needs steadiness, effort and some lineup flexibility. For a Raptors group searching for anything that can stabilize the present, he has at least given them a real option to consider. [Read more 🡒]
Former Knicks Guard Just Landed In An Uncomfortable Spot For New York
The Raptors filled their open two-way spot by bringing in Kevin McCullar Jr., a guard who had been on two-way deals with the Knicks and has spent most of his pro time developing in the G League. For Toronto, it is a low-risk move that adds another young backcourt option to a roster that has been willing to keep churning the edges of its depth chart.
McCullar can appear in up to 45 regular-season games for the Raptors, but his path to the postseason is a little more complicated. If Toronto wants him available once the games matter most, he would need to be moved onto the standard roster first, which gives this signing a practical upside beyond just filling a vacancy. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Keep Running Into A Problem That Could Derail Their Start
The Raptors have spent the first stretch of the 2026-27 season trying to hold the line without Kawhi Leonard, and the results have been mixed at 4-4 through eight games. Leonard has appeared in only two games because of injury, leaving Toronto to sort through a rotation that has shown flashes but also some troubling stretches when the games tighten up.
The biggest concern has been what keeps happening after halftime. Toronto has repeatedly let third quarters slip away, none more glaring than the collapse against Denver, when the Nuggets buried them 41-15 in the period and held them to 21.7 percent shooting. Getting Leonard back should help, and so could some lineup tweaks, but until the Raptors solve that recurring problem, the early-season footing still feels shaky. [Read more 🡒]