The Raptors have locked in another pair of young pieces for the road ahead, exercising their rookie scale team options on forward Collin Murray-Boyles and wing Ja’Kobe Walter for the 2027/28 season, the team announced today.
Murray-Boyles’ third-year option is set at $6.97MM, while Walter’s fourth-year option checks in at $5.87MM. Toronto also has until November 1, 2027 to decide on Murray-Boyles’ fourth-year option for 2028/29, which is worth $8.87MM. Walter, meanwhile, will be eligible for a rookie scale extension next July as he moves into the final year of his rookie contract.
The moves come as the Raptors continue shaping a deeper young core around the offseason addition of star forward Kawhi Leonard, who has made the team a more intriguing threat in a competitive Eastern Conference. Murray-Boyles and Walter are expected to fill important complementary roles for Toronto in 2026/27.
Murray-Boyles, the No. 9 pick in the 2025 draft, turned in a solid first NBA season, averaging 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 21.9 minutes per game. That performance earned him a place on the All-Rookie second team. He then made a major impact in the playoffs, putting up 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 65.6% from the field in a reserve role during Toronto’s seven-game first-round loss to Cleveland.
Walter has already carved out a steady spot in the rotation since the Raptors took him 19th overall in 2024. He has appeared in 124 career regular season games and has averaged 20.8 minutes per contest. Last season, the 22-year-old took a clear step forward as a shooter, finishing with a 44.6% field goal percentage and connecting on 40.9% of his threes.
Murray-Boyles and Walter were the only Raptors with rookie scale team options for 2027/28.
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For a team in the middle of a rebuilding process, the long view still matters, and the rotation reflected that approach as young players like Noa Essengue, Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka got a chance to log real minutes. The challenge now is finding out whether those reps can translate into growth quickly enough to keep the Bulls from carrying one discouraging performance into the rest of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
