The Toronto Raptors’ 2026 Summer League roster has plenty of names worth watching, but Jamarion Sharp stands out for a simple reason: he could fill a real need.
At 7-foot-5, Sharp arrives in Las Vegas with a calling card that already travels. He won the NBA G League Defensive Player of the Year award last season after averaging 3.8 blocks per game for the Dallas Mavericks affiliate, and Toronto’s need for size behind Jakob Poeltl gives him a legitimate opening to play his way into the regular-season picture.
Sharp has been doing this for years. Over three D1 college seasons, he averaged 3.7 blocks per game, then followed that with 3.5 blocks per game across two G League campaigns.
That kind of rim protection is rare. The issue has always been everything else around it.
Outside of blocking shots and cleaning the glass, Sharp has not offered much on either end. That’s exactly why Summer League matters so much for him.
Toronto does not need him to be polished in every area to get noticed. It just needs enough from him to make the front office pay attention.
The clearest path is straightforward: finish efficiently. Sharp does not need a bag full of post moves or highlight-reel touches.
He needs to catch it deep, finish with hooks and dunks, threaten as a pick-and-roll option, and be ready to catch lobs. If he can keep scoring the way he did in the G League over the last two years, when he shot a combined 66.2 percent from the field, he’ll have a case.
Setting solid screens is part of that equation too. Sharp’s frame is still a major issue.
He’s listed at 225 pounds, and that thin build makes it hard to create the kind of contact that helps big men survive at the NBA level. For him, that’s not a side note - it’s a key step.
The same goes for defense. His 7-foot-9 wingspan gives him real value as a weakside helper and roamer, but bigger bodies can still move him around and post him up. He isn’t going to transform overnight in a short Vegas run, but adding even a little more resistance there would matter.
There’s also the question of how he handles space. Like a lot of players his size, Sharp can get caught flat-footed when pulled away from the paint. If he can use his length to bother perimeter actions and make those matchups harder for opponents, that would go a long way.
Sharp already has an edge because of Toronto’s current center depth and the positional value he brings. But if he wants to turn that into something more concrete - a standard contract, or more realistically a two-way deal - the formula is clear.
Finish plays. Rebound.
Keep blocking shots. And show enough growth defending away from the rim to make the Raptors believe there’s more here than just size.
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