The Toronto Raptors are not about to overhaul the roster, but that doesn’t mean the team will look the same. If Toronto is going to climb past what it did in 2025-26, some of the biggest changes may have to come from inside the room.
That puts a few players in the spotlight heading into the 2026-27 campaign. Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles and Jamison Battle are all in position to take on different responsibilities, and the Raptors may need each of them to do a little more in a slightly different way.
Barnes remains the centerpiece of the conversation. As he keeps developing into the franchise player Toronto wants, his all-around game still has to stay front and center.
Last season, the Raptors got their best results when Barnes was pulling double duty as both creator and scorer. With the arrival of Kawhi Leonard, some of that offensive burden can shift away from Barnes.
That doesn’t mean Barnes is being asked to do less overall. Quite the opposite.
Toronto doesn’t need him to be the best player on the floor every night in the same way it did before, even if he still might be. The idea is simpler than that: let him keep doing everything, only with more freedom and more trust from the coaching staff.
Murray-Boyles is in a different stage of the climb. As a rookie, he was still figuring things out.
Now, after a full playoff series and an offseason to improve, the expectation should rise. Toronto spent a good chunk of last season using him as a small-ball center, and that looks like a role worth leaning into again.
There’s even a lineup that could become especially important late in games: Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Leonard, Barnes and Murray-Boyles. That five-man group could be the kind of closing unit that turns some of last year’s losses into wins.
Walter is another player whose workload may be headed upward. Entering his third season, he logged just over 20 minutes per game last season, a step back from the year before. With Gradey Dick no longer expected to be on the roster, Walter should have a clearer path as Toronto’s backup shooting guard.
For that to work, he’ll need to keep doing what he does best from beyond the arc. The Raptors need him to stay among their elite three-point shooters, because that kind of spacing is part of what contending teams rely on in today’s NBA.
And at 22, Walter still has room to grow. That gives Toronto reason to believe the role change could come with more production, not less.
In Other News...
Clippers Still Havent Finalized The Kawhi Leonard Blockbuster
The NBAs investigation into the Clippers cleared one major hurdle for Toronto by fining Kawhi Leonard without imposing a suspension, which removed the league-level obstacle to a deal. Even so, the transaction has not moved from agreement to reality, with the final paperwork tied up while the Clippers sort through the aftermath of their front office upheaval and wait for the right people to sign off.
For the Raptors, the key point is that the trade still appears headed toward completion as originally constructed, even if the process has taken longer than expected. There has been some chatter about whether the terms could be revisited before everything is finalized, but the prevailing expectation remains that Toronto will land Leonard on the package that was initially worked out. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors May Have Finally Nailed A Pick That Changes Everything
The Raptors have spent enough time dealing with the mixed results of contract extensions and draft swings to know how much a clean hit can matter. Collin Murray-Boyles gave them one last season, and the early read around the league is that Toronto may have finally landed a first-rounder who looks built to matter for more than just one phase of the rebuild. His arrival has given the front office something it can actually build around, which is not something the Raptors have been able to say often enough in recent years.
Murray-Boyles also did more than simply look promising in a vacuum. He earned All-Rookie honors and held up well during the playoffs even as injuries thinned out the roster around him, which only sharpened the attention on what comes next. For Toronto, his development has quickly become one of the defining storylines of the coming season, because if he keeps moving forward, this pick could end up changing the way the franchise is judged. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Fans Just Got A Clearer Read On The Kawhi Trade
Kawhi Leonard has already started the process of settling in with the Raptors, with reports saying he has been in Miami with teammates for an unofficial mini-camp tied to his transition to Toronto. For a fan base still trying to map out what the blockbuster deal really means, that at least gives a clearer picture of where one of the key pieces is headed and how quickly the next chapter is beginning to take shape.
Brandon Ingram, meanwhile, is spending time around the Clippers facility as the rest of the trade machinery keeps moving behind the scenes. The front office situation in Los Angeles is still unsettled, and while there is no expectation that he gets rerouted right away, the possibility of a later move has not gone away, which leaves Toronto watching a trade that feels finished in one sense and very much alive in another. [Read more 🡒]