Raptors predicted to solve center problems by drafting 6-foot-11 Duke star

Billy Heyen

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Raptors predicted to solve center problems by drafting 6-foot-11 Duke star image

The Toronto Raptors entered this season expecting Jakob Poeltl to continue to be reliable as their starting center.

Instead, he's been injured and ineffective, forcing the Raptors into a lot of small-ball lineups.

There's speculation that the Raptors could try to solve that at the trade deadline, but there aren't a lot of major targets. It'd be more of a subtle move just to patch up the problem.

They've got a chance to then take a longer-term look at it in the offseason and potentially in the 2026 NBA Draft.

If the draft was today, the Raptors would have the 17th pick.

ESPN's Jeremy Woo released a new mock draft, and in it, he has the Raptors using that selection to take 6-foot-11 Duke big man Patrick Ngongba II.

"Though his past month has been a mixed bag, Ngongba has helped himself this season, standing out as a long-term bet on instincts and playmaking at his size in what has become a thin class of centers," Woo writes. "Ngongba's plus passing enables Duke to play through him and gives him some feasible perimeter functionality if he can develop a reliable jumper. Though his conditioning has improved, his lack of vertical lift around the basket as a finisher has been a point of concern. He is well-rounded enough to become an eventual NBA contributor, but that requires optimistic projection from a physical standpoint."

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There is a ton of talent at the high end of the 2026 draft class, but by the time you're outside the lottery, it does get a bit thinner.

Ngongba couldn't necessarily be counted upon as the entire center solution, at least immediately. But it'd be a start.

Toronto has enough skill that if it can nail down its interior future, it can continue to compete in the Eastern Conference.

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Contributing Writer