As the Toronto Raptors prepare for yet another postseason run, the NCAA Tournament will conclude as the 2022 Final Four gets underway. The semifinal matchup in which Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels for the final time is without question the most hyped game of the season.
The Raptors have frequently pilfered top talent from both of those programs. With one of their best players on the 2021-22 squad a former Blue Devil and one of the top three greatest players in franchise history a proud Tar Heel, both teams have sent their best prospects to Toronto.
While Toronto often chooses to use unconventional scouting methods to identify top talent, Masai Ujiri and those who came before him have frequently been seduced by the allure of the Tobacco Road rivalry. Alums of those two schools are all over the record books.
While we might not know who every player on the Raptors thinks will win it all this year, we can certainly know the rooting interests of these five players. Time will tell which alums get to celebrate and which have to endure some barbs from their most hated rivals.
5 Toronto Raptors who went to North Carolina or Duke
5. Ed Davis (North Carolina)
While UNC struggled mightily in Davis’ second season with the team, he showed enough rebounding and interior defense to warrant being taken 13th overall by the Raptors. While he didn’t have the longest career north of the border, he carved out a very respectable tenure in the NBA.
Davis, who has played for seven teams in his 12-year career, has averaged 6.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game throughout his career. Davis averaged 7.7 points and 6.8 rebounds in 2.5 seasons with the Raptors before being traded to Memphis for Rudy Gay.
Ed Davis went from North Carolina to the Toronto Raptors.
What doomed Davis was a lack of offensive wizardry. Outside of dunking the ball and some timely baby hooks, he never became a dominant scorer. After his trade to Memphis, he was relegated to backup high-energy big man roles for the majority of his career.
Davis was never the game-changer that many expected he would be when he was taken that high, but there’s nothing wrong with having a journeyman career that features stops on several different postseason teams. That veteran presence is hard to come by.