While keeping my expectations from getting too lofty, I still see a lot of potential in second-year Raptors player Ja'Kobe Walter heading into 2026. While Gradey Dick is struggling to establish himself as part of the future, Ja'Kobe Walter may not be surpassing him by much but is still making a stronger overall impact.
How has Ja'Kobe Walter's season shaped up to this year-end point?
So far in the 2025-26 campaign, Ja'Kobe Walter is averaging 6.2 points on 44.3 percent field goal shooting, 38.9 percent from three, 75.0 percent from the free throw line, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game in 17.6 minutes of action. While he is often utilized off the bench, Walter has also had the opportunity to receive seven starts for the Raptors so far.
Walter is actually just coming off his best game of the year in the thrilling overtime win over Golden State on December 28, where he scored 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-7 from three. He followed that up with a solid defensive effort in the close Magic win on December 29.
Walter's 1.0 steals per game ties him for third place on the Raptors leaderboard in that category, alongside Jamal Shead. He is right behind Immanuel Quickley, who has 1.1 steals per game at the time of writing, while Scottie Barnes leads the charge with 1.4 steals per game.
I recently shared how impressed I was with Walter's ability to be a strong point-of-attack defender for this Raptors core. Even if his shooting numbers never take a massive jump, if Walter can simply maintain around 10 points per game (hopefully more, of course) and continue to play with his defensive intensity — he could follow in the footsteps of players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Tim Hardaway Jr. who have both gone on to have lengthy careers in the NBA as highly valuable role players.
Or even from a historical perspective within the Raptors organization, consider a player like Norman Powell. He was part of the Raptors bench mob in the early days, and gradually he developed into a key contributor for Toronto. Even though Walter was a late first-round selection compared to Powell, who was a late second-round pick in 2015, I believe their career trajectories could play out very similarly.
I hope he can stay with the Raptors into 2026 and survive trade rumors, unless Toronto is offered an attractive enough asset in return. There is still much to be hopeful about with Ja'Kobe Walter.
Grade: B
*All stats courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com, unless otherwise noted