The Raptors fell in Game 7 to the Cavaliers after a gutsy, gritty, and ultra-competitive first-round series between the two squads. Toronto faced a lot of adversity along the way, going in without lead guard Immanuel Quickley and losing All-Star Brandon Ingram late in the series.
For a team that carried a massive chip on their shoulders and had many mainstream pundits betting against them in preseason predictions, pushing a strong, title-hungry Cavaliers team to seven games is quite the feat, all things considered.
Toronto’s spirited effort was largely thanks to major leaps from stars like Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. Meanwhile, the Raptors' young core continued to rise, proving that they are the little engine that could. This series highlighted a core within the current Raptors roster that appears to be close to a finished, playoff-ready product.
On the other hand, for some Raptors players who didn’t leave a lasting mark or proved detrimental to the team’s playoff push, it could be a sign that their time in Toronto has passed.
Let’s unpack who they might be, shall we?
Brandon Ingram
We start off hot here with the player who perhaps had the most attention on him for all the wrong reasons during this playoff series: "The Notorious B.I.3," Brandon Ingram.
Ingram was undoubtedly going to be a major player in this playoff series; at least that was the expectation going into the postseason. Having revived his status as an All-Star caliber talent and helping the Raptors significantly during the 2025-26 campaign, the addition of Brandon Ingram would face the ultimate test in the playoffs. This is an environment where he has shown struggles and growing pains in the past.
Before he eventually went down in Game 5, the postseason sample for Ingram before that left a ton to be desired. He averaged just 12.0 points on 32.8 percent field goal shooting. Despite Raptors Nation waiting for an inevitable Ingram burst, it simply never happened.
Ingram was a very instrumental part of the Raptors' regular season winning success, that goes without question. However, in the playoffs, where the intensity, aggression, and pace can turn up another notch, it honestly made Ingram look like the odd man out. Toronto's front office will seriously have to consider their future with Ingram as a fundamental part of this winning core.
Because as great an addition as he was for the regular season, this Raptors squad proved they could be competitive without him. That is a legitimate concern for a player who takes up a good chunk of the team's salary cap.
Jakob Poeltl
The concern surrounding Jakob Poeltl was already a key storyline to follow in the 2025-26 campaign. After Toronto extended the aging veteran to a questionable deal last summer, it only heightened fans' and pundits' reservations about the Raptors' front office rationale and their long-term vision with Poeltl in the core.
The Raptors' worst fears, unfortunately, came true as Poeltl was limited to just 46 appearances in the regular season, largely because of his longstanding back issue. Poeltl, as he is, isn't quite the athletic or burly, strong anomaly at the center position. With a bad back holding him down, his weaknesses became even more glaring.
Things only got worse as the Raptors entered this first-round playoff matchup with the Cavaliers. Poeltl proved to be too much of a liability to play his usual starting minutes, and he was demoted down the totem pole as standout rookie Collin Murray-Boyles passed him by.
Poeltl averaged just 19.1 minutes in the first-round series, contributing 7.0 points and 6.0 rebounds over the seven games. In Game 7 especially, his inability to grab crucial rebounding opportunities, serve as the defensive anchor down low, and keep up with the blitzing big men on the Cavaliers' side was more obvious than ever.
For the small glimpses of Poeltl of old that can emerge from time to time, it doesn't negate all the struggles and honest headaches Toronto has to work around to compensate for his hurting presence. Moving on from his undesirable contract will require a lot of work and probably some appealing draft capital, but it’s just a hit on the chin that the Raptors may need to take.
Gradey Dick
This one probably won't come as much of a surprise to anybody. The 2025-26 campaign was quite the fall from grace for Gradey Dick, a former Raptors lottery pick who just over a year ago seemed like a hopeful part of the future core. But another Raptors young gun stepped right in and took that spot: Ja'Kobe Walter.
After averaging nearly 30 minutes last year, Dick dropped to just 14.0 minutes per game. Unsurprisingly, his stats also took a hit and became less than stellar. His three-point shooting was considered the most promising element of his game during the pre- and post-draft process, but it never really took off as a member of the Toronto Raptors. To make things worse, it was at its least effective in the 2025-26 campaign, where he shot a career-low 30.1 percent.
Dick fell out of the rotation quickly after Ja'Kobe Walter's rise. Despite the postseason opening a window of opportunity for the young Raptors players to showcase themselves, Dick just didn’t manage to be one of the those youngsters to get the nod. Instead, he was passed by Jamison Battle and AJ Lawson. Dick totaled about four minutes of court time in the series against Cleveland.
While that’s an unfortunate outcome for the once-promising Kansas product, it also signals that it’s clearly time for Toronto to cut this draft miss and move on from Dick.
Trayce Jackson-Davis
TJD was the Raptors' most notable acquisition during an otherwise quiet 2026 trade deadline. Coming in, Jackson-Davis brought some intrigue at the center spot, providing Toronto with a relatively young big to explore in situational matchups and limited minutes. After a solid debut against the Indiana Pacers, the 26-year-old quickly fell out of favor in the rotation.
He averaged just 5.0 minutes in the 17 appearances he made for Toronto after the deadline. He never quite received a true vote of confidence from the coaching staff as a fixture in their immediate plans. Like the floundering Gradey Dick, Trayce Jackson-Davis also saw about four minutes in the Raptors-Cavs series, all of it in garbage time.
However, Coach Darko Rajakovic did mention at one point during the season that the Raptors' vision with TJD was a long-term plan.
He said Toronto would explore how to develop him and where they see him going in the future. While that painted an optimistic picture of TJD's prospects on this Raptors roster, it’s important to consider the emergence of the playoff core and the team's winning mindset. That essentially limits the room for a project piece like Jackson-Davis to truly thrive.
Since minutes were already scarce this year, next season probably won’t be any easier for unproven talents to get that shine. And there isn't much riding on Toronto's end to justify moving forward with the TJD experiment, when they could opt for a more proven commodity in free agency or the draft.
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