Raptors 2025 Draft target compared to mountainous NBA center

The 2024-25 NBA season is quickly approaching, which means it's also time for basketball leagues around the world to begin ramping up to play. Never has the talent level on the planet been higher, and NBA teams are frequently looking outside of the ranks of college basketball to find top draft prospects.

The first overall pick in June's draft played in the French league, while the second pick starred in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). Victor Wembanyama went first overall two drafts ago out of the French League. Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo all finished Top-5 in MVP voting this past season after never playing a minute of American basketball.

The international stage is having its moment, and it means teams have to look all across the globe to scout draft prospects -- not simply as a novelty but as a priority. What is interesting is that the Toronto Raptors, the league's only international team run by Masai Ujiri, an advocate for global basketball, never draft international players at the top of the draft.

The Raptors don't draft outside of American basketball

To restate that, the Raptors consistently use first-round draft picks on players they could scout in college basketball. Ja'Kobe Walter (Baylor), Gradey Dick (Kansas), Scottie Barnes (Florida State), Malachi Flynn (San Diego State), OG Anunoby (Indiana), Pascal Siakam (New Mexico State), Jakob Poeltl and Delon Wright (Utah). Their last eight first-round picks, all from the college ranks. You have to go back to 2014 when the Raptors drafted Brazilian forward Bruno Caboclo to find their last non-collegiate first-round pick.

Will that trend continue? That's impossible to predict, but at least one international player deserves the Raptors' attention, and his league is only a week away from starting up. The Raptors need to solve their center position long-term, either securing the backup position behind Jakob Poeltl or grooming his replacement, and the Australian NBL may have the perfect answer.