When the Toronto Raptors drafted Alijah Martin at No. 39 in the 2025 NBA Draft, I knew exactly what to expect. As a Florida Gators fan, I spent that entire year watching Martin throw down highlight dunks and make winning plays defensively for a team that brought me the most joy I've felt as a basketball fan. I knew coming into the league that his height might hurt him at times and that his offense was going to be shaky, but he would fit into what Toronto wanted to do defensively.
With the Raptors heading into this season with hopes of being a real contender in the Eastern Conference, is there even a role for someone like Martin? A sophomore second-round pick typically isn’t going to be an important piece on a title contender. But even if he won’t play every game, Martin can be an important piece for this group as the next man up, and preseason showed that.
Martin is ready to have a real role
Martin appeared in two preseason games for the Raptors, with the most notable one being their finale against Detroit. He came out of the gate hot, scoring 13 of his 15 total points in the first quarter, and he was all over the place defensively, taking multiple assignments. His confidence in his scoring ability was something I thought he struggled with last season, as at times it felt he would second-guess his jumper or overthink whether he was making the right read. But against the Pistons, in a game where he was Toronto’s primary creator to open the game, that idea was nonexistent.
He clearly put a ton of time into his scoring bag this summer so he could be more comfortable taking open jumpers or attacking a mismatch if he was presented with one. He’s not going to be the most efficient player, and the outside shot is still a work in progress after shooting 33.3 percent from three this preseason. But him being more comfortable offensively and still being the pest he is defensively makes him the right guy to be the next man up off the bench.
When I think about the Raptors' second unit, the order of players in the pecking order is pretty obvious. Collin Murray-Boyles is the sixth man, Ja’Kobe Walter is seventh, Jamal Shead comes after Walter, and Jamison Battle is the ninth man. If Darko Rajakovic opts to roll with five players off the bench, Kyle Anderson, I assume, will start the year as the tenth man and slowly lose that role to Allen Graves.
Martin fits in after them.
In my eyes, Martin will be the player who fits into the rotation on nights when a player needs rest during a back-to-back, or when someone is sidelined by injury. Obviously, if the player missing time for whatever reason is one of CMB or Jakob Poeltl, Trayce Jackson-Davis is likely the guy to draw in for Toronto. But I expect Martin to get the call-up in any other situation because he won’t take away from what this team does defensively and looks way more comfortable making a play offensively.
On top of that, he knows what it’s like to play for a team with title aspirations, going back to Florida or even his days at Florida Atlantic, and is fine fitting in wherever he can impact winning.
The reality of the NBA is that no team can get through a season without at least a little turbulence health-wise, and most teams aren’t deep enough to have a real next man up. Thankfully for Rajakovic and the Raptors, Alijah Martin is ready to be that player for the Raptors this season.
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