I will give credit where it's due first before coming down with the hammer. Last season showed, and in a small sample the year prior also, that Jakob Poeltl proved absolutely fundamental to this Raptors core flourishing. Why? Because since they got him at the 2023 deadline, he's largely been Toronto's only center and anchoring presence in the paint.
Sure, the Raptors have the luxury of quality defenders like Scottie Barnes in the mix, but without Poeltl, there have been some rough stretches where Toronto gets absolutely mauled on the glass by the opposing team and simply has their way scoring near the rim due to a lack of inside protection.
I've sat and watched Toronto go through this, especially in the last few years, and given Poeltl's career year last season, I’ve largely been one to defend the 30-year-old — despite many others highlighting his red flags before recognizing his contributions. But here we are at the time of writing, with Toronto on a four-game losing skid, and those glaring concerns surrounding Jakob Poeltl have never been more apparent in this recent stretch.
Poeltl didn't suit up against the Lakers on December 4, as he was nursing a nagging back injury (which I will get to later), but he's been in the lineup for the last three Raptors games — and the results have been far from pretty.
Jakob Poeltl is looking like a shell of his former self
It really started in Toronto's 111-86 losing effort against Charlotte on December 5, which to be fair was a back-to-back, but Poeltl did have the night prior to rest up and get back to game speed. Toronto got out rebounded (47 to 41) and they gave up too many second chance points up (13 to 6). Cutting Poeltl some slack, the entire team on this night looked super depleted and out of juice, so despite noticing how out of sync he looked — especially in the third quarter — it seemed more like a team issue than a singular problem. Still, the issues were alarming all the same.
Against Boston on December 7, it was a rough game where Toronto had to fight hard to get within reach after trailing by as much as 23 points. They eventually closed the gap to a three-point margin but ultimately collapsed as the Celtics beat them 121-113. Once more, the issue of being out-hustled for second chance points prevailed (17 to 4), and while team rebounding numbers sat at 41 for Boston and 42 for Toronto, Poeltl was completely outplayed by Neemias Queta, who had 11 boards, while the Austrian big man only managed four.
But now we get to Toronto's most recent contest, losing their NBA Cup quarterfinals matchup with New York on December 9, which I honestly believe was Jakob Poeltl's worst showing so far in the 2025-26 campaign. What started as a relatively back-and-forth game in the first quarter turned into a completely stagnated offense for Toronto in the second, while the Knicks flourished thanks to Jalen Brunson's masterful work, and New York eventually got the job done 117-101.
Jakob Poeltl could not match up at all against a big body like Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 16 rebounds compared to Poeltl’s nine, and there was one standout possession where KAT just blew by Poeltl guarding him on the perimeter for an emphatic dunk. I never thought Poeltl was the most nimble NBA center to begin with, but his defensive efforts and court vision over these last three games have been absolutely atrocious. He just looks so slow-footed, has cement hands with the ball, and has been getting outplayed by his opponents for too many nights now.
We went through this early in the season with Poeltl; a bad back combined with aging is never a good recipe for NBA centers, but Darko Rajakovic touched on this a little in his post-Knicks scrum on December 9. He noted that Poeltl "does not have rhythm" and that "he’s not himself yet." While we can be optimistic about the highs Jakob Poeltl can still bring, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Toronto extended the 30-year-old to a costly deal over the offseason.
If he continues to show this worn-down version of himself, it will only serve as proof that the Raptors made a massive oversight in paying the big bucks to keep a deteriorating center — and that’s a hole no NBA team ever wants to find itself in.