One of my favorite storylines from the 2025-26 season was the growth Raptors second-year guard Ja’kobe Walter showed over the course of the regular season and into the playoffs. In his rookie season, Walter came in raw, lacked the strength of an average NBA player, and didn’t really have any standout skill that forced head coach Darko Rajakovic to play him.
Entering his sophomore season, I wasn’t sure how much of a role Walter would play for Toronto, especially given their expectations to be a playoff team. But he quickly proved me and many others wrong. Walter grew into a 40+ percent three-point shooter, a scrappy defender, and an overall winning player, establishing himself as an important part of the Raptors' future.
Walter’s skill set as a 3-and-D guard makes him the prototypical starter to pair with Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes. For that starting shooting guard spot to open up for Walter, Bobby Webster is going to have to move on from RJ Barrett, and he should.
Walter fits what the Raptors need better than Barrett
Although Barrett had a very strong playoff run and stepped in well as a No. 2 option next to Barnes, him playing that role isn’t sustainable. We saw throughout the regular season that Barrett and Ingram have very similar scoring profiles, and when they share the court, Toronto’s offense feels clunky and repetitive. Moving on from Barrett now, with him coming off a playoff where he averaged 24.1 points per game and is on a one-year deal, would likely net the Raptors a nice return.
Whether trading him addresses the center position, adds depth or future assets, or simply gives Toronto financial flexibility, it would be a win because Walter can then start.
Obviously, Walter isn’t at this point a better basketball player than Barrett, but he’s definitely a better fit, and sometimes that matters more. Last season, he averaged 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 40.9 percent from three. On paper, those don’t look like starter numbers, but considering he played 20.5 minutes per game, it’s easier to imagine how that impact would scale into a bigger role.
Walter has already proved he can be an impact starter this past season. Over his 19 starts this season, he’s had games where he hit six threes, multiple two-plus steal games, and six games where he scored 16 or more. However, what stands out most from his start is that he was a +24. Plus-minus can be an overrated stat, but in this context, it shows Toronto generally won the minutes he played as a starter.
The other big positive that comes with Walter being a starter is that it’s only going to help his development. In today’s NBA, the way to extend a competitive window is to have young players on cheap deals you can rely on, and the Raptors haven’t had that recently.
With Barrett at the two, that’s another mouth to feed, another guy on top of BI, Barnes, and Immanuel Quickley, who needs time with the ball in their hands. Walter would give them the low-maintenance off-ball three-point threat that their starting five has desperately been missing.​
In general, moving on from RJ Barrett this offseason made sense as is—Ja’Kobe Walter’s emergence has only added to that. If the Raptors are serious about reaching their fullest potential next season, moving on from Barrett and pivoting to Walter as the starting two needs to happen.
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