The Raptors have had a vacant 15th roster spot for a while now, since letting go of the now-retired veteran great Chris Paul in February, who was merely a salary dump acqusition at the trade deadline.
But it's finally been filled with just four games left to go in the 2025-26 regular season schedule. Earlier today, the Toronto Raptors organization announced that they were signing 6-foot-2 guard Braxton Key. The exact financial details of the deal were not disclosed in line with team policy, as the media release states.
Raptors reward 905 stalwart Braxton Key with a main roster contract
Key has been a staple of the Raptors 905, where he's averaged 14.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists, in an average of 24.5 minutes per game across 47 games (with 16 starting appearances). Perhaps Key's most notable metric are his shooting splits, as he is shooting 51.4 percent from the field overall, an impressive 40.0 percent from three, and 86.0 percent from the free throw line.
Now, hats off to Key for working hard down with the G League affiliate to earn his way into a main roster spot. Seeing as the regular season is just about ready to draw a close, this deal marks a rest-of-season minimum deal for Key, which means he is eligible to play in the playoffs if the Raptors' coaching staff see a fitting role (highly doubtful).
However, on the flip side of things, a deal of this nature has essentially ruled out another hungry in-house Raptors talent from earning a well-deserved place on the main roster: that being Canadian wing AJ Lawson.
Raptors signing Braxton Key overlooks AJ Lawson’s recent contributions
In all honesty, with how much run Lawson has been getting in the last couple contests (averaging nearly 15 minutes over the past five games) and putting up passable numbers, I thought the 25-year-old Brampton native was close to getting that final spot. Lawson showed flashes once again in extended run over this recent sample, to which he caught my eye as the perfect option for Toronto to reward given their bench needs. But alas, the opportunity goes to his 905 brethren Braxton Key instead.
There is still a pathway to Lawson getting a roster spot, if Toronto opts to waive a player between now and the end of the season, with the most likely candidates being Trayce Jackson-Davis or Garrett Temple. Although, I wouldn't bank on this scenario playing out, seeing if the Raptors really wanted Lawson for their playoff endeavors, they would've just signed him here in the Key spot. If that does end up being the case, they've created a pointless hurdle when the prime opportunity was already on the table to begin with.
Also, the Raptors signing Key here has essentially confirmed what their playoff rotation will look like. If Toronto thought there was another face out there in the open market that could potentially help their playoff push, I'm sure they would've done it. Likewise, if Toronto believed in Lawson or maybe Alijah Martin to be that extra depth boost — it would've been a done deal. They also explored Markelle Fultz, which didn't pan out to much, and I don't really envision any real playing time coming in Key's way either — again, this seems more like a reward to a player who worked hard with the 905.
Given the Raptors' eerie slump as of late, their playoff ambitions have begun to deteriorate after each passing game, as the harsh reality of a play-in fate settles in. They could still work their way out of that dreaded territory, but as my Raptors Rapture colleague Elaine Blum just wrote about, it will not be easy.