Holding the 9th overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft doesn’t exactly have Raptors fans rubbing their palms together.
Do keep in mind that the Raptors have picked at the 9th spot before, and it’s worked out quite well. There’s the Tracy McGradys and the DeMar DeRozans of drafts past, but with Masai Ujiri in the war room, the Raptors landed Jakob Poeltl with the 9th pick in 2016. The only other time Masai had a pick higher than that was in 2021, when he, of course, took Scottie Barnes.
Needless to say, Masai doesn’t miss with top-10 picks, which should ease the nerves just a little.
It is hard to get past the level of uncertainty that comes with the 9th pick, and we’re seeing it with all of the mock drafts floating around.
In previous pieces, we’ve discussed which Duke standout best fits the Raptors’ needs. If Toronto landed the 7th overall pick, as projected, the answer would be Khaman Maluach. Given the shock lottery, it seems like most mocks project Maluach off the board slightly before the Raptors make their selection. Having Maluach fall to 9th is still possible, but feels somewhat unlikely, which is crushing given how flawless of a fit he’d be.
We’ve also covered whether Derik Queen would be a possible plan B option as we approach the draft. The consensus still feels as if Queen’s lack of rim-protection and defensive cohesion is enough to see him slip down most boards. When looking at an ideal fit for the Raptors, Queen doesn’t bring the two-way versatility they need.
This brings us back to the scenario where the Raptors don’t land a big in the draft and elect to go shopping for centers in free agency. There are a few reasonable, modest options to fill in a bench role, but we’re still left wondering what the front office’s direction is as we inch closer to draft night.
The answer could be as simple as taking the most fundamental option available.
That option leads us to Kon Knueppel.
Incredibly, we will likely see three Duke products go top-10 in this year's draft. At the 9-spot, the Raptors would now consider themselves fortunate if they could land one of them. With the 7th pick, we could see Khaman Maluach end up in New Orleans. This should shift Knueppel’s positioning down a couple of notches as we might see him go somewhere between picks 8 through 10.
Mind you, in some mock drafts, we’ve seen Knueppel go as high as the 5th overall pick held by the Utah Jazz. I doubt we see him sniped that high with more athletic options in Tre Johnson or the rapidly rising Jeremiah Fears rumors to Salt Lake.
On the other hand, we’ve seen him fall to the 10th pick which would end up in Houston’s hands, via Phoenix. If that is the case, Knueppel might find himself as a part of a large trade package for a star player. Many believe that the Rockets have the means to put together a king’s ransom for a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo.
How well does Kon Knueppel fit with this current roster makeup?
The Raptors are a little crowded at the wing, but they don’t really have a Kon Knueppel. Sure, they have Gradey Dick, but when it comes to a selfless wing that brings consistency from beyond the arc, Toronto needs all the help they can get.
Last season, the Raptors ranked 23rd in effective field-goal percentage (including 3-pointers) shooting at a 52.5% rate, according to NBAstuffer. It’s no surprise, then, that they also landed in the bottom third in PPG and offensive efficiency.
Offensive efficiency and a high basketball IQ are what every team with championship aspirations needs, and that is what Knueppel brings to a team. He’s not the flashiest player out there and certainly not the most athletic, but he’s a building block for the core of a winning team, evident by his time at Duke.
With Duke, Knueppel posted 14.4 PPG while shooting .406% from deep while taking just over 5 attempts per game, according to Sports Reference. This is exactly the type of input the Raptors could plug in and have an immediate impact. Spacing the floor, swinging in rotation and allowing Toronto’s stars to thrive, just like we saw with Cooper Flagg.
The front office will always take the best talent available on the board, and there’s a lot of it in this year’s draft. Toronto would be so lucky to have a fundamental role player like Kon Knueppel fall to them in the draft. Should he be available, the Raptors could be running away with the steal of the draft.