It seems the curious case of Gradey Dick, as I called it in my piece from the other day, has finally reached some sort of conclusion, at least for now. The Toronto Raptors have made a bold decision regarding Dick's playing time and his role on the team.
The Raptors entered their last game against the San Antonio Spurs with a fully healthy roster. It's been a long time coming for fans to finally see the entire Toronto squad active and ready to go, especially after enduring some tough stretches without key starters RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl during the season.
With the full Raptors lineup at their disposal, it finally pushed the team to make a decision about their rotation moving forward. After just a measly five minutes of playing time for Gradey Dick in Toronto's previous game against the Thunder, Darko Rajakovic decided to list Dick as a DNP - Coach's Decision against the Spurs and remove him from the 10-man rotation.
Gradey Dick cut from the Raptors' rotation
Raptors beat reporter Josh Lewenberg shared a pre-game quote from Darko Rajakovic on X that offered more insight into the decision. Toronto's head coach explained:
"What he experienced in his first two years in the NBA is pretty different than what he's going through this season. Just how our roster is built, he has a different role with the team. He's in the process of learning how to be professional, how to execute that role, how to play that role. He had games where he did very well and he had games that he did not do great. So, he has to stick with the process. I have belief in him, we have belief in him, and we look at this as a long-term process with him, not just something that's game to game. So, he's going to continue putting in the work and I believe that better days are ahead."Darko Rajakovic on Gradey Dick
Alright, so there's quite a bit to unpack here. First off, on my end, I've been watching Dick's role and on-court impact diminish with each passing game. That's actually why I've taken some time throughout the season to evaluate his progress so far and consider whether he should be part of the Raptors' future plans.
I think the Raptors had a clear vision for Dick from the beginning, especially since he was one of the best shooters coming out of the 2023 class. If Dick could develop into a three-point specialist for Toronto as they aimed for a return to playoff relevance, then finding that value at 13th overall would be a decent return. However, that three-point shooting spark never really translated to a high level in the pros, looking fairly average by his career 34.6 shooting clip.
Likewise, his three-point shooting tendencies have declined this year. He's now averaging just 2.7 three-point attempts per game, a significant drop from his previous seasons when he took around 6.0 and 4.0 attempts per game. Of course, the fluctuating minutes and shifting role can largely explain this decline, but it’s still disappointing when the player Toronto is counting on for strong three-point shooting isn’t getting many attempts and struggles to stay consistent, shooting just 30.8 percent so far in 2025-26.
In Toronto, there's a mindset that players need to work extremely hard on both ends of the floor, and that largely determines their value and role in the rotation. I can say that Darko Rajakovic has given Dick plenty of opportunities to find his niche in other areas of the game. However, the reality is that Dick just isn't suited to be a key part of this Raptors team right now, even if it's in a small sample.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for Toronto, especially since they invested so heavily in Dick, taking him high in the draft. If they didn’t give him a real shot, it would look foolish on their part. But at this point, I believe the Raptors have done all they can with Gradey Dick. He doesn’t have any standout qualities the team can rely on for now, which doesn’t bode well for his future.
Ultimately, it seems his playing time will be limited to being a third-string option behind Ja'Kobe Walter and Jamison Battle, or he steps into emergency roles if Toronto's roster gets hit with an injury. Alternatively, they might just cut their losses and try to flip him for something else in hopes of recouping some value.
A silver lining for Raptors fans hoping Dick can find his spark is that things can’t really get much worse than this. If Dick continues to disappoint and hits rock bottom, it suggests there was little hope to begin with. Like Coach Darko said, "continue putting in the work" and better days should be ahead as a result, whether it remains in Toronto or elsewhere.