Man, if I wasn’t already the loudest member of Ja’Kobe Walter FC, I’m about to get a whole heck of a lot louder if he makes his play on opening night a consistent thing. Walter finished the home opener with 10 points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals while shooting 4-of-8 from the floor in 23 minutes.
In the Toronto Raptors' blowout win over the Chicago Bulls, Walter was a dog for all 23 of his minutes. Obviously, Chicago is in the midst of a full-scale rebuild, with a new core, head coach, and front office in place, so Toronto was expected to brutalize them to start the season. However, the defensive intensity the Raptors brought for 48 minutes wouldn’t have been possible without Ja’Kobe Walter.
Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard obviously set the tone defensively from the opening tip, but when they subbed out, Walter kept the pedal to the metal. It wasn’t just him. Collin Murray-Boyles and Jamal Shead did it too, but the way Walter got into his stance, played physical, and showed off his active hands was awesome. What made it even better was that he didn’t just play a one-way game, because his offense was clicking too.
Ja'Kobe Walter checked every box in the season opener
Walter showed off a bit of everything in his offensive bag on Wednesday night.
He got things started with a salute to his high school days, where he was a prolific shot creator coming off a screen and drilling a midrange jumper. Then he came off a DHO and drilled a wing three. Then he started playmaking, just making easy reads, but they were the right ones, and that’s what matters for a non-primary creator like Walter. He scored off an offensive rebound just because he was in the right place at the right time after crashing to the paint from the perimeter off the ball.
That’s how I would describe his offensive performance: he was in the right place, with the right reads, at the right time. Whether he was shooting, extending possessions, or passing, he was an extremely low-mistake player, and that's what you need reserves to be on a contending team.
You can nitpick and point out his 1-of-5 mark from three, but I choose to look at that shooting night from the perimeter as a positive. You're telling me a guy who shot a 40-plus percent clip from three last season got five different looks from three that he liked in the flow of the Raptors offense, and they just didn’t fall? I’m all for that, because if one or even two more of those fell, he would be getting praised on Twitter right now. The Raptors need their shooters to shoot, and Walter didn’t hesitate Wednesday. That’s a win.
Defensively, as I said above, he kept the energy and tone that Leonard and Barnes set from jump up. He had three steals and three completely different types of steals.
The first was a chase-down strip of Josh Giddey, which he then took the other way and set Barnes up for an easy two. The second came against Giddey again, but that time it was because Walter picked him up 94 feet from the basket, got into his stance, and poked the ball away, again setting up an easy transition score. Last and probably most impressive, Walter was getting sealed by a much larger Noa Essengue, but he extended his arms to steal the inbound pass despite being sealed, once again starting the fast break.
That last steal really stood out as one of the main reasons I and so many Raptors fans love Walter’s game so much—he’s fearless. When he got sealed by a much bigger forward, he didn’t give up. Instead, he tried to make a play and be the dog he can be defensively.
Walter's on-ball defensive juice, connective passing, three-point volume, two-way effort, and constant energy gave him a perfect start to the 2026-27 season. After a sophomore breakout for Walter last year, maybe an even bigger one is loading for year three.
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