NBA’s New 2-Day Draft May Have Biggest Impact on Raptors

Toronto Raptors may open new two-day NBA Draft with the first pick in the second round this summer

The 31^st pick in the NBA Draft may suddenly be a little more valuable.

The league will announce a new two-day draft format with the first round and second rounds taking place over June 26 and 27, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday. The decision gives the second round more time to breathe with the allotted time between picks expanding from two minutes per pick to five minutes.

If the season ended today, it would be the Toronto Raptors opening Day 2 of the draft with the 31^st pick courtesy, a pick Toronto acquired from Detroit via the OG Anunoby trade with the New York Knicks.

With a full day between rounds, the Raptors will now have more time to consider what to do with the pick before the second round kicks off. In theory, there will be more time to consider trade options if there’s a coveted player still on the board to open the second round.

It’s unlikely Toronto uses all its draft picks this year with at least three picks scheduled in the first 31 selections. The Raptors also have Indiana’s first-round pick, currently No. 19, as well as another pick from either Oklahoma City or the Los Angeles Clippers that currently sits at No. 26. NBA's New 2-Day Draft May Have Biggest Impact on Raptors | Yardbarker

Toronto could also keep its top-six protected first-round pick this year, giving the organization as many as four draft picks this year. Raptors president Masai Ujiri has made it clear he doesn’t plan on adding three rookies in the offseason and therefore some sort of trade should be expected.

Canadian Andrew Nembhard, Nic Claxton, and Bojan Bogdanovic are among the most notable players selected at No. 31 over the past 25 years.

The Toronto Raptors snapped their losing streak but it was the players who won’t be here long-term who led the way against the Chicago Bulls

For weeks now the Toronto Raptors have made it clear they’re focused on the future.

The Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby trades signaled a pivot into a new era and now Toronto’s development of Scottie Barnes is paramount to whatever happens this season. As Raptors coach Darko Rajaković has said repeatedly, nothing is more important than development.

NBA's New 2-Day Draft May Have Biggest Impact on Raptors | Yardbarker

But then out of nowhere, Rajaković seemed to flip.

“I’m not into moral victories. We’re playing this game to win games,” Rajaković told reporters Monday following practice.

Maybe he was just toeing the league line, forbidden from saying otherwise, let alone using the T word. But what’s really the goal for Toronto this year? Winning games on the backs of players who won’t be here long term or finding out what the future holds for a few of the young ones?

Tuesday’s 118-107 victory over the Chicago Bulls was an awkward one for the Raptors if development is truly the top priority. Sure, it was a victory, but Toronto’s long-term pieces were quiet or disappointing. It was those who probably won’t be here next month or next season who led the way.

Take Gary Trent Jr., for example. The 24-year-old dropped 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, but his days with the organization once again seem numbered with trade rumors swirling ahead of the trade deadline for the second straight year.

When Trent first arrived in Toronto there was this belief that maybe he had some untapped potential still to be unearthed but by now it’s increasingly hard to believe that’s still true. That’s not to say Trent can’t fit in Toronto long-term if there’s a reasonable deal to be negotiated. He’s been lights out from three-point range this whole month and connected on six three-pointers including a clutch transition three to give Toronto a nine-point lead in the fourth.

The most important performance was probably from Jordan Nwora who had back-to-back three-pointers late in the third including a four-point play as he impressed for the second straight night. He almost threw down a massive dunk over Dalen Terry but was fouled and couldn’t finish through contact. Nwora isn’t a certainty to be back next season by any means, but the 25-year-old forward at least will be with the organization through the end of the year with a chance to prove himself to the Raptors. He dropped 17 points on efficient 5-fo4-7 shooting.

For Toronto, the result was marred by how uninvolved Barnes was for large swaths of the night. He looked out of sorts going against Alex Caruso at times and never found much of a groove against the Bulls. He took an unnecessary 22-foot mid-range jumper early in the shot clock that wasn’t close and took an ill-advised 14-footer over Nikola Vucevic, again, settling for shots he has no business taking.

Barnes did have a crucial stop against DeMar DeRozan, helping on the double-team alongside Thad Young to force a costly turnover that gave Toronto a six-point lead in the fourth. He later found Young inside out of an isolation attempt against Vucevic to keep Toronto ahead with a minute to go.

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