Although Summer League has come and gone, that doesn’t mean the highs and lows of Las Vegas have to as well.
As many know, Sin City is (in)famous for its ability to breed unbridled hope up and down the strip, but also crush some souls.
Just ask the Toronto Raptors, who resembled world beaters after earning the No. 1 seed heading into the semifinals of the midsummer tournament, but ultimately saw those dreams dashed at the hands of the Sacramento Kings.
Despite a disappointing end to an otherwise jackpot of a Vegas experience, I’m not quite ready to fold on the Raptors heading into next season. In fact, I’d rather go all in on the sense of optimism, or, dare I say, excitement, I felt while watching Toronto’s youngsters compete with such vigour.
The 2025-26 campaign is still three months away, so there will be plenty of time for pragmatic and critical analysis of the roster. In the meantime, however, why not let our imaginations run a little wild and think about what could happen if just about everything went right? It’s what the spirit of Las Vegas would want us to do. And whether or not that’s foolish is another conversation. But at the very least, it could be a bit of fun.
With that being said, here are some overreactions from the Raptors’ 2025 Summer League experience.
(Again, these are meant to be somewhat impractical. If they were strictly reasonable, that would defeat the purpose and fun of this!)
The “Bench Mob” is back
While there are questions about how much of the disruptive, defensive-minded success from the Summer League Raptors can translate to the regular season, it seems likely that their effort level at least will.
And with a good chunk of the players who took part in the Vegas run poised to be rotation pieces for Toronto this coming season, the team may truly have found its next great second unit.
If we recall, the original pack of reserves given the “bench mob” moniker was comprised primarily of relatively older first and second-year players with plenty to prove (similar to this year’s second unit). And prove it they did as the 2017-18 Raptors’ second unit was a force to be reckoned with.
That group — which included Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell, Delon Wright, and Jakob Poeltl — was largely recognized for its offensive success, ranked first in offensive rating, third and fourth in field goal makes and percentage and fifth in scoring amongst all benches in the NBA. Which is why I’d understand if some may caution against labelling this year’s crop of reserves as anything similar to that just yet.
But while the M.O. might differ, I think there’s a path for the 2025-26 second unit to be as impactful.
The 2017-18 Raptors reserves made their living on offence while being, let’s call it tenacious, on defence. The original bench mob forced the most turnovers of any reserve unit at the time while leading the league in steals and ranking second in blocks, but it also committed the most fouls, gave up the fifth-most points and had the third-worst defensive rating.
And after the 2025 Summer League Raptors earned their keep by finding success defensively while being scrappy on offence, I ask: why can’t that be their path to being the 2.0 version of a bench mob that consistently wins its minutes?
The Vegas Raptors forced a whopping 27.2 turnovers per game throughout their run while holding opponents to 40.6 and 31.6 per cent shooting from the field and distance. Granted, they also led every team with 29.6 fouls per game, but that didn’t stop them from carving out the (tied) second-best average point differential (plus-10.6).
Meanwhile, despite their stagnation with half-court offence, the squad still averaged the fifth-most points in Summer League (95.0), leveraging the copious amount of extra possessions created by all the turnovers they forced to generate plenty of easy scoring opportunities. Their defence was also critical in helping the team overcome multiple early deficits following slow starts, wearing teams down like they did against the Bulls and Magic, and even the Kings (albeit in a loss).
Point being, they problem-solved, just like the 2017-18 group did by outscoring opposing benches to overcome their defensive lapses. All en route to leading all second units in plus-minus that year (plus-3.6) by the way.
The 2025-26 group looks primed for similar results, but by doing it with their own style — overwhelming opponents defensively while scraping together bits of offensive production along the way.
The Raptors will smash the over on their win total
If we’re talking about Vegas, it’s only natural for a bit of betting talk to slip into the conversation. And with the upcoming campaign still a ways away, it appears oddsmakers are mixed on their expectations of the Raptors heading into things.
Some have Toronto’s over/under line as low as 32.5, while others have gone up to 37.5. Either way, I’m taking the over. That’s based not only on how I feel about the quality of the roster relative to the Eastern Conference, but what I believe is a fair expectation of said roster.
Last season, despite a slew of early injuries and then a not-so-subtle focus on collecting lottery balls towards the end, the Raptors still hit the over as they reached 30 wins. That team will now add a former all-star in Brandon Ingram and a top-10 pick in CMB, will have a higher floor thanks to a deeper bench and will actually be trying to be in the playoff mix.
And in an East that is riddled with question marks from top to bottom, the Raptors should absolutely be aiming to have a winning record when the dust settles on the regular season.
Collin Murray-Boyles will make All-Rookie first team
If the 2025-26 Raptors bench is going to succeed with its disruptive defensive style, it’s almost a certainty that the No. 9 overall pick will be a major reason why.
While Murray-Boyles’ Summer League experience started slow, missing the team’s opener due to an adductor strain, his productivity ticked up with every passing second once he got on the floor. All in all, the 20-year-old finished with averages of 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals while shooting 57.1 per cent from the field through his four appearances.
Beyond the counting stats, however, it was Murray-Boyles’ ability to impact the game off the box score that stood out. When he wasn’t simply snatching the ball right out of the mitts of opposing players, he consistently got his fingertips on balls to redirect passes, ate contact to stall drives and routinely dismantled actions with his heady rotations.
Meanwhile, his opportunistic approach on offence not only led to fairly efficient scoring performances, but likely also acted as a precursor to his role at the NBA level. The Raptors have a pecking order when it comes to self-creators and ball-handlers and “CMB” won’t be near the top of that list. For him to work off the scraps of others — hitting the glass and finding scoring opportunities without being fed the ball — will lend itself well during his rookie season.
And should all of that come together on a given night, Murray-Boyles showed just how impactful his game can be. Against the Golden State Warriors, he finished with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, nine rebounds (six offensive), two assists and four steals. He did all that to finish a plus-22 in 25 minutes of action. The aggression wasn’t forced on either end of the floor and it all seemed fairly replicable at the NBA level, all of which was a welcome sight from the lottery pick.
He is still quite far from a finished product offensively, however, as demonstrated by his four-point game on just five shots against the Kings in the semifinals. But if Murray-Boyles can continue to master the in-between stuff like garbage collecting on offence and elevating lineups defensively, it could just be enough for some recognition come end of season.
Should CMB make the 2025-26 All-Rookie first team, he’d be the Raptors’ 13th player to make either of the All-Rookie teams, the ninth to make a first team and first since Scottie Barnes (2021-22).
Ulrich Chomche will use up his two-way NBA games
After the 19-year-old dazzled in his second Summer League, it’s become hard for folks to contain their excitement.
Chomche’s defensive prowess was largely as advertised, a giant athlete who can cover heaps of space with only a few strides while getting his hands on just about anything around the rim. Not surprising given his 2.8 blocks per game before getting injured last season were seventh-best in the G League.
But the Cameroonian youngster also showed some development on offence. Aside from the brief flashes of things hardly seen before — like a baseline jumper or a seal and post-up into a hook shot — it was more so his ability to remain active on that end that stood out.
Chomche did the things that he wasn’t exactly nailing as a rookie, like setting stronger and better-positioned screens (something he even noted as a point of emphasis for himself) while pacing his rolls better. Things like that and his activity beyond scrapping for loose ball putbacks made it so he wasn’t just an afterthought offensively.
Meanwhile, his passing was arguably the most impressive part of his offensive game throughout Summer League. He was often poised in making correct reads and, at times, dazzled the Las Vegas crowd with his gall as he dished passes into the tighest of windows.
The Raptors are still quite thin at the centre spot behind Jakob Poeltl, with all due respect to the recently signed Sandro Mamukelashvili, who will fill that backup big role as well. But if Chomche continues to progress at the rate he seemingly is thus far and just dominates the G League this coming season, all while the likes of Mamukelashvili (who’ll be asked to make a leap in production himself), Murray-Boyles or Jonathan Mogbo struggle to act as that reserve 5 man, it could just force the Raptors hand.
A.J. Lawson will be part of an NBA rotation next season
On a Summer League roster riddled with youngsters aiming to ascend, it was one of the “veterans” of the group in Lawson who stood above the rest.
The Brampton, Ont. native finished eighth in scoring (min. four games played) as he averaged 18.5 points on 50 per cent shooting from the field and 45.5 per cent from beyond the arc. And if you’ve watched Lawson with the Raptors 905 last season, you already know how potent he can be as a scorer, not just with the ball in his hands but also as an off-ball play finisher, especially above the rim in transition.
But what stood out coming out of Las Vegas was his ability to produce offensively without forcing things. Of all the players at Summer League to score at least 18 points per game, he averaged the second-fewest field goal attempts (10.5), often finding his looks within the flow of the game. Even for a player very much fighting for a roster spot at the NBA level, he never dribbled the life out of possessions or forced up eyebrow-raising shots.
And when he missed the semifinals due to an adductor strain, it was glaringly obvious how much the Raptors missed his rim pressure and dribble penetration.
Some of that was to be expected, given it was Lawson’s fifth time taking part in the Las Vegas tournament. But something not many saw coming was how active the 25-year-old was defensively.
He not only bought into the Raptors’ aggressive style on that end of the floor, but he aso became a key contributor. Lawson’s 1.8 steals per game ranked top 20 among all Summer League players (min. four games played) all while his ability to dig as a help defender, jump passing lanes and stay in front of his man were all markedly better than last season.
Lawson appeared to be a plus-defender for much of the Summer League run, in contrast to the player who was ninth on the 905 (min. 10 games played) for defensive rating and was at best a net-neutral on that end through his 486 NBA minutes last season.
If that level of engagement and activity can continue at the NBA level this upcoming season, after a year in which he ranked 563rd of 569 players for perimeter isolation defence (per BBall Index), it would be a revelation for a player looking to turn the corner on his pro career.
Lawnson’s proven his worth at just about every level, leading up to the top. He was a stellar player in the CEBL, he worked his way to an all-star nod in the G League last year and is now coming off a dominant Summer League run.
So, whether it’s with his hometown Raptors, who are admittedly crowded on the wing as things stand, or it’s with another ball club, Lawson has earned a real shot to show what he can do at the highest level.
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