Masai Ujiri's Immediate Reaction Surfaces After NBA Draft Lottery
Heading into Monday's NBA Draft Lottery, the Toronto Raptors had the seventh-best odds (7.5%) to land the No. 1 overall pick. The Raptors have had the No. 1 overall pick once in franchise history--2006, when they drafted Andrea Bargnani. They have had high draft picks since, even drafting current star Scottie Barnes fourth overall in 2021, but they never got back to the top of the draft board.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, the trend has continued. Furthermore, not only did they not get the No. 1 overall pick (the Dallas Mavericks did), but the Raptors even fell down to the No. 9 spot. For a team like the Raptors, who have made the playoffs just twice after their NBA Championship victory in 2019, this is a bit of a disappointment.
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Following the results of the NBA Draft Lottery, Raptors vice chairman and president Masai Ujiri's immediate reaction surfaced following the team's disappointing drop.
Immediately after seeing the Raptors would end up with the ninth pick instead of the seventh or better, Ujiri did not have much of a noticeable reaction.
The last time the Raptors had the ninth pick was in 2016 when they selected Jakob Poeltl. Not only was Poeltl used as an asset to acquire Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs in 2018, but he has since returned to Toronto and was the team's starting center last year.
While it is not an ideal spot to be, having the ninth overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft should still be big for the Raptors. There is a plethora of talent in the draft, and there are many prospects who could provide value in Toronto. However, fans will have to wait a little over a month to find out who the newest Raptor will be as the draft is set to take place on June 25.
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