ORLANDO — Jakob Poeltl gets it, and most importantly, he’s OK with it because he understands it.
Granted, when he was traded to Toronto just before the NBA All-Star break in the 2022-23 season, he didn’t think ‘it’ meant being part of a rebuild during his ninth NBA season. He thought what everyone else thought: He would come back and help his old teammates — Poeltl played his first two seasons in Toronto before he was traded in 2018 with DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in the trade that changed franchise history — get back into contention in the Eastern Conference.
But as we all know, it didn’t work. Not yet.
But Poeltl is optimistic it will. He took note when the Raptors traded for the talented Brandon Ingram at the deadline last month and signed the rangy forward for three years and $120 million before he ever played a game in Toronto. Poeltl’s seen the trajectory of the rookies he’s been helping coax along this season. He’s felt the energy around a young, hungry team inspired by head coach Darko Rajakovic and the relentless positivity from his staff.
As we spoke Tuesday, Ingram was finishing up a workout before the Raptors shootaround in advance of their second game in Orlando — what ended up a wild 114-113 win that Poeltl watched mostly from the bench in the fourth quarter as the Raptors, um, strictly enforce a minutes restriction stemming from relatively minor, month-old hip injury.
While the Ingram deal may not pay dividends on-court until next season — the Raptors are being conservative about his return-to-play plan due to his ankle sprain back on Nov. 22nd when he was still with the New Orleans Pelicans — the message the acquisition sent has been well received by Poeltl, who, for all his patience, is arguably the most ‘win now’ player on the Raptors roster.
“I thought was really cool,” Poeltl said Tuesday as he looked at Ingram finish up with Raptors assistant coach Pat Delaney. “And (the trade) just kind of followed up on what they’ve been talking about, well, really, for the past year, year and a half, which is like, ‘No, we don’t want to tank and go through the draft.’ They wanted to get back to winning quickly. Obviously. Yes, you got to try and build up a new team. You got to build on some young guys, and you got to go through some more difficult times, but they’ve always communicated that they want to be aggressive, making moves like that. And so, yeah, I think it’s really good, and it’s good for us as a team.”
That the Raptors have had to rebuild has nothing to do with Poeltl — the big Austrian has been as advertised since being repatriated from San Antonio: A crucial defensive presence, a play-making safety valve offensively and the kind of two-way stabilizer who helps skilled players thrive. He has arguably had his best season, with career highs in points (14.1), rebounds (9.8) and free throw percentage (67.2) while matching career marks in assists (2.8) and steals (1.2).
Which is why it’s worth checking in with Poeltl as the Raptors finish out the year with an ever-increasing focus on the draft lottery, as evidenced by journeyman back-up centre Orlando Robinson playing nearly twice as many minutes (21:53) after the third quarter as Poeltl has (11:51) in three consecutive road games that came down to the final possession. Not coincidentally, the Raptors gave up leads of 13, 19 and 10 in games that came down to the final possession on the road in Chicago (an overtime loss) before eking out two wins against the struggling Magic.
The Raptors were plus-18 with Poeltl on the floor in his limited fourth-quarter minutes and minus-42 in Robinson minutes, which says a lot about Poeltl’s significance to the lineup and where the Raptors’ mindset is when it comes to winning games with 20 left to play.
Fortunately, the Raptors’ veteran centre understands. No one was happier than him when Ja’Kobe Walter hit his dramatic game-winner on Tuesday night, as the normally reserved Poeltl jumped up and down like a grade schooler after the shot dropped.
“Yes, it is weird to watch, but because I already know that — because of the minutes restriction — I wasn’t going to be playing at the end of the game,” he said before the dramatics. “I guess it almost feels like — it sounds weird — but it doesn’t feel as real to me because, basically, my game has already ended.
“I don’t know, that sounds weird, but obviously we want to do better with me on the court, or not, we want to be closing out these games … (but) putting ourselves in these positions over and over again we can really learn from it and hopefully improve.”
The goal is that the minutes being played by the youngest and least experienced members of the Raptors roster — Rajakovic’s closing lineup against the Magic’s available starters featured Jared Rhoden, AJ Lawson, Jamal Shead, Robinson and Walker, who have 21 career NBA starts between them — will pay off long-term, both in player development and lottery positioning.
“This is what we talked about with us as an organization, it’s very important for young guys to be in those situations so they can learn,” said Rajakovic, who has to implement and answer for the priorities being defined by management. “There is no better school than this, for them to be on the court and be in close games and go through all of that.”
It’s a credit to Rajakovic and the veterans on his roster that there hasn’t been much, if any, pushback, at least externally. Poeltl’s outlook is telling.
“Obviously, you want to win games, like there’s no way around it,” he says. “I want to win games now, and sometimes it’s frustrating to lose games when you’re in that learning process. But I think, like you said, I’m one of those guys. I can see the big picture. I can understand the process, and bought into it, so I know what to expect, and then I’m OK with that.”
That’s good news for the Raptors. The hope is that with the addition of Ingram, the development of their existing youngsters and the promise of whoever the Raptors end up choosing from whatever position they end up drafting, Toronto will be a relevant team in the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.
Given that they are 12-11 in their past 23 games and have the NBA’s seventh-rated defence suggests there’s cause for optimism. But for all the still untapped promise Scottie Barnes might have and the intriguing signs Immanuel Quickley has shown, and the steady two-way progress exhibited by RJ Barrett and the pedigree Ingram represents, none of it matters without Poeltl — the only reliable big man in the organization, as underscored by the Raptors’ 6-40 record in games he doesn’t play since he was re-acquired.
It’s why the Raptors rebuffed any interest in teams trying to acquire Poeltl at the trade deadline by keeping their asking price at the high-end of the market — believed to be two good first-round picks or some equivalent. Instead, it’s likely that the Raptors — who have Poeltl under contract next season before a player option kicks in ahead of the 2026-27 season — will engage in discussions on a contract extension that will keep Poeltl in Toronto through the rest of his prime.
Poeltl likes what he’s seen and believes there are better days ahead, and he’ll be ready to listen.
“I haven’t given (my contract) any thought, like, those conversations are gonna start coming once the season ends, and I’m assuming pretty quickly after the season ends,” he said. “I haven’t had any conversations yet. But big picture, I mean, for sure … I’ve bought into this process and I’ve kind of gone through the tough times already. So, this is my home right now and I really hope it’s gonna be in the future as well.”
The Raptors will be glad of it.
