Toronto Raptors drop down to ninth pick after NBA draft lottery

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Duke's Khaman Maluach (9), projected as the No. 9 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, goes up for a dunk as Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Original Publication Date May 12, 2025 - 4:26 PM

A frustrating season where Toronto Raptors fans were torn between a win-now mentality and their hopes of a high draft pick has come to a disappointing conclusion.

The Raptors will draft ninth in this summer's NBA Draft after moving down two spots in Monday night's lottery. Toronto (30-52) had the league's seventh-worst regular-season record for a 31.9 per cent chance at a top-four pick and a 7.5 per cent at the top overall selection.

Instead, the Dallas Mavericks will pick first overall, moving 10 spots up the rankings, after finishing with the 11th worst record in the NBA. Dallas had only a 1.8 per cent chance of getting the top pick.

 "We tried to attack to the odds in the lottery and see what we can do. It's a good draft," said Raptors team president Masai Ujiri at his end-of-season news conference on April 16. "Honestly, wherever we fall, we feel very confident.

"Our guys have done a lot of work all year. We're extremely excited. It's a good draft."

Ujiri represented the Raptors at Monday's lottery, held in Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.

Duke forward Cooper Flagg is widely considered the No. 1 overall prospect in this year's draft class. Duke centre Khaman Maluach is projected as the ninth overall pick.

Toronto has had a great deal of success selecting ninth.

Hall of Fame forward Tracy McGrady (1997), six-time all-star DeMar DeRozan (2009) and current starting centre Jakob Poeltl (2016) were all picked ninth by the Raptors.

The Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets each had a 52.1 per cent chance at a top-four pick and a 14 per cent shot of selecting first overall.

Only Charlotte remained in the top four, however, with the San Antonio Spurs moving up to second and Philadelphia 76ers going third.

Toronto will also draft 39th overall, using a pick acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers.

The NBA Draft will be held June 25 and 26 at Barclays Center in New York City.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025.