The Most Important Reserve on the Raptors Next Season

The Toronto Raptors are expected to have a starting lineup featuring Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl next season. Either Brandon Ingram or Kawhi Leonard will operate as their small forward, depending on the status of the proposed deal between Toronto and the Los Angeles Clippers.

However, the Raptors have a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate that could completely affect how far they go in a potential playoff run. Second-year pro Collin Murray-Boyles flashed a lot of potential in his rookie year and was one of the team's top players in their playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. His role has the potential to expand in the upcoming season, and the Raptors could expect more out of him.

Collin Murray-Boyles Primed for Year 2 Leap

Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles tries to get to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers centre Jarrett Allen. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The reason why CMB is the team's most important reserve is because there could be a chance that he is promoted to the starting lineup at some point during the year, at least for the end of games.

Murray-Boyles made 22 starts in his rookie season, but the team often utilized him as a backup centre behind Poeltl, especially when he was injured and down with the back injury. CMB is only 6-7, but the way he plays and the muscle he has built allow him to defend larger players. There are going to be certain games where the Raptors have to put someone with size like Poeltl on the floor, but they might operate better as a five-person lineup with Murray-Boyles on the court instead of Poeltl.

Simply put, Murray-Boyles has more versatility on both ends of the floor compared to Poeltl, who saw his rebounds and block numbers decline heavily. After averaging 9.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 2024-25, he posted 7.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per contest in 2025-26.

During the regular season, the Raptors had a 112.4 defensive rating when CMB was on the court and a 114.0 when he was off of it.

The Raptors also have rookie forward Allen Graves in the fold this season, and he might be able to take part of the role that CMB had this past season, opening the door for Toronto to operate more lineups with Murray-Boyles as a small-ball centre.

“The majority of this season he played position five. I think he’s doing a really good job there of setting screens, rolling, creating spacing in the dunker,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said via Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange.

With Murray-Boyles and Graves in the frontcourt, there is a lot of untapped potential that head coach Rajakovic is going to explore throughout the season. There will be opportunity for him to experiment with different lineups and with their versatility. Toronto could have several different ways to beat their opponents in the upcoming season.

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