Raptors rookie gets wild placement in NBA re-draft

The Toronto Raptors selected Collin Murray-Boyles with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Toronto Raptors guard Jamal Shead passes the ball away from Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Smith Jr. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Toronto Raptors rookie Colin Murray-Boyles is off to a good start so far this season.

Murray-Boyles has proven himself on both ends of the floor that he can have a long career in the NBA. The No. 9 overall pick has been susceptible to praise in his short time in the league, but he received some slight criticism when Bleacher Report writer Greg Swartz conducted a re-draft of the 2025 NBA Draft class and placed Murray-Boyles at No. 13.

"Collin Murray-Boyles is a fine consolation prize, as he's shot the ball shockingly well this season. He has already made more three-pointers this season (11) than he did in two years at South Carolina (nine). A 45.8 percent clip from deep is especially impressive considering he shot just 23.1 percent in college," Swartz wrote.

"A good defender, the 20-year-old is worthy of still going in the lottery now."

Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles tries to slow up Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Murray-Boyles robbed in NBA re-draft

The players chosen ahead of Collin Murray-Boyles were Khaman Maluach, Egor Demin, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Tre Johnson (who was picked by the Raptors in the re-draft), Derik Queen, Jeremiah Fears, Ace Bailey, Cedric Coward, Kon Knueppel, VJ Edgecombe, Dylan Harper and Cooper Flagg.

Of those players, Maluach, Demin, Kalkbrenner, Queen and Coward were all picked after Murray-Boyles back in the summer, yet all of them have surpassed him in less than two months of their rookie season.

Some of these decisions are understandable. Queen just posted a triple-double with the New Orleans Pelicans, while Coward has been incredible for the Memphis Grizzlies averaging 13.3 points per game. However, some of these decisions are somewhat odd.

Demin is averaging just 1.3 points per game more than CMB, while Kalkbrenner has been good as a starter for the Charlotte Hornets, but he isn't blowing the roof off of things.

The most egregious decision was to put Maluach, who is averaging 4.5 minutes per game, ahead of Murray-Boyles despite him being in the G League for a good chunk of the season.

Maluach may have been a bigger name in college at Duke, but he hasn't had the same amount of noise in the pros. Eventually, Maluach could be a good pro, even better than Murray-Boyles, but to say that the Raptors forward is not as good as the Suns' seldom-used center is unfair.

Murray-Boyles and the Raptors will return to the court on Monday against the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. ET.