The Former Raptor Report: How past Toronto players are doing in the NBA Playoffs

Mid-way through the second round of the NBA playoffs, lets take a look at how some former Raptors are performing.

With the second round of the NBA playoffs well underway (and a disappointing Draft Lottery happening yesterday), Toronto Raptors fans need something to cheer about.

Luckily for them, the 2024 NBA playoffs have been littered with former Raptors.

That’s understandable, given how many players the franchise has moved off of in recent years as they finally committed to rebuilding. So while we look to the future for team success, we can look to the present to root on some of our former favourite players.

Former Raptors in the Playoffs

It’s literally easier to name the playoff teams that don’t feature a former Raptor, as nine of the 16 playoff teams boasted at least one player who previously donned the Raptors’ red.

Across those nine teams, there were 14 former Raptors on playoff rosters.

Boston Celtics - Oshae Brissett, Svi Mykhailiuk

Indiana Pacers - Pascal Siakam

Los Angeles Clippers - Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell, PJ Tucker

Miami Heat - Delon Wright

New Orleans Pelicans - Jonas Valanciunas

New York Knicks - OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa

Oklahoma City Thunder - Bismack Biyombo

Philadelphia 76ers - Kyle Lowry, Jeff Dowtin Jr.

Phoenix Suns - Thaddeus Young

Who’s Left?

Obviously, not all these teams remain in the playoffs seeing as the second round contains only eight teams, and former Raptors were featured on nine. So who’s left?

In the east, Boston, New York and Indiana all remain, while it’s only Oklahoma City left out west for teams boasting Raptors alumni. Across these four teams, there are six former Raptors.

Also, seeing as four teams boast former Raptors and there are only eight teams remaining in the playoffs, there’s a 50% chance that a former Raptor wins the championship this season! (Don’t check my math on that)

What is guaranteed, and feel free to check my math on this one, is that there is a 100% chance that a former Raptor will be in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mitch Orsatti put together a nice preview of the Knicks vs Pacers series, where either OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa or Pascal Siakam will come out victorious and take a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

For the other former players, Bismack Biyombo on Oklahoma City has a solid chance at moving on, despite a 2-1 series deficit to the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder were the top seed in the Western Conference this year, and despite their young age, have shown they’re capable of playing winning playoff basketball. Biyombo hasn’t factored into their playoff run at all, playing only 10 regular season games with the team this season and not seeing a second of playoff action. But hey, he’s on the roster!

The remaining team to be discussed is one of Toronto’s greatest rivals, the Boston Celtics. With Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk, it’s not like this is a Philadelphia-Kyle Lowry situation where a fan favourite and legend then ended up on a rival team. Both Brissett and Mykhailiuk each appeared in just one season in Toronto, combining for a total of 74 games. Brissett, a Canadian from the city, played for the Raptors as an undrafted rookie in 2019-20, whereas Mykhailiuk played for Toronto in 2021-22 after three seasons bouncing across three different teams. Both have seem scarce playing time for Boston so far, combining for seven points and less than 38 total minutes played across nine playoff games.

Who’s Had an Impact?

Of the Raptors who’ve had an impact for their team in the playoffs, it’s down to just the Knicks-Pacers series.

Starting on the New York side of things, backup big man Precious Achiuwa has seen a big jump in playing time since the beginning of this series. Achiuwa has played 20+ minutes in the last three games and even started the last two matchups to accomodate for the injured OG Anunoby (who we’ll get to shortly). Filling in for the fellow-former Raptor, Achiuwa’s playing time has seen a drastic increase. The Nigerian forward only saw four minutes of playing time in the first game of the series, and only accumulated 30 minutes of game time across two games in New York’s opening round six-game series against Philadelphia.

Now getting to the aforementioned injured former-Raptor, OG Anunoby’s presence has greatly elevated the ceiling of the New York Knicks. When healthy during the regular season, the team posted a record of 20-3 with Anunoby. He was fully healthy during their series win over the 76ers, were he posted 15 points per game on nearly 42 minutes a night.

His size, length, speed and smarts on defence makes him one of the best wing and interior defenders in the league. He put his skills on full display against Philly, and was continuing to do so against Indiana. With 13 points on 42 minutes again, New York took game one, before Anunoby went off for 28 points in just under 28 minutes of play in game two.

Unfortunately, the British wing left the game with an apparent leg injury and has not returned to the court since. The Knicks would close out game two, heading to Indiana with a 2-0 series lead. However, without Anunoby, the team has dropped both road games as they head back to New York in a tied series and no word on when, or if, OG may return.

Last, but certainly not least, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam has been the most impact former Raptor so far in the playoffs, and is also the most recent to have suited up for Toronto. Having only been traded in mid-January, Siakam’s departure is still fairly fresh and may sting for some Raptors fans. What rubs salt in the wound as well, is his performance in the playoffs to this point, where he’s been phenomenal. Chelsea Leite broke it down in a recent article, but Masai Ujiri was right about the Cameroonian forward, he’s a certified playoff performer.

With 36 and 37 points in games one and two in Indiana’s first round series against Milwaukee, Siakam almost singlehandedly willed his team to a game two road win against the depleted Bucks. Averaging just over 15 points and four assists in the remainder of the series, Spicy P played a pivotal role as Indiana’s second scoring option as they dispatched Milwaukee in six games.

While you already know how the Knicks-Pacers series has gone, Siakam has played a huge role in evening it out at two games apiece. Putting up 19 and 14 points in their two losses, Siakam contributed 26 points in an incredibly close game three win to keep his team alive in the series, then added 14 points in only 22 minutes as the Pacers demolished the depleted Knicks in game four. Across their 10 playoff games, Siakam leads Indiana in points with 20.7, rebounds with 7.9 and minutes played with 35.3. Helping lead his team to a first round upset victory and tie up a series after being on the brink of going down 0-3, it’s safe to say that Pacers management is pretty happy with themselves in acquiring Pascal Siakam.

As Raptors fans, it may sting to see these players performing well with other teams, especially after yesterday’s draft lottery result. If you can, take a step back from your fandom, appreciate the players we had and continue to root them on even if they now don different colours. The basketball they’ve provided has been incredibly entertaining to watch, so I hope you haven’t missed out! While we wait for Raptors basketball to return, we still have a chance to witness the greatness of those we watched develop into the players they are today, and continue to flourish in their own right.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always Go Raptors! But for this spring only, Go Former Raptors!