Raptors training camp day two: An inside look at what the 2025-26 roster may look like when the season tips off

By Maggie Hsu, October 3 2025—

With day two of Raptors training camp wrapped up, Coach Darko Rajakovic’s roster is slowly shaping up, but there are still some questions that need to be answered and likely won’t until open practice on Friday, as the team will be divided to play a scrimmage in front of a sold-out crowd at Jack Simpson Gym.

Even then, we won’t truly know what the Raptors will look like until their season opener on Oct. 22 against the Atlanta Hawks. But, with this training camp serving as an opportunity for the Toronto team to connect with their fans in Calgary, they are also connecting, building chemistry and pushing each other to their limits to be at their best when they tip off for the regular season.

But we still have to ask: who will likely be the Raptors’ starting five? Who will be their strongest bench contributors? Who will stay with the team and who will be released by the end of preseason?

With 21 players at training camp, there will be tough decisions to make as Rajakovic and his staff start to look at making cuts to trim the roster to 15 players and three on two-way contracts.

The five starters are fairly obvious based on experience and numbers: Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl. Quickley looks to make his grand return after struggling with injuries on and off last season, but from what has been observed at camp and comments from coach Rajakovic and his teammates, he looks stronger than ever.

“I don’t even worry about Five [Quickley],” said RJ Barrett, who was acquired with Quickley from the New York Knicks during the 2023-24 season. “It’s good to see him back — you guys will see him once he’s out there.”

“Everybody notices that IQ [Quickley] is in the best shape,” said Jamal Shead. “He looks like he’s ready to go and he’s itching to go. He averaged around 17 points per game last year and that was with minimized minutes. So we’re seeing the best version of him and the best version of our starting five.

“Since the end of the season, he has been very diligent about his body,” said Rajakovic. “I expect him to become more of a two-way player, to enhance his defense … He’s our best player when attacking close up, so we’re going to be looking for opportunities for him.”

Brandon Ingram is another highly anticipated starter. Ingram has yet to suit up for the Raptors. During his stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he sustained an ankle sprain that kept him out until the end of the season. During his recovery, the Raptors acquired him in a trade in February, and since then, fans have been eager to see how Ingram can contribute to this revamped roster.

“Every day he comes in early, works on his stuff — he’s a true professional,” said Barrett of Ingram.

“He demands so much attention with the ways he’s able to score; it opens up everybody else on the floor,” said Scotty Barnes.

“He is very genuine,” said Rajakovic, on Ingram’s traits as an individual, off the court. “He cares about his teammates a lot, he cares about winning and he really loves the game — he is the guy any team would be happy to have on the roster.”

With the starting five pretty much set, the question comes to who will fill out their bench?

Jamal Shead and Sandro Mamukelashvili seem eager to take on a majority of the Raptors’ bench minutes.

“[Jamal is] another guy that can do a really good job there,” said Rajakovic. “With the way he’s been playing with our second unit, he’s going to be paramount. He’s the player we expect him to be in his second year and to make another jump as a player.

“He’s going to be on the ball — this allows us to always have a few starters on the court at any point.”

“Jamal has been an ultimate leader,” said Barnes. “He’s putting us in the right places, he’s not afraid to have those conflict moments with people as well — he has high expectations of himself, so with him carrying that around, he tries to help others in any way possible.”

Lastly, on day two, there was a large focus on the Raptors’ first-round draft pick from this past spring, Collin Murray-Boyles. Hailing from South Carolina, the 20-year-old most recently played for the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA, where, despite battling injuries, he averaged 13.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game across his 60-game college career.

A common sentiment was shared amongst his senior Raptors teammates: aggressive.

“Collin is super physical, super aggressive,” said Barnes in a positive sense. “On defense, he’s a beast, he’s a monster — the way he’s able to get those deflections, he’s going to be dangerous in transition, where he’s able to show his athleticism.

“He’s going to keep developing and growing.”

When asked about his initial thoughts coming into training camp, Murray-Boyles owes the ease of his adaptation into the NBA to his teammates and the organization.

“It’s more than what I could have expected,” he said. “These guys, the coaching staff, make it 100 times easier. They’re supporting me, talking me through it, helping me be a better player.

“These are leaders for a reason, so they’ve only made me better since I’ve gotten here.”

As a young player straight out of college, Murray-Boyles seems to blend in perfectly with the team, but that’s only due to the guidance and observation of his teammates.

“I watch Scotty [Barnes] closely,” said Murray-Boyles. “Garrett Temple — Just watching what they do on an everyday basis, how they talk to others, how they handle themselves, carry themselves on and off the court — It’s a point I want to get to and have a very long career doing so.”

With that mentality, Murray-Boyles joins the remaining 10 players at training camp, battling for minutes and time on the bench during the NBA season, where the general sentiment has been “next man up.”

It’s a long season and every player needs to be capable of stepping up to fill in any gaps. Based on how training camp has played out here in Calgary, the grit and tenacity from this young Raptors roster are apparent and could be signs of how the upcoming NBA season may play out.