Jamal Shead has the attention of one NBA executive going into his rookie season.
Shead was one of nine players who received a vote for the rookie expected to be the biggest steal of this year’s draft, according to ESPN’s latest poll voted by NBA executives.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo polled 20 executives during Summer League and one of them voted Shead as most likely to be a draft steal from the 2024 NBA Draft class.
Shead turned a lot of heads in Summer League with his defensive effort and high motor. He appeared in 5 Summer League games for the Raptors, averaging 8.2 points, 3.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals. He shot 42.1 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from deep. Shead was an impactful on-ball defender and looked like someone who will seamlessly transition to the next level on that end of the floor.
The Raptors acquired Shead as the No. 45 pick in a deal with the Sacramento Kings that saw Toronto send Jalen McDaniels and salary cap relief to the Kings for Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov who got bought out, Shead and a 2025 second-round pick from the Portland Trail Blazers.
In college with the Houston Cougars, Shead won defensive player of the year. He averaged 12.9 points, 6.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game as a fourth-year senior.
Washington Wizards No. 14 selection Bub Carrington received the most votes with 5 for the most likely draft steal.
Miami Heat No. 15 pick Kel’el Ware and Minnesota Timberwolves No. 27 pick Terrence Shannon Jr. each received 3 votes. Chicago Bulls No. 11 pick Matas Buzelis and Utah Jazz No. 32 pick Kyle Filipowski each received 2 votes.
Raptors announce training camp location & preseason schedule
The Toronto Raptors will play five preseason games for this upcoming 2024-25 season.
The Raptors preseason schedule will take place following their training camp in Montreal.
This will be the first time the organization has held training camp in Montreal as the Raptors are set to begin things on Oct. 1 at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), the team announced Wednesday.
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