As teams head into the All-Star break, they have a sense of what their identity is. The Toronto Raptors are one of those teams slatted to be in the draft lottery.
Given how injuries have simply derailed their season up to this point, it makes sense to tank.
Currently, sitting at 17-38 and 5 games back of the Play-In Tournament, tanking seems to be the best option moving forward.
Although trading for Brandon Ingram comes off as a winning-oriented move, he remains sidelined due to an ankle injury.
That being said, the Raptors will be in the mix come draft time. Hopefully, they will secure a spot in the top-5 this time around.
In ESPN’s latest mock draft by Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, they project Toronto taking Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis at No. 5.
Originally from Lithuania, Jakucionis is a multi-faceted guard who can do a little bit of everything. He’s currently shooting 35 percent from three-point range and 47.5 percent from the field through 10 games.
The 6’6″ guard is averaging 16.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists as a freshman. So, he can do a bit of everything on the court as a taller point guard.
At Illinois, they trust him to run their offense. Jakucionis can operate well out of the pick-and-roll and he is capable of making quality decisions out of it.
This could be an intriguing prospect to keep an eye on as someone who can relieve ball-handling duties from Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
But, if that is not in the cards in the NBA, Jakucionis can self-create a little as well.
Kasparas Jakucionis’ recent game against UCLA
In Kasparas Jakucionis’ last game against a quality UCLA Bruins team, he showed out. The freshman put up 24 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists on 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-8 shooting from three in a big-time win.
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