Raptors draft undersized, high-flying defensive standout in second round

National Post

2 days ago

The Toronto Raptors certainly have a type. Small, extremely athletic and a give-no-quarter, lock-you-down defender, come on down.
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The latest example came in Thursday's second round of the 2025 NBA draft.
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The Raptors went for explosive athleticism with the 39th pick, opting for Alijah Martin, a five-year guard out of Florida. Martin spent his first four NCAA seasons for Florida Atlantic.
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Martin is a high-flying but undersized guard who stands out as an excellent defender, one of the best perimeter defenders in the SEC. Martin has extensive big-game experience, having reached the NCAA Tournament semifinal in 2023 (he scored 26 points in a one-point loss to San Diego State), before winning it all for Florida this past season in the thrilling Gators win over Houston.
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Toronto also opted for a defence-first, hard-nosed SEC player a day earlier, taking South Carolina's Collin Murray-Boyles ninth in the first round of the draft.
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Team executives had said this week they looked closely at the NBA playoffs this year and how hard players on the last teams standing played and how they mostly excelled defensively. The question that kept coming up was could the guys the Raptors liked one day fit in in similar situations. They felt Murray-Boyles definitely could and while Martin is more of a role of the dice as players taken toward the middle of the second round often don't even make the NBA, he never takes a second off when he's on the court, similar to Jamal Shead, Toronto's pick at 45 last year.
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Draft expert Sam Vecenie of The Athletic described Martin as 'Small by NBA standards, but makes up for it with power and athleticism. There may not be a better pound-for-pound athlete in the 2025 draft.'
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The Raptors roster now includes projected starters Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, plus Ja'Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Jonathan Mogbo on guaranteed deals. Murray-Boyles will bring that list to 11 before Summer League in Las Vegas next month.
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Jamison Battle is not on a guaranteed deal, but most likely it will end up guaranteed, Jared Rhoden is also unguaranteed, plus the team has two-way signees A.J. Lawson and Colin Castleton. Toronto technically could add another two-way player, be it Martin or someone else, and as many as two others on standard deals, though they could also roster as few as 14 next season because a full roster could take them into first apron luxury tax territory. As is, they'd be in the least punitive part of the luxury tax, though they'd have all season to get back under via trades.
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