Dial 905: Raptors 905 ‘24-25 season 1st stop: Training Camp Battle

The Raptors 905 kicked off their ‘24-25 training camp last monday, led by new head coach Drew Jones, and a slew of new faces.

It’s that time of the year again — The Raptors 905 basketball is just right around the corner, and they recently announced their Training Camp roster for the 2024-25 NBA G League season. First-year head coach Drew Jones will be leading the way this time, replacing former Raptors 905 head coach Eric Khoury after a couple of seasons. Khoury rejoined coach Darko Rajakovic’s coaching staff before the start of the NBA season.

The developmental focus should revolve around the Toronto Raptors Two-Way contract players DJ Carton, Ulrich Chomche, and Jamison Battle. Of the three, Battle is making the most of his limited minutes with the main club, putting up 7.8 points and 3.8 boards while shooting 38.5% from the three-point range.

There’s also the chance that standard contract players could be sent down to the “905,” so don’t be surprised to see Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, and Ja’Kobe Walter get sent down to the minors, whether it’s for more minutes, conditioning, or just getting some practice reps in.

From last season’s roster, only Myles Burns and Kevin Obanor remained. Burns and Obanor came back as “Returning Rights” players. In the G League, teams maintained the roster rights for any player within the previous two seasons.

Dylan Disu, Kennedy Chandler, and Quincy Guerrier joined the Raptors 905 as an “Affiliate Player,” three of several players that the Raptors signed/waived during the NBA training camp period. In the G League, the “Affiliate Player Rule” allows teams to retain players they waived during the training camp period and designate them as an “Affiliate Player.” While these players remain as free agents for any NBA team to sign, if they choose to sign an NBA G League contract, they are automatically allocated to the team that designated them as an affiliate player, thus giving them a significant pay bump compared to a standard NBA G League contract.

However, getting some of these players’ NBA G League rights came with a price. The Raptors 905 traded Koby McEwen’s “Returning Rights” to the Windy City Bull to acquire Evan Gilyard II. They then flipped Markquis Nowell’s returning rights to Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Kennedy Chandler’s returning rights.

Dylan Disu was a UDFA on the Raptors’ Vegas Summer League team. Branden Carlson, who was initially a Raptors’ Two-Way contract player, also joins the team as an affiliate player.

Raptors 905 GM Luke Winn wasn’t done wheeling and dealing, as he made a last-minute trade right before the training camp, acquiring Charlie Brown Jr. (the player) for several picks and the returning rights to Marques Bolden.

The 2024 NBA G League draft happened last week, and the Raptors 905 selected Tylor Perry 15th overall. Perry was also on the Summer League team in Vegas. Raptors 905 Winn also traded for the 39th pick owned by the Austin Spurs, selecting Charles Pride. The Spurs received the Raptors 905’s 2025 NBA G League International draft pick in return.

To round up the team, the Raptors 905 invited three prospects from their Open Tryout late last month. Devonte Bandoo, Tyreke Key, and Chris Vogt will try to earn an opening night roster spot. Key and Vogt played together in Belgium last season. The Raptors also claimed Vance Jackson II from the available player pool.

This training camp roster is better than last season’s, and with the team needing to cut down to 10 standard G League contract players, it will be an interesting training camp battle. Burns and Obanor has the familiarity with the system, having played for the Raptors 905 last season. So does Carlson, who was with the main club until the end of training camp. Guerrier, Disu, and Perry were both on the Raptors’ Summer League team, while Chandler and Brown Jr. had an extensive look at the NBA level before.

The NBA G League training camp runs from October 28 to November 7, with the Raptors 905 set to open their season on the road against the Delaware Blue Coats on November 9.