The Toronto Raptors will select 13th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft after Tuesday’s draft lottery.
The lottery results were announced in Chicago. The Raptors were projected to pick 13th overall.
Raptors’ prominent past first-round draft picks include Pascal Siakam (No. 27 overall in 2016), OG Anunoby (No. 23 overall in 2017) and Scottie Barnes (No. 4 overall in 2021).
The Raptors had a poor 2022-23 NBA season as they went 41-41 and failed to make the playoffs, losing to the Chicago Bulls at home in the NBA play-in tournament. The disappointing campaign resulted in Raptors vice-chairman and president Masai Ujiri firing head coach Nick Nurse on April 21.
Nurse registered a 237-170 record as Raptors head coach, guiding the team to a championship title in the 2018-19 season, the first in franchise history. Former NBA player and current ESPN analyst JJ Reddick and former Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams have emerged as candidates for the Raptors job.
The Canadian NBA franchise has struggled with a roster that is short on guard depth, quality shooting and complicated by positional overlap.
The Raptors have three pending free agents among their top six players. They also have to decide whether to trade or keep arguably their best player, Siakam, who is eligible for a four-year max contract extension worth roughly around $192 million.