QUEBEC CITY – With the return of Kawhi Leonard, comparisons to the 2018-19 season are inevitable.
Like the Raptors team that Leonard joins now, that title-winning roster was built methodically. Acquiring the superstar forward from San Antonio was the obvious catalyst, but it took years of savvy drafting and a commitment to player development to lay the foundation. However, most people remember trade deadline addition Marc Gasol as being the final piece to that championship puzzle. He was the guy that brought it all together, that put them over the top.
Will this team need to make a similar mid-season addition to solidify their status as a legitimate contender to come out of a suddenly loaded Eastern Conference? It’s not out of the question, and they have the resources to make it happen, as general manager Bobby Webster pointed out last week.
“If we want to go for it, we can still go for it,” said Webster, who noted that, even after the trade for Leonard, they still own a first-round pick in each of the next four years (in addition to a crop of coveted young players and RJ Barrett’s expiring contract). “There’s definitely more left on the bone.”
But what if the missing piece is already on the roster?
After last season became a lost season for Jakob Poeltl, any discussion about the veteran centre turns into an indictment of his contract. There are at least three years and more than $80 million of guaranteed salary left on an extension he signed in the summer of 2025. Neither the player nor the deal have aged well.
A nagging back injury limited the 30-year-old to 46 games last season. It’s an ailment he’s been dealing with for a year and may have to manage, to some degree or another, for the rest of his career.
It first flared up in training camp last fall. Some days were better, others were worse, but despite months of treatment and a mid-season reset, he could never quite shake the discomfort, and it showed. He rarely looked like himself, averaging 10.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 25.0 minutes – his lowest marks since 2020-21.
Coming off a disappointing campaign, it’s easy to forget that the version of Poeltl the Raptors drafted in 2016, traded for Leonard in 2018, re-acquired and re-signed in 2023, and then extended in 2025 was a quality starting NBA centre. The numbers don’t do him justice, though 12.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks on 64 per cent shooting in two and a half years with Toronto prior to last season are nothing to scoff at.
Poeltl’s true value has always been in the intangibles, his ability and willingness to do the little things that help a team win. Even before the Raptors were doing much winning, they were 772 points better with him on the floor than they were with him off it between 2023 and 2025. He’s a connector on the offensive end and an anchor on defence. In other words, he’s the type of player this current iteration of the team could really use. With the money they have invested in the seven-footer and the lack of depth behind him at the position – they were priced out of the market for backup big man Sandro Mamukelashvili, who signed with the Lakers this summer – the Raptors are highly motivated to get him back to that level.
For what it’s worth, Poeltl isn’t lacking for motivation either. He spent most of the off-season in his native Austria, where he hired and worked with a strength and conditioning coach that specializes in helping athletes bounce back from injury. In consultation with the Raptors’ medical staff, they made some changes to Poeltl’s training routine and crafted a program specifically designed to manage his reoccurring back pain.
Previously, Poeltl would warm up before his basketball workouts and do a standard lift routine afterwards. With the new regimen, he’s doing a full activation and targeted lift session before picking up a ball. There’s an emphasis on mobility, trying to take some pressure off his back by making him more mobile in areas where his range of motion was lacking. In the weight room, the focus is on improving his core strength, as well as targeting his glutes and hamstrings, to make sure he has as much protection as possible.
“It’s not rocket science,” Poeltl told TSN after a lengthy Wednesday morning practice at Laval University in Quebec City, where his team is holding training camp. “This is something that I specifically wanted to do, something I wanted to change in my routine to see if we can make a difference, see if I can maybe get that extra bit of pep for the season.”
So far so good. He’s feeling better and, by all accounts, he’s moving better, but he knows the real test is weeks and months away. Keeping up with the new routine and maintaining his health and conditioning over the course of a full season will get monotonous, without any guarantee that it will work – back injuries are famously unpredictable and don’t tend to age well in seven-footers over 30.
Poeltl can be described as a realist. He’s optimistic, but cautiously so. He understands there’s a long road ahead and isn’t demanding too much of himself. Have people forgotten what he’s capable of at full strength? Are they too fixated on a contract that some call one of the worst in the NBA? He isn’t worried about it.
“Maybe, I don’t know. I don’t really care, to be honest,” he said. “I’m just trying to get as healthy as possible so I can play to the best of my abilities and help the team win however I can.”
What that looks like could be different than in years past, and he gets that too. He talked about how his role could change as the younger players on the team continue to grow. One would assume he’s referring to the slimmed-down Collin Murray-Boyles, who is fresh off an All-Rookie campaign and is poised to take a big step forward entering his second year.
Poeltl will likely start games, but the safe bet is on the sophomore closing more games than not, and you can expect him to log more than the 22 or so minutes that he averaged last season. Head coach Darko Rajakovic is hoping he and Poeltl can play together more often, but it’s hard to imagine that working for long stretches unless CMB’s three-point shooting has drastically improved – he certainly put in the work over the summer.
Whatever his role ends up being – whether he’s asked to play 20 minutes, 25 minutes, or closer to 30 – a healthy Poeltl would go a long way toward unlocking this team’s lofty potential. If the back flares up again, or if the 10-year vet is unable to rediscover his pre-injury form, a mid-season move feels inevitable, if not essential. As it stands, he’s the only player on the roster that’s taller than 6-foot-9.
“You already know how I feel about Jak, man,” said Scottie Barnes. “We love Jak. He’s great for our team, with his anchor in the paint, paint presence. He helps us out in so many ways, with his vision, cutting, screening. We need Jak. We can’t do it without Jak.”
