Why Raptors drafted Allen Graves after he was a bench player at Santa Clara

Why Raptors drafted Allen Graves after he was a bench player at Santa Clara originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Toronto Raptors ended up staying put at No. 19 in the 2026 NBA Draft.

And with their first-round selection, they chose Allen Graves — who was a bench player at Santa Clara.

It’s a bit confusing on paper, because how can a player go from being sixth man at Santa Clara to being a first-round NBA Draft pick?

Well, you have to be Graves.

MORE: Giannis legacy with the Bucks remains intact

Why did the Raptors draft Allen Graves?

Graves may not have started games at Santa Clara, but he finished them.

He’s one of the draft’s best all-around players.

At 6-foot-7, Graves does pretty much everything well, and so the Raptors weren’t concerned that Santa Clara decided to use him as a sixth man and not a starter.

Graves shot 41% from 3-point range, which is obviously a huge skill by itself no matter what else works out.

He can score, he can defend, he can shoot — that’s what the Raptors see.

So yeah, he comes from a mid-major. But that’s a school that has recently sent Jalen Williams and Brandin Podziemski to the NBA in the last five years.

The Raptors will hope Graves grows into a starter for them. And to do that, he might not have needed to do that much in college, apparently.

More NBA news: