Raptors 905 storylines ahead of return to G League playoffs

Synchronicity between a big club and its developmental counterpart can often be considered a marker of organizational success in the NBA.

Being on the same page, running similar schemes and building synonymous habits for prospects to seamlessly transition back and forth all help build flow within the franchise.

Yet when those commonalities include an equally long post-season drought at both levels, spanning nearly half a decade, it can put a damper on that cohesion.

Which is why the 2025-26 season has felt like the course-correcting campaign the Toronto Raptors organization — once heralded for its developmental proficiency — has been working towards in recent years.

As the Raptors close in on securing their first playoff appearance since 2022, the Raptors 905 (Toronto's G League affiliate) have already punched their own ticket to the dance.

It's an accomplishment worth celebrating given the team's ups and downs this year — losing three rotation players (Julian Reese, Olivier Sarr and David Roddy) to NBA call-ups in the span of five days — and steadying the tide enough to clinch homecourt in the first round. They'll host the Motor City Cruise when action gets underway on Tuesday. But if you ask Raptors 905 head coach Drew Jones, being a playoff team "is the floor." He's more interested in exploring what his team's ceiling can be.

So as the 2017 champs make their much-anticipated return to the G League playoffs, here are key storylines to keep in mind.

Path to the No. 4 seed

The Raptors 905 finished the regular season with a 23-13 record, going 7-3 in their last 10 games to clinch the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

The seeding race came down to the wire, however, as the 905 didn't secure homecourt in the opening round until the final day of regular-season action, getting the job done thanks to a resounding home win over the Wisconsin Herd. Among the reasons why hosting a playoff game is important, the Raptors 905 were tied for the third-best home wins (14) in the G League this season.

Saturday's victory was indicative of how they've driven success through much of the season, using pressure-focused defence to generate quality offence.

The 905 have maintained the G League's No. 4 net rating, despite their middle-of-the-pack offensive attack, thanks to a third-ranked defence. The 905 boast the seventh-highest opponent turnover percentage (16.9), and are ranked fifth in terms of percentage of points scored off turnovers, with nearly 20 per cent of their makes coming as a result of takeaways. In their win against the Herd, for instance, the 905 forced 18 turnovers for 26 points.

And although their offence only ranks 12th in the G League, one thing the 905 have managed to do effectively on that end — even in the absence of two-way floor general Chucky Hepburn, who's done for the year after knee surgery — is live up to Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic's values of ball movement. The 905 are second in percentage of assisted makes (66.3) and third in assists per game (28.3).

Saturday's win also meant the Raptors 905 finished with a G League best 37-13 record for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign, which accounts for both the tip-off tournament and regular-season.

The 905 started the year with a historic 14-0 run and made it to the tip-off tournament finals as a No. 1 seed before falling to the Salt Lake City Stars — a loss that coach Jones wants nothing more than to make up for in the playoffs.

"Let's not forget what happened (against Salt Lake City) in Orlando," the 905 bench boss said to his team before they went on to beat their now playoff opponent, the Cruise, earlier in March. "... I haven't (forgotten)."

All eyes on the two-ways

With the absence of Hepburn, more focus (and burden) has been placed on the shoulders of A.J. Lawson and Alijah Martin, and to their credit, both have done well to manage the added pressure.

The two-way guards have paced the Raptors 905 in scoring this season, with Lawson's 20.8 points per game leading the way and Martin chipping in 18.4 points of his own. They also lead the team in three-point makes per game, making 2.9 and 2.2 each on efficient 37 and 38 per cent clips, which is certainly necessary for a 905 team that ranks 25th in made threes per game. (Going back to synchronicity, that's the same rank as the equally unproductive NBA Raptors from beyond the arc.)

Martin has also stepped up as a play initiator, taking part in a do-it-by-committee approach, to make up for the 8.5 assists no longer in the lineup without Hepburn. The 24-year-old is averaging 4.4 helpers per game, just behind fellow rookie AJ Hoggard's mark of 6.4 which leads the 905 since Hepburn went down. The pair, along with recently added Markelle Fultz, have taken on primary ball-handling duties.

There's no doubt Lawson and Martin both will be paramount to the 905's success this post-season. The pair has spearheaded the team's efforts on both ends of the floor — each averaging over a steal per game — and has been recognized accordingly. Lawson, a Brampton, Ont., native, earned a G League Up Next game selection (essentially an all-star nod) for a second consecutive season, and was joined by Martin, who also took part in the Rising Stars game as a member of Team G League.

Who could the Raptors assign to the 905 as reinforcements?

With the Raptors' rotation shrinking through each passing game before the playoffs, there are fewer minutes to go around for end-of-bench players like Jonathan Mogbo, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Fultz (barring Immanuel Quickley's health).

So, it's not inconceivable that the Raptors could assign a couple of them to boost the 905's playoff roster. The organization isn't unfamiliar with that approach either. In 2017, a then-rookie Pascal Siakam — 18 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.4 blocks — played in all seven playoff games for the 905 en route to a G League title. He was even joined by Fred VanVleet — 22 points, 11.5 assists and one steal — for Games 2 and 3 of the G League Finals.

Scheduling could make that idea tricky this time around, however, as the Raptors visit the Pistons on Tuesday, coincidentally the same night the 905 host the Cruise (Detroit's G League affiliate).

Fultz has looked progressively comfortable through seven games with the 905 — putting up 18 points, nine assists and four steals on Saturday — but may be needed on the Raptors should Quickley remain sidelined. Meanwhile, rookie standout Collin Murray-Boyles — battling his own injury concerns — and sophomores Jamal Shead and Ja'Kobe Walter remain important contributors to Toronto's rotation and are needed to secure its playoff hopes. And while Gradey Dick hasn't played consistently for the Raptors, his potential punch off the bench is worth keeping around for now. So their inclusion is unlikely.

Which leaves Mogbo and Jackson-Davis as the most reasonable candidates for assignment, and the 905 could certainly make use of the Swiss-army-knife forwards. In two G League appearances with the 905, Jackson-Davis averaged 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4.5 assists, two steals and two blocks. Mogbo, meanwhile, has put up 12.4 points (on 60.3 per cent shooting), 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks through 14 regular-season games in the G League.

Don't overlook Motor City

While the 905 swept the regular-season series against the Cruise (2-0), including a 13-point victory, their second matchup was no cake-walk.

The 905 eked out a 123-122 win on March 17 after overcoming an 11-point third-quarter deficit in an uber-physical affair that saw nearly 50 fouls called.

The grind-it-out style of the game ultimately favoured the 905, as they limited the Cruise to just eight fastbreak points, well below Motor City's season average of 16.7 which ranked fifth in the G League. The victory also required a herculean 32 points from Lawson, 23 points from Tyreke Key off the bench, a 22-9-5-2-2 line from Jackson-Davis and a game-winning layup from Fultz.

It would be asking for a lot to see repeat performances all around.

As for Motor City, its trio of two-ways in Isaac Jones, Wendell Moore Jr. and Tolu Smith III will certainly be a handful to deal with should all three play — they lead the Cruise in scoring this season at 22.2, 19.8 and 19.5 points per game, respectively.

The 905 will especially have to enter Tuesday with a game plan for limiting Jones, as the centre not only put up 37 points on 12-of-17 shooting against the 905 in March, he also dropped 36 points on 13-of-17 against the Raptors all the way back in Summer League.

How do the G League playoffs work?

There'll be no shortage of stakes in the G League post-season, which features a four-round format that includes 16 teams.

The top eight teams from the East and West will all compete in the first round, which is slightly different than before. Previously, the top-seeded team in each conference was awarded a bye to the second round.

The first three rounds of the 2025-26 playoffs will be single-elimination style before a best-of-three Finals.

First-round matchups:

Eastern Conference
No. 1 Osceola Magic (26-10) vs. No. 8 Long Island Nets (18-18)
No. 2 Greensboro Swarm (24-12) vs. No. 7 Maine Celtics (18-18)
No. 3 Cleveland Charge (23-13) vs. No. 6 Capital City Go-Go (19-17)
No. 4 Raptors 905 (23-13) vs. No. 5 Motor City Cruise (22-14)

Western Conference
No. 1 South Bay Lakers (26-10) vs. No. 8 San Diego Clippers (18-18)
No. 2 Mexico City Capitanes (24-12) vs. No. 7 Rip City Remix (19-17)
No. 3 Stockton Kings (23-13) vs. No. 6 Iowa Wolves (21-15)
No. 4 Rio Grande Valley Vipers (23-13) vs. No. 5 Austin Spurs (23-13)

The G League playoff schedule:

March 31 & April 1: First Round
April 3: Conference Semifinals
April 5: Conference Finals
April 8: Finals - Game 1
April 10: Finals - Game 2
April 13: Finals - Game 3 (if necessary)

The Raptors 905 will welcome the Motor City Cruise to the Paramount Fine Foods Centre on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT tip-off. The winner will advance and take on either the Osceola Magic or Long Island Nets in the conference semifinals on Friday.