As per Chris Haynes, the Toronto-New York pipeline continues with the Raptors’ acquisition of third year centre Trey Jemison, bolstering both the Raptors’ and Raptors 905’s frontcourt. Jemison himself has seemingly confirmed this with a post on his Instagram, showcasing a Raptors’ practice jersey emblazoned with the number 50.
Jemison has played for five teams throughout his NBA career, with his most notable tenure coming as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, where he started fourteen games in the 2023-24 season. Jemison averaged about ten minutes for the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans, though his usage slipped after joining the Knicks for their championship campaign.
Jemison is a non-shooting big man capable of some rim deterrence while delivering monstrous dunks at his opponent’s basket. At 6’10, the big man has a 7’2″ wingspan, and makes use of that length when getting to the rim. The lob threat potential certainly seems here, as Jemison is athletic enough to get every bit out of his giant body, and could make for a great tandem working with Scottie Barnes. The lack of a jumper is, of course, unfortunate for a team that already struggles with spacing, which is something that fans see as the central need the Raptors have to address.
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In many respects, Jemison looks on paper to be the antithesis of all of the struggles the Raptors have faced with Jakob Poeltl as their starting centre. Jemison is young, athletic, and looks ready to go. Of course, he will not be slotting into that starting job, and will have to earn his chops developmentally while deep on the depth chart. The Raptors seem to believe in their abilities to develop project centres, however, and I’m excited to see what the training staff does with him throughout the upcoming season.
