Masai Ujiri’s Next Masterclass — Hidden Gems in the NBA Draft’s 2nd Round

Toronto holds pick No. 39 — and with Ujiri’s eye for talent, one of these under-the-radar prospects could be the franchise’s next diamond in the rough.

The Toronto Raptors will step to the podium early in the second round with the 39th pick in the NBA Draft. This year’s class is flush with off-beat talent that could bloom inside the Raptors’ famed development lab. Let’s run five of the most intriguing names through the RaptorsHQ microscope — an abbreviated version of what we liked, disliked, and the overall Raptors fit of these prospects.

Hunter Sallis: Combo Guard, Wake Forest (Senior)

Combine Measurements

Age: 22.2

Height w/o Shoes: 6’3.75”

Wingspan: 6’10”

Standing Reach: 8’4”

Sallis’ story reads like a redemption arc. Once a McDonald’s All-American, he stagnated at Gonzaga, then exploded at Wake Forest—18 points, 5.1 boards, and 2.8 dimes this past season. He dances with the ball, generating separation via hang dribbles and cross-snatch pull-ups. He’s got a complex shotmaking bag, incorporating his handle and footwork with his face-up game.

Yet the questions linger. Sallis can manipulate a screen but gets tunnel vision; turnovers spike when defenses load up. He’s 181 lbs soaking wet, so finishing through help is an adventure. Defensively, the wingspan and feet exist, but the motor flickers—he’ll lock in one possession and not have the same energy the next. Additionally, Sallis shot poorly from the perimeter this past season — 27.7%, compared to his Junior season, where he shot a scorching 40.5%. The question here is which one’s a one-off, and can it be rediscovered?

Toronto’s bench desperately needs self-creators. There’s a reason why the Raptors are linked to Malik Monk, one of the premier bench scorers in the league right now. Under Coach Rajaković’s development, hopefully, the defensive inconsistency will iron out; the Raptors have turned raw tools into functional stoppers before. Offensively, Barnes’ playmaking would free Sallis to hunt mismatches instead of playing quarterback.

At 39, betting on bucket-getters with length and pedigree is historically wise. If the Raptors can bulk Sallis up and sharpen his reads, he might become the sixth-man scorer fans crave.

Adou Thiero: Wing, Arkansas (Junior)

Combine Measurements

Age: 21.1

Height w/o Shoes: 6’6.25”

Wingspan: 7’0”

Standing Reach: 8’8.5”

Thiero’s one-year detour at Lexington turned him from an athletic curiosity at Kentucky into a bona fide defensive terror for Arkansas. He averaged a modest 15.1-5.8-1.9 line, but the numbers hide how suffocating he was at the point of attack. With a legit 7-foot wingspan and pogo-stick bounce, Thiero erased drives, swallowed passing lanes, and bounced between guarding twitchy guards and bruising fours in the same possession. His 2.3 stocks don’t justify his defensive impact on the floor. Offensively, he’s a straight-line slasher who absolutely lives at the dunker spot and in transition.

The swing skill is the jumper: as a Junior, Thiero’s 25.6 % on low volume (1.6 3PA) is a testament that his shooting form will be a major project as a rookie. Yet Toronto’s shooting lab has fixed stranger hitches (remember OG’s pre-draft form?). On-ball creation is minimal—Thiero doesn’t slice with combo moves; he bulldozes with a long first step—so spacing will dictate his ceiling.

Still, Darko Rajaković’s scheme is built on movement, cuts, and length. Picture Thiero ghost-screening for Scottie Barnes, rolling into empty space and detonating at the rim while defenders panic about Barnes’ skip pass. Defensively, he fits seamlessly into the Raptors’ switch-everything ethos, offering a jumbo guard option who can body up 1–4 and turbo-charge Toronto’s still-rebuilding transition attack.

Bottom line: if the perimeter shot climbs to even 33 % by Year 2, Thiero becomes a rotation-level two-way wrecking ball. At 39, that’s a gamble worth taking.

Jamir Watkins: Wing, Florida State (Senior)

Combine Measurements

Age: 23.9

Height w/o Shoes: 6’5”

Wingspan: 6’11.25”

Standing Reach: 8’6.5”

Every draft hides a Swiss Army knife wing who stuffs box scores without fanfare. Watkins is that dude. After flashing potential at VCU, he blossomed in Tallahassee: 18 points, 5.7 boards, 2.4 dimes, and 1.7 steals, most importantly, brutalizing opponents in transition and on the glass. Watkins’ first step is a battering ram; he has excellent hands and is a quick-twitch athlete that allows him to finish above the rim like a small-ball four.

On defense, he mirrors wings with good hip fluidity for a 225-lb frame, piling up deflections and weak-side blocks. He’s the kind of multiple-effort defender that Raptors Twitter salivates over. The major downside is his shooting: 32.1% from three-point range, a set shot that tends to drift. Florida State’s spacing woes didn’t help, and he might have taken more perimeter shots than he should have. Still, Watkins must become a credible catch-and-shoot threat to prevent his defenders from helping off him.

Toronto’s ecosystem is perfect for Watkins’ transformation. His effort, motor, and impact on defence will occasionally catch the eye of Coach Rajakovic, especially if he’s looking for a spark plug. Darko’s free-flowing offense would allow Watkins to cut, post smaller guards, and attack shifting defenses without heavy on-ball duties.

If the jumper pops by Year 2, he’s a rotation-grade 3-and-D wrecking ball; if not, he’s at least an agent of chaos, a change of pace trump card that will see additional time in the G League. In Round 2, that floor-plus-ceiling combo is gold.

Bogi Marković: 6’11” Stretch Forward, Mega Basket (Serbia)

Combine Measurements

Age: 19.9

Height w/o Shoes: 6’10.5”

Wingspan: 6’11.5”

Standing Reach: 9’2”

Europe’s latest Mega Basket export is a 20-year-old modern “big man” Boguljub Markovic. Marković is one of the most well-rounded bigs in this draft offensively, someone who’s capable of playing in the paint and around the perimeter. He buried 37% of his threes while averaging 13.7 points, 6.8 boards, and 2.7 dimes. At 6’11”, he makes good reads and advanced passes, weaponizing a high-feel game that screams “modern NBA big.”

The downside: he’s built like a twig. Listed at 190 lbs, Bogi gets nudged off rebounding lanes and concedes deep seals to bulkier posts. Lateral quickness isn’t elite, so NBA wings might roast him on switches until strength catches up. His rebounding leaves a lot to be desired, a sore spot for any frontcourt prospect.

Why Toronto? Because few franchises cultivate lanky, high-skill internationals better. Marković could spend his rookie year splitting time between Mississauga and Toronto. In Toronto’s five-out sets, his pick-and-pop gravity would unglue defenses for Barnes’s rim dives. Plus, a frontcourt pairing of Bogi and Jakob Poeltl marries spacing with rim protection.

If the Raptors’ famed high-performance team adds 20 lbs of functional muscle, Marković projects as a floor-spacing connector. At 39, that’s a swing worth taking.

Hansen Yang: Center, Qingdao Eagles (China)

Combine Measurements

Age: 19.9

Height w/o Shoes: 7’1”

Wingspan: 7’2.75”

Standing Reach: 9’3”

Hansen Yang’s CBA stat line reads like a teenager’s MyCAREER flex: 16 points, 10.5 boards, 3 dimes, and 3.7 stocks on 59 percent shooting, over 53 starts for Qingdao. Toss in back-to-back All-Star nods and that unicorn Rookie-plus-Defensive-POY combo, and you’ve got the Chinese League’s biggest plot twist since Jimmer dropped 70. But the real hook? The seven-footer used to be a guard. He’ll yank a rebound, push the pace like he’s still 6-4, capable of a laser hit-ahead dime before the defence blinks.

That leftover guard DNA is the selling point that’ll keep Masai’s scouting crew awake at night. Park Yang at the elbow, and he morphs into a 7-foot point-forward, slinging back-door dimes and orchestrating dribble-handoffs. Inside the arc, he’s all angles and soft touch—wrong-foot floaters here, left-hand baby hooks there—while a 9-3 standing reach and pristine foul discipline let him erase shots without hacking. The jumper is still a work in progress (33.3 percent from deep, 67.1 at the stripe this past season), but the form looks workable, and the confidence is already there. Sprinkle in a 30-inch vert from the NBA Draft combine, and you’ve got the blueprint for a modern, pass-first skyscraper.

Of course, the NBA is where overstated CBA numbers go to die. Yang slides rather than explodes, so he’ll be targeted in pick-and-rolls or switches until Toronto can figure out how to be a decent big defender in space. The downside is his effectiveness will be limited if, as Shakira says, “Hips don’t lie,” and he doesn’t improve from that vantage point.

Yang’s boards come more from being tall than boxing out, and teams will happily sag until that pick-and-pop percentage starts with a number “3”. But the 2nd round is where Masai loves to take big swings, and Darko Rajaković’s motion offense is begging for a playmaking five. Give Yang the same offensive responsibilities in the half-court offense, feed RJ Barrett/Ochai Agbaji via back-cuts, and watch Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter feast off his kick-outs—suddenly, Toronto’s rebuild has a seven-foot conductor who cost pennies on the draft-day dollar.

Who is the best fit among these 2nd Round Prospects?

Thiero’s switchability, Yang’s playmaking size, Sallis’ shotmaking, Watkins’ do-everything wing game, and Marković’s stretch-big upside each scratch a different itch on the Raptors’ depth chart. The beauty of pick 39 is freedom: Toronto can chase whichever archetype slips. History says Masai will trust the development machine. Any one of these six could be the next second-round success story wearing a Dino jersey.