{"id":192532,"date":"2026-04-26T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=192532"},"modified":"2026-04-26T06:07:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:07:03","slug":"2026-nba-draft-chris-cenac-perfect-fit-for-toronto-number-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/04\/26\/2026-nba-draft-chris-cenac-perfect-fit-for-toronto-number-19\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA Draft: Why Chris Cenac Jr. Is A Perfect Fit For Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the NBA playoffs still occurring and the Toronto Raptors playing in game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday<\/a>, it’s never too late to start looking ahead at the 2026 NBA Draft. A draft that scouts consider to be one of the best draft classes in recent years. In terms of pure depth and generational talent, the upcoming draft has it all. However, we just witnessed it last year in 2025.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg<\/a>, Ace Bailey<\/a>, Dylan Harper<\/a>, Kon Knueppel<\/a>, and more have been the highlights of the most recent rookie class. Last year in 2025, we saw the Toronto Raptors take South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> 9th overall. So far this season, that selection is looking like a “match made in heaven.”<\/p>\n

Whether or not Toronto loses the series to Cleveland, they struggle with various things. The biggest being how the Raptors have lacked a talented enough center to create his own shot in the post, since the departure of Pascal Siakam<\/a>. There is a case to make for Toronto drafting Chris Cenac Jr.<\/a> 19th overall this summer.<\/p>\n

2026 NBA Draft: Why Chris Cenac Is A Perfect Fit For Toronto<\/h2>\n

A Cheaper Entity<\/h3>\n

In the association, money matters most. It’s how the best teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics build around their star players. Since the NBA has introduced the first and second aprons in 2023, it has become hard to build a team with valuable talent.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Toronto Raptors are $1.1 million in cap space, due to the large contracts players have been given. Both Brandon Ingram<\/a> ($38.0 million annually) and Barnes ($38.6 million annually) already have large contracts, making it difficult to add depth. Even so, if you take a look at the center position, Jakob Poeltl<\/a> is earning $19 million per year, and has been disappointing this postseason<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drafting Cenac and potentially trading away a large contract like Poeltl elsewhere not only frees $19.5 million in cap space but also allows Toronto to acquire elite talent on a cheap rookie deal.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Sense of Rejuvenation At Center<\/h3>\n

When was the last time you watched a Raptors game and thought to yourself, “man.. that center has a lot of swagger on and off the court.” It has certainly been a long while since Toronto had a center who can fits that type of response.<\/p>\n

Well, Cenac possesses that more often than not. At Houston, if a guard like Kingston Flemings<\/a> or Milos Uzan<\/a> missed a floater, Cenac would either clean the glass or throw it down with authority.<\/p>\n

Scotiabank needs that “it” factor on the hardwood, one that gets the fans going. It has been in need of it since the early era of Antonio Davis, <\/a>and most recently, Serge Ibaka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but Toronto struggles with offensive rebounding. In the regular season, the Raptors held an offensive rebound team average of 10.8, and a 55.1 contested rebound percentage<\/a>. To put that into perspective, superstars like Nikola <\/a>Joki\u0107<\/a> and Victor Wembanyama<\/a> acquire that amount in two to three quarters. Essentially, bringing in Cenac helps change that problem, after showing an advantage in rebounding at Houston, with 7.9.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Similar Play-Style To Chris Boucher<\/h3>\n

Both start with the name Chris, and coincidentally play in similar ways. If you remember the name Chris Boucher<\/a>, he was a contributor throughout Toronto’s 2019 championship run and a slasher in the post, much like Cenac.<\/p>\n

Toronto is built on lengthy defenders, and Cenac has a lot of it. Standing at six-foot-eight, weighing 240 lbs, Cenac has it easy when driving to the rim and blocking shots. With the Murray-Boyles selection last year, it only makes sense for the Raptors to select Cenac to complement Barnes and Ingram.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

You can argue that Cenac should’ve stayed an extra year in college to develop more, but he has NBA talent. Implementing him in Darko’s offense should enhance the Toronto Raptors next year. Maybe we look back and say Toronto made the “right decision.” Nevertheless, Cenac’s level of talent, potential, and skill set fits exactly what Toronto needs.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: SARAH PHIPPS\/THE OKLAHOMAN \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the NBA playoffs still occurring and the Toronto Raptors playing in game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, it’s never too late to start looking ahead at the 2026 NBA Draft. A draft that scouts consider to be one of the best draft classes in recent years. In terms of pure depth and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5792,"featured_media":192610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,556,14],"tags":[49942,308,906,50284,968,3852],"class_list":["post-192532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-raptors","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-chris-boucher","tag-chris-cenac-jr","tag-jakob-poeltl","tag-scottie-barnes"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192532"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192614,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192532\/revisions\/192614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}