{"id":663727,"date":"2026-03-17T22:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/663727\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:43:19","slug":"rookie-centre-collin-murray-boyles-could-return-on-raptors-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/663727\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles could return on Raptors road trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) prepares to take a free throw during the second half of a game against the Chicago Bulls last month in Chicago.Erin Hooley\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A day later, Collin Murray-Boyles was still salty that the veteran players on the Toronto Raptors had filled his car with popcorn.<\/p>\n

And yes, it was buttered.<\/p>\n

The rookie centre had his first full practice in three weeks on Tuesday, upgrading his status on the Raptors\u2019 personnel report to day to day before a five-game road trip out west. Murray-Boyles said that despite the claims of his older teammates, he\u2019d been doing his rookie duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cDone everything. They complain I was being late to the games, coming out, but I was just trying to get better, you know?\u201d said Murray-Boyles, tongue slightly in cheek. \u201cBut I guess working hard just gets you punished.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-7, 245-pound Murray-Boyles is averaging 7.8 points, five rebounds and two assists per game in his debut NBA season. However, he hasn\u2019t played since he exited Toronto\u2019s 110-107 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

Head coach Darko Rajakovic said that Murray-Boyles might be able to play during the Raptors\u2019 road trip that starts on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls. Toronto will then visit the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve been striving for,\u201d said Murray-Boyles on a possible return. \u201cI want to get back with the guys. It hurts to sit on the bench and watch when I know I can make an impact, but we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re striving for it, but no promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Point guard Immanuel Quickley filmed Murray-Boyles opening his popcorn-filled car for Instagram but wouldn\u2019t take responsibility for the prank \u2013 \u201cI ain\u2019t no snitch\u201d \u2013 but was happy to hear that the rookie could be cleared to play on the road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have [the] young fella back,\u201d said Quickley, who learned from reporters that Murray-Boyles had been upgraded to day-to-day. \u201cWe popcorned his car yesterday, so he\u2019s a little bit mad about that, but he adds a lot to our team, toughness, energy, rebound and scoring, pretty much everything, defensive versatility. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great to have him back, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quickley said that what\u2019s impressed him the most about Murray-Boyles\u2019s game is his high basketball IQ.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people all the time, it\u2019s like he\u2019s been in \u2013 this is the problem, why we popcorned his car \u2013 it\u2019s because he acts like he\u2019s been in the league for so long, on the court as well,\u201d said Quickley. \u201cHe\u2019s very mature in the fact that he knows where to be on the floor. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always, like, two steps ahead, offensively and defensively, and then obviously his athleticism takes over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles has earned 22 starts in 47 games played this season, partly because veteran centre Jakob Poeltl has been injured for long stretches of the season. Other times, Murray-Boyles has started over Poeltl for strategic matchups. <\/p>\n

Sandro Mamukelashvili is the third man in Toronto\u2019s centre rotation, although he tends to play more on the perimeter than either Murray-Boyles or Poeltl.<\/p>\n

Rajakovic wasn\u2019t sure how the rotation would work when Murray-Boyles was finally activated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are looking much more into the future than me,\u201d laughed Rajakovic. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to dealing with those kind of problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to wish that all of our rotation is healthy, so I can have those headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trayce Jackson-Davis, who also plays centre, was assigned to the G League\u2019s Raptors 905 on Tuesday morning. It was expected that he\u2019ll play for the 905 against the Motor City Cruise that night and then re-join Toronto for the road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan that we have for him is a long-term plan,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to get him up to speed with our program, with conditioning, playing in the system that we have [and] the demands. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think any assignment that we have, any opportunity for him to be with our 905 program, is super important for him and super important for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) prepares to take a free throw during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3770],"tags":[10388,10376,7,10389,4500,9436,10390,4821,10371,10382,10383,10378,10372,10370,7678,6682,10387,10381,10375,10401,10373,10374,10380,10377,1943,2679,10391,9876,6,10396,10397,10399,10394,10398,10392,10395,6870,10385,10386,3559,10384,10393,681,83,1963,680,476,3820,9087,10379,4486,447,10400],"class_list":["post-663727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-raptors","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-basketball","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-raptors","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-torontoraptors","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}