In all, 236 players have played a game for the Toronto Raptors. Among those, you have your Kyle Lowrys, Chris Boshes and Jose Calderons, guys you know and recognize. Then, you just have a lot of other guys, who came through Toronto for a more brief amount of time and whose contributions have perhaps faded from memory over time.

Whether they played in Toronto for seven seasons or just for one, Raptors fans can have an appreciation for just about anybody who has come through the franchise all the same. This week is the team’s media week, which means the first chance for fans to get to know incoming players such as Aron Baynes, Malachi Flynn and more.

Why don’t we also take a trip through the time machine and remember some other guys? One of those nice things about the fast pace of player turnover in sports is that players can easily become the kind of guys that you’re just happy to remember. Basically, we’re just picking names out of a hat here and hoping for to nostalgia to settle in.

Sonny Weems (2010-2011)

Let’s start with a fan favourite! For two seasons, Sonny Weems was an exciting young prospect who formed the 'Young Gunz' trio with DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson, then also just entering the league. Unfortunately, Weems wasn’t able to stick in the NBA like those other two, winding up overseas for most of his career instead. Still, his athleticism won a good many fans to his side, as did his initial promise as part of that generation of young Raps.

 

Donyell Marshall (2004-2005)

Before it was popular for big men to shoot three-pointers in the NBA, Donyell Marshall was doing it. The power forward was a high-volume, high-efficiency sharpshooter from deep during his time with the Raptors, remembered especially for tying the then-NBA record with 12 threes in a single game. To this day, only five players including Marshall have accomplished that.

Greivis Vasquez (2014-2015)

The Shimmy Gawd himself! Back in 2014, Vasquez made an appearance on TSN 1050 with Bryan Hayes, when he claimed that his former high school teammate and buddy Kevin Durant would join the Raptors as a free agent in 2016 and lead the Raptors to a championship.

That didn’t quite come to fruition, but after a solid two-year tenure with the Raptors, Toronto was able to trade Vasquez for the draft picks that turned into Norman Powell and OG Anunoby, so that was neat too.

Hakeem Olajuwon (2002) / Alonzo Mourning (2004-05)

The future Hall of Famer who played for the Raptors, and the one who didn’t.

Jason Kapono (2008-09)

If you were playing NBA video games around this time, you’ll remember this guy. Kapono only played two seasons, mostly off the bench, in Toronto, but in that time he was one of the very best three-point shooters in the league. He represented the Raptors at the 2008 and 2009 All-Star Weekend, winning the Three-Point Shootout in ‘08.

Ben Uzoh (2012)

Mostly a footnote in Raptors history, Ben Uzoh was a fringe NBA player who joined the Raptors late in the 2011-12 season to close out the season for a team eliminated from the playoffs by then.

Uzoh, looking to cut his teeth in the NBA, got the start in the Raptors' last game of the season. It would actually be his last game played in the league, actually, but you can’t say he didn’t deliver. He had a triple-double performance, leading the Raptors to a win with a 12-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound game... a win that dropped them from the 6th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft to the 8th.

While that’s mostly circumstantial, some Raps fans still remember that Damian Lillard went No. 6 that year, while the Raptors ended up with the (very well-liked!) Terrence Ross.

Kris Humphries (2007-09)

Mostly known for other reasons these days, Kris Humphries played three seasons in Toronto behind Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani with a passion for rebounding. He’s the best player in franchise history to wear No. 43 before Pascal Siakam. Also the only one.

Landry Fields (2013-2015)

It honestly wasn’t that long ago that Landry Fields was a young player coming up in the league. Fun fact: Did you know that Landry Fields, still just 32 years old, is the assistant general manager of the Atlanta Hawks right now, credited with their splashy signing of his former veteran Danilo Gallinari this offseason?

Reggie Evans (2010-2011)

The Candy Man! Injuries during his brief Raptors tenure restricted Evans to just 58 games with the team, but man, could that guy rebound.

Master P / Percy Miller (1999)

He only played with the Raptors for a single preseason, not even making the regular season roster, but it’s always cool to say that Master P played for your favourite team.