Jakob Poeltl at 31: The first Austrian in the NBA, and the trades that keep bringing him back to Toronto

Jakob Poeltl turns 31 today. He was born in Vienna on October 15, 1995, and a decade into his NBA career he is still the answer to two trivia questions: the first Austrian ever selected in the NBA Draft, and the first Austrian to play in an NBA game. He is also one of the few players whose career has been shaped, start to finish, by some of the most famous trades of the last 15 years.

Poeltl enters his 11th season as Toronto’s starting center, signed through 2029-30. Getting there took a draft pick that passed through two blockbuster deals, a trade that helped deliver a championship he never got to share, and a return trip the Raptors paid a first-round pick to make.

A pick with two famous trades behind it

Toronto took Poeltl ninth overall on June 23, 2016, out of Utah. He had just finished a sophomore season in which he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, won the Pete Newell Big Man Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the country’s top center, and made the consensus All-America second team.

The pick itself had a long history. In July 2013, the Raptors sent Andrea Bargnani to New York, and the Knicks’ 2016 first-round pick came back to Toronto in the deal. But Denver already held the right to swap 2016 firsts with the Knicks, a piece of the February 2011 trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York. When the 2016 lottery fell, the Nuggets used that swap to take the higher pick, No. 7, and chose Jamal Murray. Toronto ended up with No. 9 and chose Poeltl. Later that same night, the Raptors took Pascal Siakam at No. 27.

Poeltl debuted in the season opener on October 26, 2016, with two points in just under 13 minutes of a 109-91 win over Detroit. As a rookie he bounced between Toronto and the Raptors 905 in the G League. In his second season he was the only Raptor to appear in all 82 games, shot 65.9 percent from the field and closed the regular season by making 34 of his final 39 shots across eight games.

Part of the price for a title

On July 18, 2018, Toronto traded Poeltl, DeMar DeRozan and a protected 2019 first-round pick to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. The pick became Keldon Johnson. Eleven months later, Leonard led the Raptors to the 2019 championship. Poeltl spent that spring as a first-round playoff starter for the Spurs.

San Antonio is where he turned into a starter. He re-signed with the Spurs on a three-year, $26.25 million contract in November 2020, then averaged 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in 2021-22. Across five seasons there he played 326 games and averaged 8.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

Toronto paid to bring him home

On February 9, 2023, the Raptors brought him back. They sent Khem Birch, their own 2024 first-round pick and two second-rounders to San Antonio. That 2024 first became Rob Dillingham. Five days after the trade, Poeltl had 30 points, nine rebounds and six blocks in a 133-123 win over Orlando. That July he re-signed on a four-year, $78 million deal.

His best scoring night came on November 16, 2024: 35 points on 16-of-19 shooting in a 126-123 loss to Boston. That season he set a career high with 14.5 points per game. In July 2025, Shams Charania reported that he had agreed to a four-year, $104 million extension: he picked up his $19.5 million player option for 2026-27 and added three more years, keeping him under contract through 2029-30.

• Born: October 15, 1995, Vienna, Austria.
• Draft: No. 9 pick by Toronto in 2016, the first Austrian ever drafted.
• Trades: to San Antonio in the Kawhi Leonard deal (2018); back to Toronto for Khem Birch and a 2024 first-round pick (2023).
• Career high: 35 points on 16-of-19 shooting vs. Boston, November 16, 2024.
• Career: 641 games, 385 starts, 9.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game on 63.6 percent shooting.
• Contract: signed through 2029-30 after a four-year, $104 million extension in 2025.

Season 11

Last season Poeltl played 46 games, started 44 and shot exactly 70 percent from the field, the most efficient year of his career. He then started seven playoff games, his first postseason action since 2019. Across 10 seasons he has made 63.6 percent of his shots, almost all of them within a few feet of the rim.

Heading into the opener, coach Darko Rajakovic said this month that Poeltl and Collin Murray-Boyles will be sharing the court quite a bit, calling Poeltl super important for the team. The Raptors’ own account shared one of his preseason finishes from last weekend:

BARRETT ➡️ ANDERSON ➡️ POELTL pic.twitter.com/2B3a35JY1S

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 10, 2026

Ten years after Toronto took a chance on a 20-year-old from Vienna, the full loop is hard to match. The pick came from a Knicks trade, the swap came from the Carmelo deal, and the player has now been traded for a Finals MVP and bought back with a lottery pick. At 31, he is still the Raptors’ starting center.