Jamal Shead Opens Up on His Role Inside Raptors Locker Room

When teammates talk about point guard Jamal Shead, the conversation rarely stays on his defense or his passing for long, because most of the Toronto Raptors locker room would rather talk about who he is as a person.

Shead opened up about that role in a new feature on his place in the group from the Toronto Star on Monday, where his teammates and coach praised him.

Forward Collin Murray-Boyles said Shead brings a lot of energy and that Toronto would not be the same team without him, while forward RJ Barrett said Shead connects the whole group and called him the heart and soul of the team.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic also called Shead a heart of the team, and he pointed to the leadership and the standard Shead has held since his first day.

When he talked about how he leads, Shead gave the credit to the people around him.

"They want to be led," Shead said. "It's easy to lead when guys want to be led."

According to Shead, forward Scottie Barnes is the one who calls him the heart and soul, while Barrett, guard Immanuel Quickley and center Jakob Poeltl come to him for things away from basketball.

He also hosts about half of the team's events, and he said he relates to teammates through music and gaming and tries to meet them halfway.

Shead is 24 years old, does not start and is only about to begin his third regular season, yet he has already earned this much trust from players who have been in the league longer, which I rarely see from a bench guard.

Forward Kawhi Leonard has said this is a mature young group, and I think Shead is a big reason the younger players carry themselves that way.

With Leonard on the roster, expectations have gone up, and the team now shows up on one list of teams under the most pressure this season.

A roster with that much on the line needs someone to keep the room together on bad nights, and Shead fits that job best.

The front office showed its own trust in him earlier this month with a three-year, $24 million extension that keeps Shead under contract through the 2029-30 season.

He also played in all 82 games last season, and teammates follow a player who is there every night.

Shead sat out the preseason finale in Detroit along with the rest of Toronto's top nine rotation players, and the Raptors finished the exhibition schedule at 2-3.

Their regular season opens Wednesday when the Chicago Bulls visit Scotiabank Arena.

Rival general managers gave the Raptors plenty of attention in their annual survey, and Barnes finished second in the vote for most versatile player.

I think a team with Leonard and Barnes at the top and a locker room this close can surprise people in the East.

Shead probably will not be the top scorer against Chicago on Wednesday, but he is the player I expect the rest of the room to lean on the first time this team drops a few games in a row.