Who was the Toronto Raptors' first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft?

The Toronto Raptors’ first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft was DeMar DeRozan.

Toronto selected DeRozan ninth overall in the first round on June 25, 2009. He entered the draft after one season at the University of Southern California, where he played as an athletic wing and quickly became one of the draft’s most notable prospects.

The Raptors’ selection came after Blake Griffin went first overall to the Los Angeles Clippers. DeRozan was not the top pick of the entire draft, but he was Toronto’s first and only selection in that year’s draft. The team chose him ahead of several future stars, including Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague, who were selected later in the first round.

A common mix-up is confusing DeRozan with Toronto’s earlier No. 1 overall selection, Andrea Bargnani, whom the Raptors chose first overall in 2006. DeRozan went on to become a long-term centerpiece for Toronto, earning multiple All-Star selections and finishing as one of the franchise’s leading scorers.