RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley are the newest members of the Toronto Raptors.
Both players have already brought a new found energy and excitement to a Raptors team that was fading fast.
Barrett and Quickley made their Raptors debuts on Jan. 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and both impressed as the Raptors were victorious.
For Barrett it was a special moment as he got to play for his hometown team. He looked solid in 29 minutes of action finishing with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist on 6-12 shooting from the field and 1-2 shooting from deep. He went 6-8 from the free throw line, including hitting two clutch free throws late.
While Raptors fans are excited to have Barrett in Toronto, one NBA insider believes that Barrett is a negative.
During a recent episode of “The Lowe Post” podcast, Zach Lowe revealed how some people around the league view Barrett as a ‘toxic asset.’
“I’ve always said if there’s a continuum of RJ Barrett optimism and pessimism—and over here on the pessimistic side is like, ‘He just stinks, he’s a toxic asset. And that is a word that got thrown around yesterday in my conversations with front office people and coaches—toxic asset.”
Strong words to say the least.
Zach Lowe’s comment is out of line
This is an unfair comment from Lowe because Barrett is still very young at 23-years of age. He is still a couple years away from reaching his true prime as a player. He has a lot of room to grow and being in a change of scenery could significantly help with that.
The Knicks lacked patience with Barrett but with the Raptors seemingly going in a youth movement and building around Scottie Barnes, they will have far more patience with Barrett’s game.
Barrett will have a great chance to take the next step with the Raptors under player development coach Darko Rajakovic.
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