The Toronto Raptors 2023-24 season didn’t go to plan.
The team underachieved which led them to officially rebuilding. Toronto made it clear that they were going to build around Scottie Barnes moving forward.
Barnes delivered in his third season with the Raptors. He averaged career-highs across the board and became an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career.
The Raptors new young core of Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett started to build some momentum together coming out of the All-Star break and looked to make a Play-In Tournament push, but then Barnes got injured on March 1.
Barnes fractured his hand contesting a layup attempt by Jonathan Kuminga and Toronto’s season was suddenly over. From there Toronto finished the season going 3-19 without Barnes and the Raptors were a bottom team in the league.
However, Raptors veteran Garrett Temple thinks that Barnes getting injured was a ‘blessing in disguise.’ Temple was on The VC Show with Vince Carter and talked about his injury:
“Him getting injured was a blessing in disguise…I think it all of that worked out the way it was supposed to for him to be able to see me talking. Some guys in this league, you don’t want to upset your teammates, you may not want to say this to this guy. (Barnes is) the guy that is willing to do it, but always it’s out of love and trying to win the game and he’s not doing it the wrong way. So I think that that helped him.”
While sidelined Barnes became more of a leader on the team. He was seen talking to the players and doing a lot of his own coaching from the bench.
If the Raptors are going to get back in the limelight, Barnes will be the guy who leads them there.
Former Raptors square off in second-round of 2024 NBA Playoffs
Former Raptors Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby will matchup against each other with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals on the line.
The Indiana Pacers battle the New York Knicks with the series starting on May 6.
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