The Toronto Raptors for the second straight season received one nationally televised game.
Which is expected given Toronto’s status as a franchise, but they still possess promising talent in Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
That lone televised game was against the New York Knicks on Jan. 8 at Madison Square Garden. Notably, these two teams had a thriller at Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 9.
Unfortunately, that was the game where Scottie Barnes would suffer an ankle injury. Sidelining the franchise player once again for several weeks.
Given Toronto’s injury woes, that played a factor in ESPN deciding to bump that game from their network. Pushing the game to start at 7:30 p.m. EST, instead of 7:00 p.m. EST, via Josh Lewenberg of TSN:
The Jan. 8 game between the Raptors and the Knicks has been bumped from ESPN (and will now start at 7:30pm instead of 7:00). It was Toronto’s only scheduled US national TV game of the season. https://t.co/EDFpHMRsQk
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) December 13, 2024
Again, these injuries have occurred more often than not to Toronto’s key pieces. Kelly Olynyk recently returned to the lineup, but Bruce Brown, Quickley and Barnes remain out.
A key for rebuilds is for the core group of guys to play and grow together. Unfortunately, that has not happened with Toronto, resulting in lackluster performances due to being undermanned.
At the end of the day, the Raptors need everyone healthy. If that is not the case, games could get ugly during this rebuild.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on RJ Barrett thriving with Raptors
These are challenging times for the Raptors given how many injuries they have had to deal with.
However, a bright spot has been RJ Barrett, who continues to play the best basketball of his career. Fellow Canadian, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander noticed Barrett’s impressive play and spoke about that.
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