Chris Boucher did not see the floor against the Chicago Bulls.
The 32-year-old was a DNP-CD after appearing in the Toronto Raptors’ last 11 games.
Boucher being benched came as a surprise. He has arguably been the Raptors most valuable player and has been a spark for the team’s second unit.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic confirmed after the game that Boucher was available, but with the team getting back to full strength, the Raptors wanted to take a look at Ja’Kobe Walter “as a young player (they’re) trying to develop”, per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg. Rajakovic also mentioned wanting to evaluate Orlando Robinson whose 14 minutes of action squeezed Kelly Olynyk out of the rotation as well.
Perhaps the decision to bench Boucher is part of a bigger picture for the Raptors. The Raptors were on a 5-game winning streak entering their matchup against the Bulls and were just 4.5 games back of the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors playing their young players instead of their veterans in an important game for the standings showed that they might be leaning into tanking again.
When Boucher plays he makes the Raptors a better team, it’s as simple as that. In Boucher’s last 11 games the Raptors have a 446-325 advantage in bench scoring and are 7-4. Meanwhile, the Raptors in Boucher’s last 3 DNP-CD’s have seen their bench outscored 156-74 and are 0-3.
That value is why Boucher has been a popular name on the rumor mill. With less than a week to go until the trade deadline the Raptors might not want to risk getting their trade asset hurt as they look to move him.
It will be interesting to see how the next few games play out and if Boucher remains out of the rotation.
Asking price for Jakob Poeltl revealed
Another Toronto Raptors player who has come up a ton in trade rumors is Jakob Poeltl.
His asking price was revealed by Dan Woike of the LA Times.
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