Scottie Barnes was able to represent the Toronto Raptors at All-Star Weekend.
For a young player, this is a surreal opportunity to be surrounded by the greatest players in the league.
While he was an injury replacement, Barnes still deserved to be there as he is having the best season of his career thus far.
Returning to the East vs. West format, this allowed the 22-year-old to connect with some of the other Eastern Conference stars. A star he connected with was Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This made for another viral moment as Barnes had a few during the All-Star break. He talked to Antetokounmpo about when he called out the Bucks’ equipment manager, which inspired the Raptors’ equipment manager via Raptors Open Gym:
“I was about to tell you earlier, I was about to say when you were saying even the equipment managers need to do better. You inspired our equipment manager. He was like man I got to do better too.”
Scottie told Giannis he inspired the raptors equipment manager to be better😂 pic.twitter.com/Co3Ae3hjcI
— 𝙯𝙤 (@ogchabzo) February 23, 2024
This was a funny exchange between two top players.
Since returning from the break, Barnes seems as motivated as ever. In the Raptors win on Feb. 22 against the Brooklyn Nets he put up 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block. Then on the next night in a victory against the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 23, Barnes recorded 20 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists.
There has been a lot of change for the forward this season as he now finds himself as the face of the organization.
As Barnes leads the team through this transitional period, being able to attend All-Star Weekend allowed him to see how other stars prepare and carry themselves. That is going to help Barnes’ continued development as a Raptor.
Reggie Miller shows love to Scottie Barnes at All-Star Weekend
As mentioned, it was an eventful break for Barnes to be able to experience All-Star Weekend for the first time.
NBA legend Reggie Miller took some time to show love to the Raptors forward, which resulted in Miller placing some high expectations on the rising star.
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