The Raptors blew a double-digit lead en route to Wednesday’s loss to San Antonio and only managed to score 17 points in the fourth quarter. The Raptors’ half-court offense has been a major reason why the Toronto is now 4-15 against the teams with the 10 best records in the NBA, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
As Koreen writes, RJ Barrett certainly isn’t solely to blame for those half-court struggles, but he hasn’t been helping matters lately. The 25-year-old has averaged 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists on .401/.308/.734 shooting in 12 games since he returned from an ankle sprain. His scoring, FG% and 3PT% over that stretch are well below his season-long averages.
Unless Toronto reverses the trend of falling to the league’s top teams, using Barrett as a primary salary-matching piece could be the team’s best chance at improving in the offseason, says Koreen. Barrett will earn $29.6MM in 2026/27, which is the final year of his contract.
Rival teams didn’t seem interested in the long-term contracts of Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl ahead of the deadline, Koreen writes, and the only other high-priced player the team might consider using in search of upgrades would be Brandon Ingram. But Ingram makes more money than Barrett, has taken pressure off Scottie Barnes, and holds a $41.9MM player option for ’27/28, Koreen notes.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- In another story for The Athletic, Koreen details how second-year guard Jamal Shead has become a beloved member of the Raptors not just for his play, but for his leadership as well. General manager Bobby Webster likened Shead to Fred VanVleet, while Shead’s head coach at Houston, Kelvin Sampson, said he was the “best point guard defender I’ve ever coached and he’s also the greatest leader I’ve ever had.” “He’s intense. You can tell he means every word he says,” said LJ Cryer, who lived with Shead during the latter’s senior year with the Cougars. “He’s not gonna let you slack. If he sees you not playing hard, he’s gonna call you out on that. He doesn’t hold his tongue. He practices what he preaches. He picks up the ball full court. He’s hounding guys, diving on the floor, all that. Whenever he’s playing with that intensity, you’ve got to match him. You can’t just have one guy out there playing balls to the wall and the rest of us chilling.”
- Head coach Darko Rajakovic said Barnes was “playing through pain” and “on one leg” in Wednesday’s loss to the Spurs, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). That was Rajakovic’s rational for why Barnes was resting to open the final period, Lewenberg adds.
- Third-year wing Gradey Dick, the 13th overall pick of the 2023 draft, was out of the rotation entirely on Wednesday, receiving his first DNP-CD in more than two years. Rajakovic discussed it after the game, per Lewenberg (Twitter link), stating that Dick was still adjusting to his role, which is much different than it was over his first two seasons. Jamison Battle may have leapfrogged Dick in the rotation, notes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, though the second-year small forward is still playing limited minutes.