TORONTO — Star, all-star or superstar?
It’s remarkable that now, into his fifth season, the range of possibilities for the Toronto Raptors‘ Scottie Barnes remains open.
That he’s a star — let’s just say capable of being the best player on a good team — is a bedrock floor at this point.
Through the early days of the season, the Raptors are the surprise of the NBA, winners of five straight and nine of their past 10, holding down second place in the Eastern Conference while playing the most road games in the NBA.
The team that was in the draft lottery in June would be hosting a second-round playoff series if the season ended today. It can all but clinch a first-ever appearance in the NBA Cup quarterfinals with a win over the woeful Washington Wizards on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena (7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+).
And while the Raptors have benefitted from the addition of Brandon Ingram, the availability of Immanuel Quickley, the steadiness of Jakob Poeltl, the flexibility of RJ Barrett and a more robust bench unit, it’s Barnes who has been at the heart of everything.
He’s producing at a level very comparable to his all-star season from 2023-24, only with greater efficiency.
And while a month into a season is a bit early to begin projecting year-long trends, it bears mentioning that he’s the only player in the NBA with across-the-board per game averages of 19.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.7 blocked shots.
In fact, according to basketball-reference.com, if Barnes maintains that pace, he’ll join Kevin Garnett (twice), Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only other players to ever do it for a full season.
That Barnes is doing it with an effective field-goal percentage of 54.6 — which is bolstered by what would be a career-best 38.9 per cent on three-point attempts — would make him stand alone.
So, given that company, it’s hard to argue that “superstar” isn’t on the table.
The Raptors continuing their roll should help that cause.
Working against Barnes getting a full measure of recognition for his overall play is that unlike most of the league’s upper echelon all-stars, scoring the basketball isn’t his primary attribute (though he’s certainly capable). What he’s shown again this season is that, at his best, he can tilt the game defensively like few others.
“It definitely should get recognized,” he told me during a conversation on the Raptors recent 4-1 road trip. “It shouldn’t get thrown under the bus. When we win, it’s just going to put everything else in the right perspective.”
Plays like his game-saving block against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday should help with that cause.
“Mostly I get rebounds, I get assists,” he added. “People worry about points a lot. But just being able to get to that consistent number, consistently. Sometimes people see me go out there and play with force, sometimes they feel like I don’t go out there and play with force. But I know what I do out there on the floor.”
But even Barnes would acknowledge that reaching that level — maximizing the upper limit of his potential, basically — is a tall order.
He seemed to speak to the challenge last Thursday, when he was dominant in the Raptors’ impressive road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers with a performance that was somehow even more eye-popping than his 28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and five blocks indicated.
“I know what I’m capable of, so just gotta bring that every single night,” Barnes said, after his big night in Cleveland. “Be aggressive, attacking downhill, being aggressive on both ends, and I was just helping my teammates a lot. If someone gets beat, just trying to be help for them. So, just doing those things on both ends … (it) just opens up a lot for our team.”
It wasn’t just that he blocked five shots, it’s that three of them came against Jarret Allen and Evan Mobley, arguably the best big-man tandem in the NBA. It wasn’t just that he scored 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting, he did a good chunk of the damage while being defended by Mobley, the reigning defensive player of the year. It wasn’t just his ball movement, but the range and creativity of his assists.
Barnes on his best nights can be one of the best players in the world.
But how routinely can Barnes play at that peak level? It’s a question that goes to the heart of the matter as it relates to the Raptors’ ceiling in the Eastern Conference, this season and beyond.
“For sure. That’s that next step for me. It’s about consistency,” he said, when we spoke after his big night against the Cavs. “Everyone thinks that I had a really great game against Cleveland, but I think that I can do that every single night, so that doesn’t surprise me. It might surprise other people. I just have to go out there and show it.”
But playing at that exalted level is extraordinarily difficult, and in the NBA of the moment, the bar for superstardom is exceptionally high.
Defending MVP and Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has now scored 20 or more points in 86 consecutive games, something only Wilt Chamberlain has ever done. The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic has finished first or second in the MVP race for five straight seasons but is somehow on pace for his best season yet as he puts up 29.1 points, 13.2 rebounds and 11.1 assists while shooting 64.1 per cent from the floor. And Lakers star Luka Doncic is averaging a career-best 34.6 points (along with 9.0 assists and 8.5 rebounds) as he guns for his sixth first-team All-NBA nod in seven seasons at age 26.
Of the league’s upper crust, the player that Barnes identifies with most might be Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time MVP with the Milwaukee Bucks who was off to another MVP-calibre season before a recent groin injury, averaging 31.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists while converting 62.9 per cent of his field-goal attempts.
Like the Bucks star, when Barnes is at his best, it’s when he’s using his broad shoulders and powerful base to bowling-ball lesser defenders out of his way on his way to the paint and to the rim. It’s the NBA’s hardest-won territory, but most valuable because it generates high-percentage shots, free-throw attempts and kickouts to open shooters as the defence collapses, or the deft interior dishes Barnes uses to connect so often for high percentage finishes with Raptors centre Poeltl.
But it’s heavy lifting, allowing for few easy possessions or easy nights at the office.
“The one I’m so shocked with is Giannis,” Barnes told me. “The way that he plays with force every single night, the way he’s constantly attacking downhill. He’s playing through so much physicality because he’s six-foot-11, seven-foot, super strong, they’re going to allow people to foul him. But to be able do that every single night, don’t care, go up on three people, dunk it on them, it’s a different type of intensity.”
It’s a level of intensity that’s hard to bring to the floor every single night and being not just good but great more nights that not is perhaps the last hurdle Barnes needs to cross to join the NBA’s elite.
This past Saturday, in the game after his Cleveland explosion, the Raptors star didn’t convert a field goal in the first half against the lowly Indiana Pacers, and finished with a pedestrian line of 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Two nights later, against Charlotte, it was 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, which is not to overlook his game-saving blocked shot, or game-tying dunk after posting up Miles Bridges with 58 seconds to play.
In the three games before his showing against the Cavs, Barnes averaged 15.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists. In the three games since — including Wednesday night’s win over the Sixers — it’s been 15.5/8.7/5.7. Nothing to be upset about, particularly since Barnes’s game encompasses so much more than just scoring, but there’s more he believes he can give and his head coach certainly believes he’ll find a way to get there.
“I’ve been around a lot of talented players. He (Barnes) really learns from his experiences, good or bad,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “That’s one thing that continues — I don’t want to say ‘surprise’ — to impress me, because he’s constantly finding ways to improve. Any hiccup that he might face or the team faces, he always comes back with a new approach, new energy, new experience, new solutions for those situations. He continues to get better every single day.”
Which should give the league pause when considering how sustainable the Raptors’ level of play might be, and where Barnes might fit in the league’s hierarchy when the season is done.
“I just got to stay consistent,” Barnes said. “Steady grind and consistently do that every single night.”
