What does the Scottie Barnes injury mean for the Toronto Raptors?

Scottie Barnes suffered a sprained ankle in the Raptors’ game against the New York Knicks, and will be re-evaluated next week.

Why can’t we have nice things?

Just settling in from his return from an orbital fracture, Scottie Barnes sprained his ankle Monday night. Trying to get up for the ball with Karl Anthony-Towns, a bad landing had Scottie holding his foot in pain under the basket. He hopped off the court and straight to the locker room, and the sadness was palpable.

Right after the game, Darko told the media that the x-rays on Scottie’s ankle came back negative (which is good) but he’s have further testing done in the morning. That testing revealed a minor sprain that will be reassessed in one week’s time.

The good news is that the Raptors only play twice in the week following the game he was injured in. Once on Thursday in Miami, and then again Monday against Chicago. This is thanks to the NBA Cup finals happening this week, which the Raptors did not make. So, if Scottie has the shortest possible recovery timeline, he could only miss a handful of games.

Yet, I wouldn’t think the team is going to rush him back, especially given how this season is turning out.

The reality is, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, and Immanuel Quickley have not played a single minute together this season. Those three plus Gradey Dick have 18 minutes TOTAL together since the December 30th trade last season that brought Barrett and Quickley to Toronto.

While each individual player has has their highs this season (apart from IQ, who has barely played), it’s hard to see the vision just yet. The promise is there though.

Scottie has been playing like an All-Star with 20.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game. Gradey Dick has absolutely blossomed into a solid NBA player this season. RJ Barrett continues to play the best basketball he ever has since coming home to the GTA. Possibly because, as Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported this week, Barrett opted to live in Mississauga instead of Toronto, rooming with a childhood friend and his grandma. Truly a homecoming this year for Barrett.

Still, Scottie’s latest injury has some repercussions for the team. First, their hopes of mounting some miraculous comeback and pushing for a play-in/playoff spot seem low, if that was your hope for the season. Of course the hope of getting a high draft pick becomes a higher possibility now.

For Scottie himself, getting injured in early December is a blow to his All-Star hopes, as he has been playing well enough to possibly make it in there for the second time. Who knows, maybe if he is back sooner than later he makes a push, but it looks grim. Barrett will likely still be campaigned for, and could make the reserve list possibly. It’s been a weird year in the NBA, and the All-Star selections will likely reflect that.

Another interesting factor to this injury is that Scottie’s All-NBA eligibility is now in question. Ever since they instated a minimum game rule for season awards, injuries have factored into who wins these things. For Scottie, an All-NBA berth is the difference between a pay increase on his upcoming contract extension.

All of this aside, this doesn’t really affect the Toronto Raptors as a whole very much, from a record/performance point of view. The berth of this being a tanking season is basically here, and with Scottie now out for possibly several weeks, we can assume that’s the clear route now. With a stacked NBA draft class coming in 2025, the Raptors could grab another great player and reset again for next season with most of their current team still under contract.

Yet, it hasn’t been a bad season — the team has been playing entertaining basketball despite not winning very much. If you’re gonna tank, I’m not sure it gets more entertaining than this.

For now, we will see how long Scottie is out for, and keep on swimming.