The Raptors appear to be at a crossroads with Chris Boucher

Of all the players that have suited up for the Toronto Raptors this season, few of them have seen more iterations of the franchise than Chris Boucher.

The 31-year-old forward, who currently holds the distinction as the last remaining member of the 2018-19 championship squad and the longest-tenured Raptor, has long been lauded as a dependable veteran force for the team.

He’d be the first to admit that he’s never going to be a star player in the NBA, but for much of his career, has usually been reliable to provide some sort of spark off the bench with his high-energy game.

He averaged a career-high 13.6 points per game back in 2020-21, while floating between 6.1 and 9.4 points in four of the last five seasons.

Of his 355 games in the NBA, 354 have come with Toronto, playing just one game for the Golden State Warriors back in 2017-18.

But while he survived getting sent away from the franchise in the four trades the team has made this season, Boucher has suited up for just 32 minutes over four games since the start of February.

After playing in 80 and 76 games in each of the last two seasons, Boucher has suited up in just 48 of 62 games for the Raptors thus far.

And it was hinted that he’d have a reduced role this season right from the beginning, as he was left out of Toronto’s rotation in an opening night win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Chris is a very important player for us. You’ll be seeing Chris over the course of the year for sure,” Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic said back in October, calling him the “ultimate professional.”

But as the course of the season has played out, we’re at a point where playing Boucher isn’t exactly a priority for a team looking to develop younger players on its roster.

Toronto’s front office and coaching staff appear to be at a crossroads about where exactly he fits into their future, as it seems to mostly be an awkward match for both player and team. With the franchise well in the midst of a rebuild, there are no real clear answers for how Boucher’s remaining time with the Raptors will go.

After this season, Boucher has one year left on his three-year deal originally signed in the summer of 2022. If there wasn’t much of a trade market for him this year, it’s unlikely he will move to a contending team during the offseason.

And if Toronto was simply offering him a change-of-scenery type move, there are likely no guarantees he’d end up in a better situation than he’s in right now.

Sure, Toronto isn’t competing for a title anytime soon, but it’s at least a franchise and a city he seems quite fond of. If he’s having trouble getting minutes on this iteration of the Raptors, his list of suitors probably isn’t all too high as he heads into the later stages of his career.

For now, it’s a waiting game to see what exactly the future of Chris Boucher holds, both for himself and for the team.

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