Banton or Flynn? Raptors duo jockeying for backup point guard minutes

For most of the Toronto Raptors, this week’s slate of three games marks the chance for the team to get back above .500 on the year.

Playing the Miami Heat tonight and the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday and Friday night, Toronto is looking to get back on track after a pair of consecutive losses as they dropped to 1-2 on Saturday night.

But for Raptors’ point guards Malachi Flynn and Dalano Banton, it’s a chance to start to solidify themselves as key pieces of the team’s rotation.

Flynn, a 2020 first-round draft pick, and Banton, a 2021 second-rounder, combined for just 23 minutes a night last season, while trying to make their case to be a mainstay in Raptors coach Nick Nurse’s favoured group.

Particularly with Scottie Barnes’ ankle injury (he’s a game-time decision as of right now), there’s just a little more room to impress early on in the season as the leader of the backup bench unit.

Toronto doesn’t necessarily operate under a traditional format, often having Barnes or forward Pascal Siakam handle the ball with starter Fred VanVleet off the floor. But that could change this week if either Flynn or Banton can make the case for themselves with a string of strong performances.

On Saturday against Miami, Flynn picked up points via two three-pointers on 2-for-4 shooting in a little over eight minutes of action in his 2022-23 debut.

“First minutes of the year, just trying to come out and produce and help the team win,” Flynn said at Monday’s shootaround. “It’s definitely competitive out there. It kind of felt like playoff games already.”

Meanwhile, Banton has picked up nine points, two blocks, and a rebound in three games this season in 28 total minutes of action.

It’s hardly enough time to separate them, though Banton has seen the floor a little more often thus far.

“Just a roll of the dice to go with Malachi. He came in [and] did a good job, play, hit some shots, look good,” Nurse said on Saturday of Flynn’s performance. “It was one of those nights where it’s kind of wild card night, right, with [Fred VanVleet] picking up fouls all night.”

Flynn’s sophomore year didn’t quite go as planned last season, as he averaged 4.3 points, 1.6 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 44 games in 2021-22, which included a stretch from January 1 to February 10 where he managed to play more than five minutes in a game just twice, including sitting out 13 of 21 matches.

But on the heels of a new contract option that keeps him around in Toronto for next year, it appears the Raptors are content to bet on Flynn’s long-term future in Toronto.

“I really believe there was a window there last year where he was starting to [turn a corner] before an injury sidetracked himself. And I think that a lot of the [players who stay in the rotation] does get determined by injury,” Nurse told reporters at a golf tournament held this summer for his self-titled foundation.

Meanwhile, Banton’s first season was, well, decent for a second-round pick, but was largely overshadowed by the team’s playoff push and the performance of NBA Rookie of the Year in Barnes.

The Raptors’ first-ever Toronto-born draft pick, Banton averaged 3.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 64 games in his debut year, averaging 10.9 minutes a night to Flynn’s 12.2, but playing in 20 more games.

“Last year [at times] we played Dalano in the first half [of games] and Malachi in the second, or something like that. I don’t know why we were doing it, to be honest. But it seemed to be the feel and the right move,” Nurse said earlier this summer. “And they’d both play good, and then we’d go to the next game and do it again. There will be some sort of that jockeying around [for playing time].”

The Raptors’ end-of-season rotation won’t be decided by the end of this week, and both Flynn and Banton should have plenty of opportunity to showcase their skillset throughout the year. But it’s hard to imagine a better time than right now for either one of them to take the wheel as the true commander of the Raptors’ second unit.

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