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Fan fave could become surprising sixth member of 2019 Toronto Raptors to be named All-Star

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Jan 2 2025, 9:12 pm
Fan fave could become surprising sixth member of 2019 Toronto Raptors to be named All-Star
Raj Mehta/USA TODAY Sports

When people look back on a certain era of the Toronto Raptors, there’s usually one word that eventually comes up: depth.

Sure, the 2018-19 Raptors had its fair share of star power — Kawhi Leonard could easily have been considered the best player in the world that season —but five players on that roster have made at least one All-Star game in their career at some point.

And according to the early voting returns of the 2025 NBA All-Star game, there’s an outside shot that a sixth member from that team could end up being named an All-Star for the first time this season.

No, it wasn’t Leonard, Pascal Siakam, or Fred VanVleet. Instead, it is former Toronto bench staple and fan favourite Norman Powell who got the love from the fans this year as the only ex- (or current) Raptor to find himself among the top 10 vote-getters at his position.

The love isn’t without merit: Powell’s having an outstanding year, as he’s averaged a career-high 24.3 points, as well as 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 26 games.

For comparison, Powell averaged 6.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 23 games off the bench in the 2019 playoffs en route to the franchise’s first NBA title.

But it’ll still be an outside chance for Powell to actually get picked for the All-Star Game, joining the three aforementioned players as well as Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol as 2019 Raptors who have made at least one All-Star team in their career.

The starters in each conference will be selected by fans (50% of the vote), current NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%), while seven players honoured as reserves in each conference will be selected by NBA head coaches. Given the current voting trends, Powell would need quite the campaign to make the team, though perhaps he gets a bit of love from coaching staff around the league.

Powell shared his love for the city in a 2021 piece for The Players’ Tribune, where he documented how emotional his first game against his former teammates was after being traded to Portland in a deal centred around Gary Trent Jr.

“It was straight-up waterworks. I started breaking down crying. All the memories that I’d been holding back for those last couple of days, they came rushing back in… If you’ve ever cried like that, you know: even after that sh*t dries… you’re still not fooling anyone,” Powell said.

“The love and support never went unnoticed. I am grateful and blessed with many memories and experiences that I’ll never forget. Toronto will always be in my heart,” Powell added.

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