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Why the Raptors could have a franchise-record three All-Stars next season

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
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Aug 31 2022, 8:46 pm
Why the Raptors could have a franchise-record three All-Stars next season
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Whatever way you slice it, the Toronto Raptors appear set to have a bright future.

Coming off a 48-win season that came as a surprise to most league-wide media projections, the Raptors appear well on their way to rise up to the levels of the NBA elite once again.

Whether they’ll be able to deliver another NBA title to Toronto is anyone’s best guess, but they should have some quality talent suiting up for them.

FiveThirtyEight’s 2022-23 NBA player projections label the Raptors as having as many as three players in next year’s All-Star game, based, well, on if they live up to lofty expectations.

FiveThirtyEight lists Fred VanVleet as “All-Star,” Pascal Siakam as “Borderline All-Star,” and Scottie Barnes as “Future All-Star.” VanVleet is expected to contribute 10.2 wins above replacement (compared to 8.9 this past year), Siakam to contribute 5.8 (compared to 5.9) and Barnes to jump up to 7.8 wins above replacement (up from 4.7 in his rookie year).

Each projection comes with a little wiggle room each way, meaning, well, the obvious: they have to actually go out and do it.

Toronto All-Star history

If the Raptors could pull off having three All-Stars, it would be unprecedented territory. Toronto has never sent more than two players to an All-Star game in the same season, which has happened six times.

Vince Carter and Antonio Davis went together in 2001, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan did it from 2016-18, Lowry and Kawhi Leonard did it in 2019, and Lowry and Siakam did it in 2020.

Sure, the stars — if you’ll pardon the pun — would have to align in their favour for Toronto to have a true Big Three.

The case for three Raptors All-Stars

VanVleet made his first career All-Star game last year, while Siakam didn’t make the mid-season contest but was named as one of the league’s top-15 players as a member of the All-NBA Third Team at the conclusion of last season.

But if Siakam and VanVleet stay healthy and put up similar numbers as to what they did last season, the next push would be for reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Barnes to make a big second-year leap.

Amongst current young NBA players, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Lamelo Ball, and Zion Williamson all made their first All-Star game at 21 or younger. Barnes just turned 21 on August 1, and is just two years removed from his high school graduation.

Safe to say, he’s got high expectations, but there’s precedent for youth talent to thrive, even quite early in their NBA careers.

The case against three Raptors All-Stars

Fan voting can influence a lot, with Toronto’s distinction as Canada’s lone NBA team likely hurting them more than helping them in the fan vote that determines the five All-Star starters in each conference.

And then, of course, there are the actual roles everyone plays on the team under head coach Nick Nurse.

Despite heavy usage among all of his starters last season, Nurse’s philosophy has never really catered to designing either end of the floor around a particular player.

Five Raptors put up between 15 and 23 points per game last season, but none extended to that upper echelon of true offensive superstardom in the 25+ points range.

Sure, Barnes could take on a bigger role on the team’s offence, but doing so likely means fewer shots (and conversely, fewer points) for VanVleet or Siakam.

Along with Toronto’s three marquee players, Gary Trent Jr., Precious Achiuwa, and OG Anunoby, who all have reasons to desire bigger roles in the offence.

Trent Jr. is heading for a contract year, Achiuwa is looking to build off of a strong second half of the season, and Anunoby is looking to rebound after injuries limited him to just 48 games this past season.

“I certainly have no issue taking a step back if it’s going to make our team better,” VanVleet told Daily Hive earlier in the offseason. “We’ll see a lot of those younger guys take another step up and that should increase our team value in the way we play.”

Add in depth signings like Otto Porter Jr., Juancho Hernangomez, and Josh Jackson, and it’s hard to imagine Toronto running their starters as much as they were known for last season.

But even if Toronto doesn’t quite get three players to next year’s All-Star game, the fact it’s even a realistic conversation is a clear sign the Raptors are heading in the right direction back to contention.

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