Toronto Raptors' Scottie Barnes sends a message to the rest of NBA
The Toronto Raptors are heading into the 2025-26 season with a bit of a chip on their collective shoulder.
Having not been in the playoffs since 2022, it’s fair to say that fans have gotten a bit antsy.
And everyone involved in the organization seems like they’ve all got something to prove.
Third-year head coach Darko Rajakovic is looking to make his first postseason appearance with the franchise.
After registering 25 and 30 wins in his first two years with the team, Rajakovic is hoping that his team’s defensive identity will help catapult them into playing more competitive basketball than in years past.
“Everything starts with Scottie Barnes. He’s one of the most elite defensive players. I don’t see a weak link for us defensively… I want to keep everybody accountable to a high standard,” Rajakovic told reporters Monday at the team’s annual media day.
Barnes averaged 19.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.8 assists in 65 games in 2024-25. On the defensive end, he picked up 63 blocks and 93 steals, averaging out to 2.4 turnovers for the opponent per game.
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“I feel like with this team, we got a lot of people that are hungry. And, you know, we’re trying to bring that excitement back to Raptors basketball. We want to make it enjoyable to watch. You know, we’re trying to put the league on notice,” Barnes said, echoing his comments from earlier this summer.
Barnes is now the team’s longest-tenured player after the departure of Chris Boucher. And much like his head coach, Barnes is aching to get his franchise back to the postseason.
“I think our expectation to our team is to definitely make the playoffs and win some games in the playoffs. That’s the standard in my mind with how talented we are and what we should be able to achieve for the season. We’re hungry… we’ve got a lot to prove,” Barnes added.
After being reacquired in a trade from San Antonio in 2023, 2016 Raptors draft pick Jakob Poeltl is hoping that he’ll be able to suit up in a Toronto uniform in a playoff game for the first time since 2018.
“We knew that we didn’t want to be stuck in a rebuilding phase for a long time… we want to be a winning team as soon as possible. Everybody seems to be dialled in on [the fact] that we want to win this now. We’ve got to have one of those young team breakout years,” Poeltl said.
The Raptors kick off their five-day training camp in Calgary on Tuesday, before heading off to Vancouver for a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets next Monday.
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