Did the Toronto Raptors follow NBA's concussion rules?
The Toronto Raptors’ latest major incident has people asking questions of how closely they’re following NBA medical policies.
Today, the Raptors announced that forward RJ Barrett was ruled out from tonight’s contest against the New York Knicks as he entered the league’s concussion protocol.
It’s a wise move for a player who hit his head hard just two days ago late in a win against the Los Angeles Clippers.
RJ Barrett hit his head very hard on the court pic.twitter.com/eXcfOvsVfZ
— mm (@muhtacinm) February 2, 2025
But it does beg the question: what was the Toronto Raptors medical staff doing letting him stay in the game when it happened in the first place?
According to the NBA’s own policy, it seems like the Raptors may have failed to live up to the expectations of the league’s 30 teams when a concussion is suspected.
The blow that appeared to injure Barrett after a drive to the basket with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter wasn’t a moment that happened by the play or an inadvertent elbow off of a rebound; it was an incident that took Barrett a considerable amount of time to eventually get up and stay in the game until the final buzzer.
All concussion protocols follow a pretty similar formula during the course of a sporting event: take the player out of the game and check out their symptoms before allowing them to return to action. That clearly didn’t happen in this case.
Per a team note to Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy, Barrett was “assessed on-court by medical staff Sunday, postgame by doctors, and again Monday for practice. Results came back normal,” a statement later confirmed to Daily Hive.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic also offered a similar timeline on Tuesday evening pregame, adding that Barrett contacted the team Monday night about having symptoms.
There’s just one issue: if the Raptors thought that Barrett had a chance of concussion on Sunday, league policy expects the player to be removed from the noisy court area into a private environment more suited for concussion tests.
“If a player is suspected of having a concussion, or exhibits the signs or symptoms of concussion, he will be removed from participation by either a team physician or the player’s team athletic trainer and undergo evaluation in a quiet, distraction-free environment conducive to conducting a neurological evaluation,” the concussion policy on the official NBA website reads.
The Raptors look to have failed to uphold that policy if they had suspicions of Barrett being concussed.
Following the incident, Barrett missed two three-pointers, had two layups blocked, and picked up an assist in the remaining few minutes left in the game.
“Did you see the hole that he made?” Rajakovic joked following the game. “He was the one that wanted to finish the game.”
The NBA policy also states that if a player is diagnosed with a concussion, they will be held out of play for at least 48 hours from the time of injury, as well as after completing a series of return-to-participation tests.
While we can only hope for the best for Barrett, this incident should also be cause for an internal review of when and how the team’s staff make decisions about pulling players from games.
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