Rajaković explains why Boucher was benched for Raptors' season opener
When the Toronto Raptors hit the floor on Wednesday night to kick off their 2023-24 regular season, there was plenty of discussion about who exactly would be fitting into Darko Rajaković’s rotation in his first year with the franchise.
Rajaković picked up his first win as an NBA head coach in a 97-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, opting to play 10 players in the contest. Scottie Barnes led the way with 37 minutes played, while Gradey Dick had just two as sort of a courtesy check-in for the 2023 first-round draft pick in his NBA debut.
But one player who didn’t crack the Raptors’ rotation was 30-year-old Chris Boucher, who is Toronto’s third-longest tenured player after Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby. It came as a surprise that Boucher ended up as one of the team’s four healthy odd men out, sitting on the bench alongside Thad Young, Garrett Temple, and Otto Porter Jr., the three oldest players on the team.
But Rajaković explained he doesn’t think it’ll be long before the team uses Boucher once again.
“Chris is [the] ultimate professional. I have high expectations for Chris. I met with him. I talked with him, and I told him what I expect to happen in the next days, the next weeks. And how he needs to stay ready,” Rajaković said postgame.
Boucher averaged 9.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 2022-23.
“Chris is [a] very important player for us. There’s no doubt about that. At this point, we decided to go with a couple different players there. They’re still learning, I’m still learning, and you will be seeing Chris over the course of the year for sure.”
Boucher will get his next chance to slot in on Friday night, when the team travels to Chicago to face the Bulls at the United Center. Tipoff for that contest is set for 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.