Just In: Raptors rookie star is poised for a breakout season.
The beginning of 2024 undoubtedly marked a fresh start for the Toronto Raptors organization. The team moved on from franchise cornerstone OG Anunoby, as well as Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn. This deal was in exchange for the New York Knicks’ RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2024 second-round pick.
Barrett’s arrival to the Raptors was naturally exciting for Canadian fans mostly because it meant having a Canadian native on the team. However, fans who had followed Barrett during his tenure with the Knicks didn’t exactly have high expectations on the impact Barrett would have on the Raptors – but boy were they wrong.
The second half of the season proved to be extremely successful for RJ who made major strides in almost every category of his game. He increased his points per game from 18.2 to 21.8 and raised his field goal percentage from 42.3 to 55.3 percent. Barrett’s efficiency with interior scoring has also monumentally risen with an increase in his 2-point field goal percentage from 46.9 percent to 60.5 percent.
It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly lead to RJ’s improvements as all of these changes took place in the same season, without him experiencing any major injury or significant increases to his minutes on the court.
One factor may simply have been playing in a new location with the support of his home country had alot to do with it. There seemed to be less pressure for RJ to perform in a specific role which gave him the freedom and confidence to find his rhythm and ultimately improve his game and impact on the team.
Barrett still has three years remaining on the four-year, $120 million contract extension that he signed with the New York Knicks. If he plays at the level that he did after arriving in Toronto, that is a perfectly fine deal, either to remain with the Raptors or to be included as positive value in a trade. It also begins to open up questions of how high in the pecking order he deserves to be on future Raptors teams as they look to build a future contender.
Despite the level of success RJ has had in the latter part of the season, 32 games is a small sample size of an 82-game season. If Barrett can keep up this level of consistency or even anything close to it for a full season, he’s poised to have a breakout year in the 2024-2025 season.
