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There may be no bigger fan of Scottie Barnes than Darko Rajakovic. The Toronto Raptors head coach recently sat down for an interview in his native Serbia, during which he likened the franchise star to one of the all-time greats. "I think there is no coach and there is no success for a coach without players," the bench boss — about to enter his fourth season holding the clipboard in Toronto — began explaining in Serbian. "You look at all our greatest coaches, who are fantastic ... they all became great coaches by taking care of the players, and I think that's on every level ... there's no Phil Jackson without Michael Jordan. My Michael Jordan is Scottie Barnes."
Keerthika Uthayakumar: High scoring average in a single postseason in Raptors history: Kawhi Leonard - 30.5 in 2019 Vince Carter - 27.3 in 2001 RJ Barrett - 24.1 this year Scottie Barnes - 24.1 this year Chris Bosh - 24.0 in 2008
The Kawhi Leonard story featured above revealed Toronto's interest in exploring trades to try to reacquire the best player they've ever had to team with Scottie Barnes … with sources saying that Leonard would indeed have the Raptors on his short list of teams that he's open to signing a contract extension with in the event that his seven-season relationship with the Clippers came to an end. One of the most notable details from that reporting: Leonard would not be amenable to extending his contract, which has just one more season remaining at $50.3 million, if he were traded to the Pistons, The Stein Line has learned.
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NBA Communications: The 2025-26 Kia NBA All-Defensive Second Team: ▪️ Bam Adebayo, @MiamiHEAT ▪️ OG Anunoby, @nyknicks ▪️ Scottie Barnes, @Raptors ▪️ Dyson Daniels, @ATLHawks ▪️ Cason Wallace, @okcthunder
Omer Osman: Bobby Webster on Brandon Ingram’s fit in his first season with Toronto, and if he sees BI as a long-term fit with this group: “By all accounts, I think Brandon fit in, and I think now this is the time for him to continue to improve shooting, get bigger, get stronger.” “I think having two All-Stars in Scottie [Barnes] and Brandon was a great, great season.”
Josh Lewenberg: Webster on Barnes and CMB and building around defence: "Clearly the defensive ability of those two is special... What do you surround them with?... We're going to focus on the strength of those two."
Josh Lewenberg: Scottie Barnes is now down to 58% of his final form, per Darko. "I just realized there is more room for growth." 😂 Rajakovic said the plan this summer is for Barnes to focus on his skill development, off the dribble moves, finishing at the rim, and continue working on his shooting.
William Lou: "Me personally, I think Jakob was unbelievable for us. Yak helps me in so many different ways ... He's instrumental for our team and we need him" Scottie Barnes comes to Jakob Poeltl's defense
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Oh No He Didn't: Antonio Daniels: "Scottie Barnes is a younger version of Victor Wembanyama...he impacts both sides of the basketball. They do it in different ways"
Josh Lewenberg: Barrett on Barnes: “I think he shut up a lot of talk & I’m happy he was able to do that because, man, that’s a winning player. Just because he’s not a guy that comes out & tries to get 30 every night does not mean that he’s not one of the best basketball players in this league”
