RJ Barrett Is Turning The Corner With The Raptors

Key Highlights

• • RJ Barrett is averaging career-highs in points (21.0), rebounds (7.1) and assists (3.5) since joining the Toronto Raptors 13 games ago
  • According to Cleaning the Glass, a career-high 74 percent of Barrett’s field goals are coming via assists
  • He’s shooting 70 percent at the rim, which ranks in the 78th percentile among wings

When the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks agreed to a deal sending OG Anunoby to the Big Apple, focus of the return package for Toronto centered on the spindly, vivacious, sweet-shooting point guard, Immanuel Quickley. His teammate, RJ Barrett, was widely considered a necessary exodus, both for his tenuous fit on the new-look Knicks and $24 million salary to help facilitate the trade.

Despite plenty of flashes through his first 4.5 years season, Barrett’s inefficient shooting, creaky decision-making and inconsistent defense left discourse and various corners of the league souring on him. Quickley, though, with his two-way exuberance, joyful aura and potential to blossom in a bigger role — no longer playing behind an All-Star-caliber point guard — was considered the crown jewel.

Quickley has been good for Toronto, even if the dastardly 38.5 percent two-point clip is spotlighting some areas for growth in his game. He’s shooting 44 percent from deep, sporting a 6.1:1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio and routinely makes marvelous off-ball rotations. The 24-year-old clearly looks like a building block as the Raptors pivot to a new era up north.

But Barrett has been so much more than some sort of salary filler, and may be embedding himself into this Canadian core. He is reinventing himself, playing like the burly wing folks anticipated he could become when New York selected him third overall in 2019.

Why Is RJ Barrett Playing Better With The Raptors?

Through 13 appearances, he’s averaging 21.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists (1.8 turnovers), all of which would be career-highs if maintained across an entire season. His 61.5 percent true shooting is 7.9 points higher than his previous best of 53.6 (2023-24 with the Knicks).

Early on, torrid long-range shooting bolstered Barrett’s numbers. He drilled 15 of his first 28 triples and averaged 21.8 points during his initial six outings. That glimmering 70.9 percent true shooting was unsustainable. Yet over his past seven games, as his 3-ball (13.6 percent) and free-throw clip (56.8 percent) have cratered, he’s still scoring 20.3 points on 54.9 percent true shooting because he’s netted 61.3 percent (54 of 88) of his two-pointers.

Now, 54.9 percent true shooting isn’t good, but it is salvageable, especially once or if Barrett returns near his career numbers of 34 percent beyond the arc and 71.6 percent at the charity strip. The salient mark is his shiny interior production. He’s shooting 61.7 percent (87 of 141) inside the arc with the Raptors, which are helping him develop into the type of imposing slasher his pre-draft proponents envisioned of him.

Since joining Toronto, Barrett’s 23.1 percent usage rate is akin to the ~25 percent usage rate from his New York days. The difference is in how that usage is being doled out. Seventy-four percent of his shots are coming via assists, including 77 percent of his field goals at the rim. Prior to that, his previous career-highs were 66 and 54 percent, both of which occurred in his 26 Knicks games this season.

What Is Toronto Doing To Help Barrett?

Head coach Darko Rajaković and Co. are being very intentional about scheming Barrett downhill and providing him touches with a head of steam or room to rock. He’s curling around handoffs/screens, attacking into space off the catch and slithering into a vacant paint.

There’s an emphasis on movement to amplify him. Flanked by spot-up shooters, New York’s offense is predicated on isolation and ball-screens for Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle. That’s not a knock on the Knicks’ scheme. It caters to the strengths of their stars. It did not, however, cater to Barrett.

Rarely does he receive stationary touches now. The paint isn’t inhabited by non-shooting bigs lurking to generate second chances like the Knicks prefer. Again, it’s not a critique of how they’ve built their offense, but rather an acknowledgment of its incongruence with Barrett’s style. Now how frequently the center is either involved in a secondary action or not camped in the paint during his drives. It’s doing wonders for his success.

According to Cleaning the Glass, as a memeber of the Raptors, he’s shooting 70 percent at the rim (78th percentile among wings) and 50 percent of his shots (99th percentile) are coming there. He’s never made more than 59 percent of his looks around the hoop before this stretch. His previous career-high rim frequency was 49 percent as a rookie, but only 37 percent of those shots were assisted (77 percent with Toronto).

Barrett himself deserves loads of credit, too. His tempo downhill has been tremendous, tossing in little hesitations and change of pace to neutralize pesky help. He mixes choppy and elongated strides, and is showcasing craft around domineering rim protectors. He’s leaning into his strength to dislodge defenders and create space inside.

Rather than survey his options with the ball, which jeopardizes any advantage he may have inherited, he’s decisive off the rip and generates paint touches. When he gets into the paint, he’s not forcing shots by any means necessary. He’s willing to drive, yield, and keep the chains moving. He doesn’t settle for tough shots. He knows something easier will eventually arise.

His strength has long been a major asset, but finer details like cadence, footwork and decision-making hamstrung its impact for his slashing prowess. All of those secondary components are improving, and it’s enabling him to flourish. Strength is his foot in the door. Everything else ensures he can actually walk through it.

Savvy DHO partners and passing bigs in Thaddeus Young and Jontay Porter are further unlocking Barrett. His off-ball movement is the sharpest and most active of his career. When the ball isn’t in his hands, he’s either awaiting a catch-and-shoot chance or canvassing for creases in the paint. He’s playing off of Quickley and Scottie Barnes — another slick passing big men — exceptionally well.

It just feels like he’s pushing the right buttons: maximizing his brief off-the-dribble escapades, executing shrewd decisions, finding gaps, and manufacturing opportunities entirely within the flow of the offense. We’re watching the ideal version of RJ Barrett offensively.

Barrett’s offensive surge is easy to glean from the numbers, but his defensive showing in Toronto is laying the foundation of a delightful, complementary two-way wing. The Raptors often assign him to a chaser role against off-ball shooters/scorers. It’s where he’s thrived — a la against Darius Garland in the playoffs — and he’s doing so again.

His size, physicality and discipline are cumbersome for opponents. With prompt rotations, active hands and agile movement in space, he’s really disrupting dudes. While Barrett may be most comfortable fastening himself to shooters, he’s showing that’s not the extent of his contributions. The Barnes-Quickley-Barrett trio provides a diverse range of optimal defensive roles.

For much of his time in New York, almost everything Barrett did seemed arduous: grind-you-down drives, frantic last-second, pirouette jumpers, sticky screen navigation, sporadic weakside help, and janky pull-ups. Over the last month, the game is easy: smooth drives, patient pirouette jumpers, elastic screen navigation, punctual weakside help, and selective, open pull-ups.

It’s a testament to his own internal tweaks and the windfall of a beneficial scheme.

Compared to their previous half-decade, the Raptors are venturing in a different direction — one that includes the 23-year-old forward. Barrett is doing the same, beautifully adapting to his new digs, and helping dictate what that direction might be for both of them.