When the 2024-25 NBA season is all said and done, this year’s Toronto Raptors will not be remembered as a good basketball team.
Even if Toronto went on a 14-game winning streak to close out their season, they’d still finish with a record of 38-44, likely still placing them on track for a spot in the league’s play-in round.
But despite their rough performance over the course of the year, the victories have been more common than usual of late, with Toronto ending up in the win column in six of their last eight games.
If you check in with much of the fanbase, however, the wins haven’t been exactly welcomed, with many supporters of the team cheering for the team to drop down the league standings for better odds in this May’s draft lottery for the No. 1 overall draft pick.
And on top of that, the team itself is facing an interesting dilemma: which players should be playing right now?
With 10 members of the current roster in their first three seasons of the league, Toronto has no shortage of young talent to trot out over the stretch drive of the season. In many recent games, Toronto has opted to sit their starting players in the closing stages, choosing instead to play the youngsters.
If you ask Toronto’s front office or coaching staff, they’ve toed the same line: they want to develop their young players, rather than focus on potential draft implications.
But it’s not hard to find opposing fan bases or media members calling for the Raptors to be investigated for violating the NBA player participation policy, particularly with the Utah Jazz getting a US$100,000 fine last week for their holdout of star forward Lauri Markkanen in recent games.
The policy, which is publicly available on the league’s website, was implemented prior to the 2023-24 season in an effort to make sure the game’s best players were playing as often as possible.
“There’s a statement of a principle in this league that, if you’re a healthy player, you’re going to play,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at the time. “This is ultimately about the fans. And that we’ve taken this [load management] too far. This is an acknowledgment that it has gotten away from us a bit.”
But Toronto might just be exploiting a loophole: the league’s policy mostly focuses on star players, and the Raptors currently have only one by definition.
A “star player” is listed as any player named to the All-NBA Team or All-Star Team in either the current season or any of the previous three seasons. Scottie Barnes is the only Raptors player to fill those requirements.
By the league’s own rules, recent trade acquisition Brandon Ingram (who has yet to suit up this season) does not classify as a star player at this point, despite a previous NBA All-Star appearance in 2020.
While RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Gradey Dick may be big pieces of the Raptors’ roster, none are classified by the league as stars. Therefore, by the NBA’s own admission, they seem much less likely to be subject to any player participation policy enforcement.
On Sunday night, Barnes was seated for the final 8:41 of a 105-102 loss against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The league’s policy on star players states: “Teams must refrain from any long-term shutdown (or near shutdown) whereby a star player ceases participating in games or begins to play a materially reduced role in circumstances affecting the integrity of the
game.”
Six of the 10 times Barnes has played under 30 minutes have come in March. One could argue that Barnes has been playing a “materially reduced role” in recent weeks, but as long as he’s still playing more than half the game, the NBA seems to be letting the Raptors police their minutes allocation however they’d like.
Of course, the policy also has a “we can do what we want” clause reminiscent of Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The league office may elect in its discretion to investigate and/or impose discipline in other circumstances involving star player (or other player) non-participation,” part of the policy reads.
While the Raptors might not be the most interesting NBA team to actually watch right now, keep an eye out to see if the league does choose to discipline them for their roster choices over the rest of the year.
Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
