Scottie Barnes has been slowly, but surely becoming a fan favourite in Toronto, as the fourth-year player has proved time and time again that he can be the humble star that his team’s needs in order to transform the franchise into a title-contending project.
Recently, he’s been playing through injury in order to continue leading his pack. The pain in his hand would be enough for the Raptors guard to take a night off, but with only four games left, he’s preferred to remain on the court. However, this weekend he was finally listed as questionable with a MCP joint contusion.
Even his own teammates have been routinely resting, while he’s played in 36 of the squad’s last 38 matches. “It (bothers me) a lot when I’m shooting, it hurts at times, and then in games it gets hit, it hurts more than it usually hurts, but, you know, it’s a pretty daily thing,” Barnes said after his last game.
Scottie then added that he can continue to play, but the pains have been increasing. “It’s not a risk of hurting it more, nothing crazy, but when it gets hit, it takes a minute or two to calm it down. (But) the legs work perfectly fine, so I’m ready to go on out there,” he explained.
The superstar has already played over 65 contest so far this campaign, and would be eligible for many post-season accolades (plus an additional $45 million contract extension if he was voted on an All-NBA team), but it does seem this won’t be the season for this to happen… yet.
“Why would I not go out there?” he told the press. “Nothing’s stopping me. You know, I want to play every single game. I love playing basketball. I missed some games last year, I missed some games this year. You know, it’s just a blessing to be on that court. You know, every time I step on the floor, just trying to help the team win.”
His head coach believes that Barnes is gaining experience to eventually lead the team into a playoff run. “He’s in the mindset where he’s really trying to play through as many games and to be available and to find the rhythm and really to build that capacity, if you want to put it that way, that can help us for the future,” said Darko Rajakovic.
