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Face of the franchise has been better than ever, with Brandon Ingram helping a lot.
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Published Nov 14, 2025 • 3 minute read
Toronto Raptors' Scottie Barnes (4) shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers' Dean Wade (32) defends during Thursday's game.
Toronto Raptors' Scottie Barnes (4) shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers' Dean Wade (32) defends during Thursday's game. AP Photo
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Plenty of things have gone right for the Toronto Raptors in the early days of the 2025-26 season.
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Yes, we’re not even a month into the action yet, but this is the first time in three years (Nov. 28, 2022) a Raptors team has been two games over .500 and the player the franchise has banked so much on, Scottie Barnes, has never been better than what he has shown through 12 games.
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Barnes turned in one of his best games as a Raptor in Thursday’s win at Cleveland, stuffing the stat sheet with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 blocks, and if you were ranking the 10 best players in the NBA so far, Barnes has a great case to be amongst them — and an ironclad one if you were placing defensive impact on equal footing as what a player does on the offensive end.
Barnes has never been better offensively (he’s shooting his best marks ever from the field, on three-pointers, a surprising 42.9% so far and is averaging his fewest turnovers since his rookie of the year season), and is dominating defensively (his block rate has nearly doubled, he has been locking down opponents and has been doing it with a relentless energy and drive).
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Masai Ujiri might be gone, but the player he championed and backed more than any other during his long tenure with the Raptors is now living up to even the loftiest of expectations.
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HOW HAS IT HAPPENED?
Brandon Ingram’s presence has been game-changing for the Raptors and for Barnes.
Toronto hasn’t had a scoring machine like this since Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan before that. Ingram is a walking bucket who can score at an elite level from anywhere on the floor and, when he’s on the floor, everything gets easier on offence for the other Raptors.
“He draws so much attention,” Barnes told reporters in Cleveland. “They were sticking more close to him today, denying him, trying to be super aggressive, playing on his top side, so you just got to find ways to help him out, but he’s also drawing a defender out of the play, so the lanes are more open, there’s less help there.”
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Abandoning the long-running, off and on experiment of making Barnes a jumbo-sized point guard also has paid huge dividends.
Barnes unquestionably has elite vision and loves to create for others, but making him the engine of an offence isn’t ideal because he lacks the shooting ability to really thrive in that role, so opponents can sag off him and cut off drives and passing opportunities, essentially daring him to shoot.
But as a roll man or when he establishes himself closer to the hoop, Barnes is a star-level scorer and finisher with the size, strength and athleticism to finish on any opponent.
CHECKING THE STATS
Some interesting numbers have emerged so far pointing to the idea that this is a far different Raptors team than the other ones we’ve seen under Darko Rajakovic.
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Toronto has shot 37.9% on three-point attempts, tied for seventh-best in the NBA. Say what?
Yes, there are new pieces like Ingram, Sandro Mamukelashvili and rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, but this is a stunning jump. Last year’s Raptors ranked 23rd in three-point accuracy and the two teams before that ranked 27th and 28th, respectively.
Toronto is only 24th in three-point attempts per game though and 21st in makes, so there’s room to launch even more threes.
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[Toronto Raptors' Scottie Barnes, left, drives against Cleveland Cavaliers' Evan Mobley, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
Scottie Barnes shines as Raptors clobber Cavaliers in Cleveland](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/scottie-barnes-stars-raptors-clobber-cavaliers)
2. [Brandon Ingram of the Toronto Raptors.
What to know as Toronto Raptors kick off Season 31 in Atlanta](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/what-to-know-as-toronto-raptors-kick-off-season-31-in-atlanta)
Given the three-point shooting accuracy, it was a bit surprising the Raptors ranked just 20th in free-throw accuracy heading into the win over Cleveland, but going 16-for-17 in that one propelled them to 15th, far better than last year’s awful 29th place finish.
Toronto also has gone from committing the fifth-most turnovers per game to the fifth-fewest.
NOBODY ASKED ME BUT
If I’m picking the 15 best players so far (before Friday’s games) I’d go, in order: Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo (big surprise there, they’ve won every MVP since 2018-19 and were 1-2-3 last season), Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Barnes, Cade Cunningham and Jimmy Butler (with apologies to a few others).
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