He wasn't an All-Star according to all four of the Inside guys, but Barkley came to his defense without hesitation.
NBA All-Star Weekend is just two weeks away, and with the starters already announced for the All-Star Game, Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and the rest of the NBA await the highly-anticipated selections for the reserves. Both Barnes and Ingram have already been All-Stars in their careers, but with the Raptors sitting at fourth place in the Eastern Conference, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them both make their second appearance in February.
When announcing the starters, it was already determined that Ingram and Barnes were ranked 10th and 11th, respectively, in terms of weighted voting. The votes for players are accumulated from fans (50%), 100 people within the media (25%), and the players themselves (25%). There are 12 total All-Stars for each conference, so if the voting stays true, Raptors fans can watch two of their own play in Los Angeles in the Intuit Dome.
Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) | © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
It’s not uncommon for sports analyst shows to make their cases for who should or shouldn’t be an All-Star, whether they have an official media vote or not. The crew for Inside the NBA, including Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley, gave their picks for who should be a reserve in the Eastern Conference, and all but one had both Raptors on the team.
Kenny Smith was the lone crew member to leave Barnes off the reserve list, while the four all had Ingram on their All-Star roster. When the former No. 4 pick in the 2021 Draft was brought up for not being one of the consensus picks, Barkley had quite the praise for the former Florida State Seminole.
“Well, Barnes should be over Ingram anyway,” said Barkley. “He’s the most underrated player in this league.”
While Ingram is the leading scorer for Toronto, averaging 21.7 points per game, Barnes hardly trails him with 19.4, and also leads in rebounds (8.3), steals (1.3), and blocks (1.5). He also trails Immanuel Quickley for the lead in assists per game with 5.6 to Quickley’s 6.1. It is clear to anyone who watches the Raptors on a night-to-night basis who the most impactful player is for the franchise, and that is Barnes. He is not known as a go-to scorer, but his persuasion on the game, both offensively and defensively, is scarcely seen in the NBA as a whole. It would be preposterous for Ingram to make the All-Star team over Barnes.
With the NBA trade deadline arriving in just six days, there are rumors circulating that another All-Star could be on the move to Toronto in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Time will tell if the Milwaukee Bucks choose to move on from the 10-time All-Star midseason, but if they do, the Raptors have one of the best packages to offer of any team in the league.