When Bobby Webster told reporters that the Toronto Raptors would be comfortable going into the final year of RJ Barrett’s current deal without an extension locked in, it’s unlikely even he knew what would unfold in the weeks after.
But the NBA is fickle, and one never knows when a new (old?) opportunity might present itself. Kawhi Leonard is a Raptor once more, this time on a team with far less experience and arguably a lot more to prove.
Potentially lost in the hoopla, however, is just how important Barrett will be in helping his hometown team — one way or another — make good on its bid to repeat history nearly a decade later. And how both he and the Raptors stand to benefit greatly if the two sides can lift each other to new heights.
From an on-court perspective, it’s easy to see how Barrett will impact games alongside Leonard. In many ways, it’ll be the same as he did next to Brandon Ingram, just with a more productive version of that player now. The Raptors swingman will likely continue making his hay as a play-finisher and second-side creator off actions that flow Leonard into his spots (same as Ingram did) before passing reads develop. Many of which should end up with Barrett, assuming head coach Darko Rajakovic uses Leonard like he did his previous top scorer — Ingram’s second-most popular target was the Maple Mamba.
That trend should continue next to Leonard, as both he and Ingram generated a majority of their assists in similar areas — primarily feeding teammates at the rim or above the break — and even maintained similar per-game averages as a result.
The difference is that Leonard was able to find his teammates more frequently and with fewer miscues (he’s got more total steals than he has turnovers or personal fouls!) than Ingram did. Leonard maintained a 19.4 per cent assist rate to Ingram’s 16.9, and an 8.5 per cent turnover rate compared to Ingram’s 11.7, per Cleaning The Glass. All of which is even more impressive considering Leonard didn’t play in an assist-churning system as Ingram did. The Raptors were among the league leaders in assisted makes, while the Clippers were second last.
Leonard is now going to play for a team that drives, cuts and spots up around him much more than L.A. did, and Barrett — who was Toronto’s most frequent driver and spot-up man — is going to reap the rewards of that reality.
And speaking of driving, Barrett’s rim pressure will continue to matter just as it did next to Ingram. While Leonard is a more efficient (and frequent) driver than Ingram was last season, he doesn’t get all the way to the hoop as much. Leonard’s rim frequency was lower than Ingram’s in 2025-26, even if he was a better finisher up close. The two, similarly, like to stop short on their drives more often than not and do most of their damage in the mid-range.
So, whether it’s off timely cuts, bully drives or transition breakaways, Barrett’s knack for getting all the way to the hoop and challenging rim protectors will be given avenues to succeed next to Leonard. Maybe even more so, considering Leonard was eighth in the NBA for pull-up three-point percentage (37.0) among those who attempted at least three per game. Hence why he pulled defenders toward him on the perimeter more than anyone not named Luka Doncic when on-ball during the regular season. That kind of defence-bending gravity should result in even more openings for Barrett to ram himself through.
But what may be even more important than how they play together is how they play apart. Because when the 35-year-old Leonard is inevitably load-managed, the Raptors are going to ask Barrett to scale up his game and carry the scoring load next to Scottie Barnes, who showed he can be a 1A player on offence when the stakes are highest, but likely can’t keep that intensity up for 82 regular-season games.
And Barrett has done it before. In the 1.5 seasons with Toronto before Ingram stepped onto the court, the Mississauga, Ont. native was the Raptors’ leading scorer, averaging just over 21.0 points per game. In nearly 600 minutes without the two-time all-star last season, Barrett ticked up his scoring and playmaking while keeping his efficiency relatively the same, all while maintaining a positive plus-minus. All the while, no starter had a bigger statistical impact on the team’s scoring output than Barrett did — the offence scored 4.4 points per 100 possessions more when he was on the floor versus off.
The last time Leonard was a Raptor, the team went 17-5 in the games he missed. If they’re going to do that again or at least approximate that success, Barrett will have a lot to say about it. There’ll be nights, presumably second-legs of back-to-backs, when the Raptors ask the hometown hero to no longer do more with less, but instead do more with, well, more. And how many of those games end up as victories could mean a lot, not just for the Raptors’ seeding purposes, but for Barrett’s future outlook.
A successful season with this Raptors team could completely rewrite the narratives around him as a player. Once considered a “toxic asset” when dealt away in a move that proved to be massively consequential for the Knicks’ eventual title run, Barrett could redefine who he is and can be for teams around the league.
Becoming a positive player for a title-contending team would lend perfectly to potential free agency efforts. Whether that’s convincing Webster to find the money to keep him north of the border, encouraging another contender to fork over assets to lure him away from the Raptors (maybe as early as the trade deadline), or even talking a lower-tier team on the open market into backing up the Brinks truck to help raise its floor.
Webster said it well: “The best part is (Barrett) is under contract.”
And whether that remains the case with Toronto for years to come or just a couple of months, may depend on how this upcoming season shakes out. All eyes will certainly be on Leonard, but the ball will very much be in Barrett’s court.
