Scottie Barnes available, Immanuel Quickley unavailable for game against Washington

One major player returns, and one doesn't.

Scottie Barnes, the Raptors resident All-Star, will make his first appearance in NBA action since he injured his hand on March 1st. Barnes missed the last 22 games of the 23-24 regular season due to the aforementioned hand injury, and missed the start of training camp, the Raptors open practice at McGill, and didn’t play in their first preseason game, a win against Washington.

“I’m just happy to be playing again. It’s been a really long time.” Barnes said at practice. “To be able to go play in an actual game, that’s super fun and super exciting for me. I’ve been playing with these guys all summer, and just being able to go out there and work and build things out on the floor.”

The Raptors have raved about Barnes’ leadership and work ethic over the course of the summer, and while he didn’t play in their first preseason game, he was a very active participant in bench support – helping to call out defensive coverages, and cheering on his teammates as some of them made their NBA debuts.

Barnes will be looking to ramp up for the regular season, and hopefully improve upon his All-Star season where he put up 19.9ppg/8.2rbs/6.1asts/1.5blks/1.3stls.

Today at practice, Darko Rajakovic told us that Immanuel Quickley will not be available for the game against the Washington Wizards. No one has expressed any concern about how Quickley is coming along, it just seems like extra precaution is being taken. There also doesn’t seem to be much concern for getting Quickley into game shape, as both Masai Ujiri & Rajakovic have talked about how many hours of work Quickley put into the gym this past summer.

For now, and considering RJ Barrett’s injury, there will be more opportunity and possessions for the guards on the roster, like Davion Mitchell, Jamal Shead, and DJ Carton.

Hoping for a fun game.