2 reasons Raptors’ Scottie Barnes is outperforming Cade Cunningham

Reason No. 2: Production on a better team

Cunningham is showing off the traits that will make him a future All-Star in this league, but the Pistons are more than willing to sacrifice wins this year to let Cunningham grow. Barnes does not have that same luxury, as the Raptors are trying to both retool on the fly and compete for a postseason birth.

Even with OG Anunoby sidelined, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam are going to vacuum up a large number of touches and shots. Toronto can’t afford to just let Scottie take the game over and inflate his stats that way, yet he continues to be an impact player.

Scottie Barnes’ Raptors are better than Cade Cunningham’s Pistons.

Even though the Raptors have only played one game this season in which all five of their projected starters and top reserve Khem Birch have been healthy, Barnes is finding ways to be a consistent contributor. Cunningham’s Pistons may have taken down the Raptors once, but that is just one of four wins this team has to their name.

Part of the reason that Mobley has leapfrogged Barnes and Cunningham in the eyes of some has been the way he’s helped turn the Cavaliers into a winning team. If victories are still impactful in the eyes of voters, Cade might find it difficult to leapfrog Barnes in the Rookie of the Year power rankings.