Things are bleak around the Toronto Raptors right now. Outside of a promising stretch early in the season and the continued growth of Scottie Barnes, Darko Rajakovic and the rest of the team have hit a wall that has led to a very sobering, depressing show of basketball.
The Raptors currently sit at 9-14, having lost four straight games and six of their last seven. Rajakovic's team is unable to play well on both ends consistently. Hot shooting nights, like a 130-point barrage against the Knicks, are let down by poor defense, and vice versa. Plain and simple, this team is bad.
It's often hard for bad teams to send players to the All-Star Game due to the general indifference of the rest of the basketball world. However, the combination of Toronto's notoriously passionate fanbase being able to drum up a voting campaign on social media and some standout individual performances might be enough to get them to Indianapolis for the 2023-24 NBA All-Star Game.
The Raptors may be going nowhere on a conceptual level, but that doesn't necessarily mean their roster is completely bereft of potential stars. These three standouts could end up making the cut and giving Toronto an All-Star selection for the third year in a row after Pascal Siakam last season and Fred VanVleet the campaign prior.
3 Toronto Raptors players who could be All-Stars in 2023-24.
3. Pascal Siakam
Every fanbase's favorite trade target in the last few months, Siakam wouldn't be on the tip of everyone's tongue if he was putting together a season that would make teams want to give up the family farm for even a remote shot at acquiring him. His 2023-24 season has been more of the same.
Siakam is still leading the Raptors with 20.7 points per game while chipping in 6.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. The emergence of Barnes has chipped into his overall numbers, but even a basic watch of any given Raptors can show that he is trying everything he can to keep this offense working.
Pascal Siakam remains a star for the Toronto Raptors.
Siakam's biggest obstacles this year are largely out of his control, as he is going up against a parade of Eastern Conference forwards who are all deserving. The fact he is starting to take a back seat to Barnes, who is also on the fringes of the All-Star Game, is also working against him.
In what is likely going to be his swan song north of the border, wouldn't Raptors fans banding together to get him into the All-Star game once again be a tremendous way to send Siakam off? His numbers amid chaos will give him a deserving chase for a ticket to Indy.