Scottie Barnes is heading back to the NBA All-Star Game.
The Toronto Raptors forward was voted to the 2026 all-star team as a reserve on Sunday by the league’s coaches.
Barnes has been the leader for the fourth-place Raptors all season. He’s averaging 19.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in 49 games.
The 2021-22 Rookie of the Year is also leading the NBA in total stocks (steals and blocks combined) with 136.
It is the second all-star appearance of Barnes’ career. Barnes made his first all-star game in 2023-24, when he averaged 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks in 60 games of action.
Barnes is just the sixth Raptor all-time to make multiple All-Star Games while with the franchise, joining Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam.
Prior to Sunday’s game against Utah, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said he expected “to have at least two all-stars announced,” with forward Brandon Ingram being the other. Ingram leads the Raptors with 21.9 points per game.
“I think what our team accomplished so far in the second year of a rebuild, the way Scottie is playing this season, the way BI is playing this season, I think those two guys deserve consideration, nomination and to be announced as all-stars tonight,” Rajakovic said. “We’ll take it. We’ll take both of those guys being in the all-star game.”
Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell, Atlanta forward Jalen Johnson, New York centre Karl-Anthony Towns, Indiana forward Pascal Siakam, Miami guard Norman Powell and Detroit centre Jalen Duren were also named East reserves.
Additionally, Kitchener, Ont., native Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets earned his first career nomination after dominating to the tune of 25.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists while shooting 49.2 per cent from the field and 44.7 per cent from three-point range.
He becomes only the fifth Canadian in NBA history to make the All-Star Game, joining Steve Nash (eight-time selection), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (three), Andrew Wiggins (one) and Jamaal Magloire (one).
The 2026 NBA All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 15 from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
