{"id":125695,"date":"2025-02-25T18:44:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T23:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=125695"},"modified":"2025-02-25T18:44:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T23:44:49","slug":"raptors-all-time-player-chris-boucher-knew-traded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/25\/raptors-all-time-player-chris-boucher-knew-traded\/","title":{"rendered":"All-Time Raptors Player Knew He Wouldn’t Be Traded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Raptors veteran Chris Boucher<\/a> is in the final season of the three-year, $35.3 million contract he signed in 2022. Like many players on expiring contracts, this helped lead to him being discussed as a potential trade chip<\/a>. So is the fact that Boucher’s versatility and reputation at the defensive end made him an even more attractive commodity<\/a>. However, in a recent interview with Raptors Republic scribe William Lou, Boucher insists that he knew he was going to be traded.<\/p>\n

Raptors’ Chris Boucher Knew He Wouldn’t Be Traded<\/h2>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t lie to you, I think it was the most peaceful (trade) deadline<\/a> I had compared to the other years,\u201d Boucher says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I was doing everything I was supposed to do, being a good vet, playing well, doing what I\u2019m supposed to do when I get the minutes, and staying professional. That\u2019s all you can do, really.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was also talking with Bobby (Webster) and all of them, and I never thought I was going to be going away. The media says one thing, but really, the GM, and the people around here would have told me if something would have happened, and then I would have been a little bit more concerned.<\/p>\n

One Of The All-Time Raptors?<\/h3>\n

Boucher has now played more games with the Raptors (404) than Vince Carter<\/a> did.<\/p>\n

For reference, the former NBA All-Star that’s been dubbed “Half-Man Half-Amazing” recently had his jersey retired by Toronto. Boucher hasn’t accomplished nearly as much as Carter on an individual level, so the likelihood his No. 25 jersey gets the same treatment isn’t all that high. Even so, that comparison helps put the Saint Lucia native’s career in perspective.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, he holds value because of what he’s providing on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-9 and 200 pounds, he’s capable of playing every frontcourt position. With his length and activity he makes a positive impact at the defensive end. Because of his athleticism and guard skills, including a smooth shooting stroke, he’s a mismatch weapon on offense. His averages aren’t going to turn many heads. Nevertheless, his production is in line with what’s expected of a strong role player.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he’s become part of fabric of Raptors history.<\/p>\n

He’s on pace to pass Fred VanVleet<\/a> and Alvin Williams<\/a> to be 10th in career games played by the end of 2024-25. He already ranks 10th in career rebounds (2,077). Yet, he’s on pace to pass Carter and Andrea Bargnani<\/a> by the end of 2024-25 to be eight all-time in that category. He ranks even higher, sixth in franchise history, in career blocks (383). Still, he could theoretically pass at least Antonio Davis<\/a> by the end 2024-25 to be fifth all-time.<\/p>\n

The importance that he holds to the Raptors doesn’t make him untouchable in trade talks. However, he’s a player who’s valued by Toronto, and rightfully so. His rumored suitors –the New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, or Los Angeles Clippers –have likely recognized this. Now, everyone else does too.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto Raptors veteran Chris Boucher is in the final season of the three-year, $35.3 million contract he signed in 2022. Like many players on expiring contracts, this helped lead to him being discussed as a potential trade chip. So is the fact that Boucher’s versatility and reputation at the defensive end made him an even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":125705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1608,62,3,4721],"tags":[906,4774,933],"class_list":["post-125695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raptors","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-chris-boucher","tag-rumors","tag-vince-carter"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125695"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125706,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125695\/revisions\/125706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}