Could a Raptor compete for NBA’s sixth man of the year award?

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As training camp commences, we’re pretty sure nobody, not even head coach Nick Nurse himself knows how the Raptors’ rotation is going to shake out. Injuries and illnesses forced Nurse into switching up his starting group multiple times each month last season. The hope is there will be a more regular group this time around, but at this point all we can say for sure is Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Scottie Barnes and O.G. Anunoby are locks for the starting lineup.

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Nurse will have to decide if he wants a traditional shooting guard (Gary Trent Jr., who started 69 of 70 appearances during last year’s breakout season), a bigger presence (Precious Achiuwa, who started 28 times, mostly early on, when he didn’t play well, before having a huge second half, mainly as a reserve) or, less likely, veteran Khem Birch (28 starts). There’s also Otto Porter, a starter for the final three games of the Finals for last year’s NBA champion Golden State Warriors and a long-time reliable starter in Washington before that.

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All of these options for Nurse make wagering on the winner of the NBA’s sixth man of the year award both challenging, and potentially, quite profitable.

Achiuwa, the most improved Raptor last season, is at +10000 for the award at FanDuel. Trent is at +4000 at Bet365. Another option, sparkplug big man Chris Boucher, is at +10000 for sixth man of the year at ScoreBet.

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If you’re asking me, most likely Trent starts. They need his shooting, they want to keep him happy ahead of a new contract and he made major strides defensively in 2021-22. But it’s possible Barnes, slated to play a lot more guard this season, lines up as the “shooting guard” beside VanVleet and Porter, a career 40% three-point shooter, replaces Trent’s marksmanship with the starters while providing more size.

Achiuwa is more of a darkhorse to start and might be the best pick as top bench producer. Or it’s possible there are just too many contributors here (we haven’t even mentioned floor spacer Juancho Hernangomez or veteran Thad Young), and no Raptors reserve will be able to play enough minutes to put up the numbers required to win the award.

In that case, former Raptor Norman Powell could be worth a look.