The Toronto Raptors have had five players represent the franchise at the NBA All-Star Game: Vince Carter, Antonio Davis, Chris Bosh, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have each played in the Sunday showcase at least once as a member of the Raptors.
Let’s take a look at how they each faired in their All-Star Game appearances.
Vince Carter
Easily the most famous of the bunch, Vince Carter was selected to the All-Star Game five times in his six and a half seasons as a Raptor.
In 2000, Carter broke the ice and became the first ever Raptor to appear in the game. Carter was far and away the leading vote-getter, accumulating nearly two million votes. While he put up only 12 points and four rebounds in his All-Star Game debut, his work in the Slam Dunk contest that weekend in Oakland still gives people goosebumps when they re-live it on YouTube.
Carter would be the leading vote-getter in four of the five years with Toronto and would be voted as a starter in all of his appearances as a Raptor.
In 2002, Carter missed the game due to injury and Baron Davis was named as his replacement. In 2003, after much debate and drama, Carter made way for Michael Jordan to start in his final All-Star Game appearance when he was a member of the Washington Wizards.
His numbers as a Raptors’ All-Star were 12.0 points and 1.3 steals on 49 percent shooting from the field. He went 1-4 in those games.
Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh ties Carter for the most appearances as a Raptor in the All-Star Game.
When Carter was traded to the New Jersey Nets, Bosh instantly became the face of the franchise, and after showing promise in 2005, he had his breakout season in 2006, earning his first of five straight appearances as a Raptor.
In 2007, Bosh had earned the respect of the fans who voted him in as a starter. But in 2008, with Kevin Garnett now in the Eastern Conference, Bosh felt he needed to campaign for himself to get the votes needed to surpass KG so he put together a funny and creative All-Star vote campaign commercial.
Unfortunately for Bosh, his attempt fell short as he finished third in forward voting that year behind LeBron James and Garnett.
In total, Bosh appeared in four of the five games he was selected to and started in two of them. His averages were 14.0 points and 8.0 rebounds on 53 percent shooting from the field. The East went 3-1 in the games he played in as a Raptor and he finished the 2010 game with a double-double of 23 points, 10 rebounds — Raptors’ All-Star Game records.
Kyle Lowry
With a selection to this year’s game, Lowry can join Carter and Bosh with the most All-Star appearances for a Raptor. His averages this season of 14.4 points, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals along with Toronto’s league-best record suggests he will be there.
Lowry has put up numbers in his past four appearances, hitting double-figure scoring in three of the four games. In 2017, he finished with 19 points off the bench in the East’s 192-182 loss to the West.
Lowry has already started two All-Star Games in his time in Toronto and with the new weighted voting system, he could find himself in the starting lineup again in Charlotte.
DeMar DeRozan
DeMar DeRozan has appeared in four All-Star Games in his career, all as a member of the Toronto Raptors.
DeRozan holds the highest scoring average as a Raptor in the All-Star Game with 15.8 points per game. He also has the highest field goal percentage in the game shooting 56 percent from the field — clearly taking advantage of the more relaxed defence played in the Sunday showcase.
Last year, DeRozan came close to topping Bosh’s Raptors’ All-Star Game points record, finishing with 21 points as a part of Team Stephen Curry in their 148-145 loss to Team LeBron James.
DeRozan is no longer around, but the thunderous ovation he received when he was announced as part of the starting lineup in the 2016 game in Toronto will not easily be forgotten.
Antonio Davis
While this seems like the answer to a possible trivia question, the one All-Star selection Antonio Davis received was in 2001 — and yes, it was as a member of the Raptors.
Davis did not get voted in nor was he selected by the coaches, but when Grant Hill, Alonzo Mourning and Theo Ratliff all couldn’t compete due to injury, Davis not only found himself on the team, he was in the starting lineup next to his teammate Vince Carter.
To his credit, Davis came to compete, finishing with eight points, nine rebounds, a block and a steal — typical Antonio Davis numbers at the time.
The East won the game 111-110, coming back from being down by as many as 21 points in one of the most entertaining All-Star Games of all-time.
