Is this the end for Chris Boucher as a Raptor?

TORONTO — The tribute video will have to wait.

But when it might come for Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher – like almost everything else in the lanky Montrealer’s one-of-a-kind NBA career – is not something anyone can predict.

As the Raptors were getting set to play their final home game of the season Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets, I asked head coach Darko Rajakovic if there were any plans to get the longest-serving Raptor some floor time.

As a pending free agent, Boucher’s future in Toronto is anything but certain. Wednesday could have been his last game with a team he made out of training camp in 2018-19 and has been a fixture on ever since.

Since Boucher hasn’t played since Feb. 26 in Indiana and hasn’t hit the court at home since a night earlier against Boston – a comment on his positive on-court impact as the Raptors turned their focus to the draft lottery – the chance to have the crowd Boucher has energized so many times with his all-out style show their appreciation might have been nice.

Not in the plans, apparently.

“We did have that conversation with him before,” said Rajakovic. “I do not want to put him in a tough place tonight playing the game after sitting out the last three or four weeks, so he’s not going to play.”

The Raptors got by without him, brushing aside the Hornets 126-96 as Toronto had six players in double figures and four more with at least eight points. They were led by two-way signee Jared Rhoden, who finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting (3-of-5 from three) to go along with seven rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes. The Raptors forced the Hornets into 19 turnovers for 30 points.

Boucher most likely would have only done more damage. What are the Raptors' plans for the six-foot-nine power forward, who ranks 12^th all-time in games played for Toronto, and would have moved into the top 10 had he not been put on ice for the last two months of the year?

Interesting question.

The broad strokes are this, according to multiple sources: there is mutual interest in having Boucher return for his eighth season in Toronto. Even at 32, he showed no signs of slowing down or curbing his all-in style of play this year. He was Toronto’s leading bench scorer at 10 points a game and had one of his better shooting seasons, converting at 36.3 per cent from three-point range on nearly four attempts a game. Among Raptors regulars, his +4.9 net rating was second only to Jakob Poeltl’s +7.1.

There was some thought the Raptors would trade Boucher or make him available as a buyout candidate, but those opportunities never materialized.

Boucher was effective enough this season than rather than find ways to play him down the stretch, Toronto elected to simply sit him for what likely will be the final 23 games of the regular season.

The arrangement has been transparent – Rajakovic and Boucher have had wide open lines of communication dating back to last summer and the bonds between Boucher’s camp and the front office have been well-established over the years – but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy for the high-flying big man to sit out for so long.

“Obviously it’s not ideal, but it’s the business. I know how things go by now,” Boucher told me  “I’m trying to stay positive with how my life is and see the positive stuff, and I think I had a great year, too. I think that helps, knowing that I’m growing and being the player and the person that I want to be, so I take those wins. The season went by pretty quick, so I’ll enjoy the last few games and see what happens.”

But there are more variables around Boucher’s future with the Raptors following the acquisition of Brandon Ingram at the trade deadline, and the three-year, $120-million extension he signed after that.

With Ingram’s deal on the books, the Raptors have little wiggle room financially if they are hoping to stay under the luxury tax next season. They have $177.3 million committed to 11 players and with the luxury tax projected to land at $187.9 million, it leaves $12.4 million to sign four more players, including the Raptors' draft picks. In that scenario, Boucher getting anything close to his current three-year, $35.2-million deal seems very unlikely. Whether he can get anything above the veteran minimum could depend on who the Raptors draft and in what position. The first-year salary for the No. 1 overall pick can be as much as $13.8 million, whereas if the Raptors pick in the ninth spot the cap hit is more likely to be $6.33 million. Somewhere in that gap could leave room for Boucher’s deal.

In any case, heading into a tight free agent market, Boucher being signed by the Raptors – who hold his Bird rights – or him being included in a sign-and-trade remain his most likely paths to signing for more than the veteran minimum next season.

“There’s conversations that have been made and for now it’s about finishing the year,“ said Boucher. “Obviously I have a great relationship with the Raptors, so we’ll wait to see what the conversation is going to be in the summer.”

It’s just another twist in Boucher’s NBA journey, from undrafted free agent, to one of the NBA’s first two-way signees, to being waived after one NBA minute by the Golden State Warriors, to turning an after-thought Summer League invite with Toronto into a training-camp tryout, a two-way contract and finally an NBA deal, all while playing in a style that would never be taught, but could turn games upside down in the space of minutes. It was good often, bad sometimes, but boring never.

If Boucher does end up in Toronto next season, he will be greeted enthusiastically when he checks in for the first time. If he ends up moving on, here’s hoping the video tribute does justice to a Raptor career that likely won’t soon be duplicated.

Grange for three

• Jonathan Mogbo had the first triple-double of his life against Charlotte, finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals in 38 minutes. It was the first trouble double by a Raptors rookie since Damon Stoudamire in 1995 and the first by a rookie in the NBA all season. Mogbo said that he had come close on a couple of occasions in college and high school, but typically ended up an assist or two short. The rookie out of the University of San Francisco was mobbed by his teammates when he was pulled with 1:46 to play and the Raptors leading by 30. “It’s been a great journey,” Mogbo said of his rookie season as the Raptors' first pick in the second round, 31st overall. “Just every day, trying not to take anything for granted. It’s a blessing to be here, at the end of the day. There’s a lot of learning experiences that (you) go through (as a rookie) so trying to learn in every moment.”

• The Raptors have two game left in the regular season, both in Texas, starting on Friday against the Dallas Mavericks and wrapping up Sunday in San Antonio against the Spurs. The Raptors guaranteed to finish with the seventh-worst record and the commensurate odds in the draft lottery following the Spurs' win over the Golden State Warriors late Wednesday.

• The Raptors are expected to waive Cole Swider on Thursday. It’s a roster-shenanigans move that allows Toronto to sign a new player on Saturday for the remainder of the season, which seems weird – like, a contract for two days?. But it also would give the team the opportunity to offer a team option for next season with some guarantees for Summer League and/or training camp, which would entice the new player to stay with the team over the summer and into camp. My sense is that it will be a familiar face, with Raptors two-way wing AJ Lawson one possibility and Colin Castleton – the rangy power forward who did well with Toronto on a couple of 10-day deals – another.