QUEBEC CITY — The solution to most problems in professional sports lies in the old dictum:

“If you don’t like it, play better.”

Well, RJ Barrett has played better.

As he strolled around the practice floor at the Universite Laval where the Toronto Raptors were wrapping up their first day of their training camp, he looked the picture of NBA ease, laughing and smiling comfortably with teammates and coaches old and new, looking every inch a young athlete in his prime.

The just-turned 26-year-old is coming off what was likely his best season of his career as he averaged 19.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists on a career-best 58.5-per-cent True Shooting, finding a way to generate efficient offence while playing off the ball more than at any time previously as a pro.

He played even better during the playoffs where — with Brandon Ingram largely ineffective due to injury — Barrett shouldered a bigger load combining bruising drives to the rim with some efficient spot-up three-point shooting. His 24.1 points per game was tied with teammate Scottie Barnes for the series lead against Cleveland. Only some poor free-throw shooting (63.4 per cent) took the shine off his overall offensive efficiency.

Zooming out, in 147 regular season games as a Raptor since the Mississauga, Ont. native was acquired from the New York Knicks midway through the 2023-24 season, Barrett is one of only a dozen NBA players to average at least 20 points (20.5), six rebounds (5.9) and four assists (4.3), with the rest of the list overwhelmingly comprised of players with all-star and all-NBA nods on their resumes.

On top of that, Barrett has done it while repping his hometown team with obvious and organic passion and pride. Here in Quebec, he’s the early MVP based on his ability to flip easily from English to French, a skill he picked up while........

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