Chris Boucher (basketball)

Christopher Boucher[1] (born January 11, 1993) is a Saint Lucian-born Canadian professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks.

Chris Boucher
No. 25 – Toronto Raptors
PositionPower forward
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1993-01-11) January 11, 1993
Castries, Saint Lucia
NationalityCanadian / Saint Lucian
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High schoolDamase Boulanger
(Alma, Quebec)
College
NBA draft2017 / Undrafted
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017–2018Golden State Warriors
2017–2018→Santa Cruz Warriors
2018–presentToronto Raptors
2018–2019→Raptors 905
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Early life

Boucher was born in Castries, Saint Lucia. He moved with his mother, Mary MacVane, to Montreal when he was five years old to see his Canadian father Jean-Guy Boucher.[2][3] However, his parents split up when he was young and Boucher had a poor relationship with his father.[3] He grew up playing soccer and ice hockey but lived in poverty in the Saint-Michel neighborhood. He dropped out of high school at age 16 and worked as a cook and dishwasher in a St-Hubert restaurant.[4] In 2012, he was offered a spot on a tournament basketball team, and scored 44 points in the tournament final. Boucher, who previously only played pickup basketball, was offered a spot on Amateur Athletic Union AAU team Alma Academy by coaches Igor Rwigema and Ibrahim Appiah.[5] He accepted a spot at the Academy, which was created to help inner-city teenagers with few future prospects, to earn a high school diploma. In a game versus New Jersey's Blair Academy, Boucher attracted the interest of Division I college coaches when he had 29 points and 12 rebounds.[3]

College career

He played one season at New Mexico Junior College, averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.[6] Then, he went to Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, where he was named NJCAA Player of the Year and led the team to a 31–5 record. He averaged 22.5 points per game on 62.7% shooting from the inside and 44.4% from three-point range, 11.8 rebounds, and junior college's third-highest blocks-per-game average (4.7).[3] Following a campus visit, Boucher transferred to Oregon, who he chose over TCU, Minnesota and Texas Tech.[4]

At the beginning of his first year at the University of Oregon, he worried Ducks coach Dana Altman due to his thin physique but made up for it with his energy.[6] In his second game in a Ducks uniform on November 16, 2015, Boucher was competing against Baylor's Rico Gathers, and Boucher scored 15 points and gathered eight rebounds.[3] He set a single season blocks record for Oregon with 110.[7] Boucher recorded 14 points, 10 rebounds and two steals in the Ducks' 80–68 loss to Oklahoma in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.[6] Following the 2015–16 season he was granted a hardship waiver to play an extra season and complete his sociology degree.[4] He averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in his two-year career for the Ducks. As a senior, he was named to the Pac-12 Defensive Team after leading the conference in blocks with 2.6 per game. Boucher scored 23 points and a career-high 19 rebounds against Montana in December 2016. In the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals against California on March 11, 2017, an opposing player fell on Boucher's leg awkwardly, but he continued to play and finished the game with 10 points and four rebounds. The following day, an MRI scan revealed a torn ACL, and he was ruled out for the remainder of the season.[5]

Professional career

Golden State Warriors (2017–2018)

Prior to the 2017 NBA draft, Boucher was unable to work out with teams due to his injury. He ultimately went undrafted, but was signed by the Golden State Warriors to a two-way contract, the same team which purchased a draft pick from the Chicago Bulls to choose his Oregon teammate Jordan Bell.[8] Boucher became one of the first players to sign up on the NBA's newest two-way contract policy, which went into effect that season, although his deal was not official until July 14, 2017. On November 2, 2017, Boucher was called up to the NBA G-League by the Santa Cruz Warriors after coming back from the ACL injury and made his debut in his first week signed. On March 14, 2018, Boucher played his first NBA game with the Golden State Warriors recording 1 rebound and 1 three-point attempt. Although he was unavailable to play in the playoffs due to his two-way contract, Boucher was a part of the Warriors championship team after they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games in the 2018 NBA Finals. On June 22, 2018, the Golden State Warriors waived Boucher.[9]

Toronto Raptors (2018–present)

On July 20, 2018, Boucher signed with the Toronto Raptors as a free agent.[10] On October 26, 2018, the Raptors converted Boucher's contract to an NBA two-way contract.[11] Boucher played 28 games with the Raptors' NBA G-League affiliate, the Raptors 905 where he averaged 27.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, & 4.1 blocks, while also shooting 51.0% from the field. Boucher would go on to be named the G-League 2018-19 Most Valuable Player & the league's Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player to win both awards concurrently, & the first international player to win the league MVP award.[12] Additionally, Boucher was also named to the All-NBA G League First Team. On February 10, 2019, the Raptors signed Boucher to a standard NBA contract.[13] The Raptors made it to the 2019 NBA Finals where they defeated Boucher's former team, the Golden State Warriors. In doing so, Boucher became the only Canadian player to win an NBA title with the NBA's lone Canadian based franchise. On November 10, 2019, Boucher tied his career high in points by scoring 15 points in a Raptors win over Lebron James and the Lakers.[14] On December 22, 2019, Boucher scored 21 points, and set a new career high in the Raptors 110–107 win over the Dallas Mavericks.[15] Three days later, on December 25, 2019, Boucher set a new career-high again with 24 points in a 118–102 loss to the Boston Celtics.[16] On March 3, 2020, he set a career-high in rebounds with 15 in a win against the Phoenix Suns.[17]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

NBA

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18† Golden State 101.0.000.000.0001.0.0.0.00.0
2018–19† Toronto 2805.8.447.324.8672.00.10.20.93.3
Career 2905.7.442.316.86720.10.20.83.2

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2019† Toronto 202.0.400.333.500.5.0.0.52.5
Career 202.0.400.333.500.5.0.0.52.5

College
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Oregon 383525.8.539.339.6857.4.4.82.912.1
2016–17 Oregon 311223.6.524.350.5656.1.4.42.511.8
Career 694724.8.532.344.6416.8.4.62.712.0

College statistics only available for final two years at Oregon.[18]

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References
  1. "Christopher Boucher | Past Roster | Trapper Men's Basketball | Northwest College". nwc.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. Meek, Austin (February 28, 2016). "Boucher's journey". The Register-Guard. p. C1.
  3. Winn, Luke (November 8, 2016). "Slim's Chance: Chris Boucher took an unusual route to D-I but makes the Ducks a serious title contender". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  4. Uthman, Daniel (February 13, 2016). "Basketball gives Oregon's Chris Boucher a shot at life". USA Today. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  5. Ewing, Lori (June 21, 2017). "Despite injury, Montreal's Chris Boucher hopeful heading into NBA draft". The Canadian Press. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  6. D'Hippolito, Joseph (March 27, 2016). "Montrealer overcame early hardship to find success on NCAA courts". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  7. Alger, Tyson (June 22, 2017). "Chris Boucher signs with Golden State as undrafted free agent". The Oregonian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  8. Slater, Anthony (June 23, 2017). "What is this two-way contract the Warriors used to sign Oregon's Chris Boucher?". The Mercury News. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  9. "Warriors Waive Chris Boucher". NBA.com. June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  10. "Raptors Sign Brown and Boucher". Toronto Raptors. July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  11. "Raptors Convert Boucher to Two-Way Contract". NBA.com. October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  12. "Chris Boucher Named the 2018-19 NBA G League Most Valuable Player and the 2018-19 NBA G League Defensive Player of the Year". Raptors905.com. April 1, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  13. "Raptors Sign Chris Boucher To NBA Contract". NBA.com. February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  14. "Chris Boucher looks strong in 24 minutes versus the Lakers". FantasyPros. 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  15. "Raptors' Chris Boucher: Scores 21 points in victory". CBS Sports. December 22, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  16. "Boucher Scores Career High 24". RotoBaller. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  17. "Raptors vs. Suns - Box Score - March 3, 2020 - ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  18. "Chris Boucher". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
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