Scottie Barnes won't play vs. Bucks on Saturday Night
The Toronto Raptors will have to get past the Milwaukee Bucks without rookie power forward Scottie Barnes. Barnes is available but won’t play in Saturday night’s contest for injury management reasons, as the 20-year-old continues to resolve a knee injury.
Scottie Barnes is listed as available but will not play tonight, as the Raptors said leading up to the game. YUTA and Achiuwa start next to the VanVleet, OG and Siakam.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) January 15, 2022
Barnes has been effective in his rookie season, starting 33 games for the Raps, ranking fifth in scoring with 14.5 points and second in rebounding, pulling down 7.9 boards per game. The former Florida State Seminole has sterling advanced metrics, ranking second on the team in Win Shares and third in Value Over Replacement Player, as calculated by Basketball-Reference.
Precious Achiuwa draws into the starting five for his 18th start of the year. Achiuwa takes over at center, with Pascal Siakam sliding down into Barnes’s power forward role.
The Raptors are 6-4 over their past 10 and enter tonight’s Eastern Conference battle as +7 underdogs, per the line info from FanDuel Sportsbook. The total is set at 218.5.
