Finally, we’ve reached the point in the season where teams in each conference are being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. There are two teams in each conference — the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Hornets in the East, and the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz — who have clinched that dubious dishonor.
But several other teams — including Washington’s opponents on Monday, the Toronto Raptors — have effectively been out of postseason contention all season, due to a lack of talent, injuries, or a lack of competitive will. It’s close to becoming official for Toronto, which is six games behind the Miami Heat with 11 games left in its season.
The Raptors will have significant injuries tonight, with new acquisition Brandon Ingram nowhere near a return, RJ Barrett resting, and Gradey Dick remaining out as well.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Toronto (+105 Moneyline) is a slight underdog and the total is set for 227.5. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around Barnes.
Best Scottie Barnes Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Scottie Barnes O19.5 Points (-115)
Barnes is somewhat inconsistent as a scorer; since the All-Star break, he’s recorded 20 or more points seven times and fewer than 20 in seven others. He doesn’t necessarily require the ball, recording just the league’s 25th-highest usage rate since the All-Star break among 114 players who have totaled at least 400 minutes since the midseason intermission, and he hasn’t reached 20 field goal attempts in any game across that span, either. But with Barrett and Dick both out, Barnes will have no choice but to score. He has scored 20 or more points in two of his last four games without Barrett, including a 29-point, 10-rebound effort on Thursday in a narrow defeat to the Golden State Warriors.
To their credit, the Wizards are now merely run-of-the-mill bad instead of historically awful, a fact that is reflected in tonight’s line. This marks just the second time all season that Washington has been favored. Since the All-Star break, the Wizards have gone a solid 6-10 and have had only the league’s 13th-worst defense after sitting dead last in that category for much of the season. Still, Washington plays at the league’s sixth-fastest pace, ratcheting up the number of possessions and giving Barnes more opportunities to score. The Wizards have also struggled somewhat more in their last six games, since Bilal Coulibaly suffered a season-ending hamstring injury.
Scottie Barnes O1.5 Steals (+154)
Among the only positives of Barnes’ season is that he is posting the best defensive marks of his four-year stint in the NBA, averaging a career-high 1.5 steals per game and posting a respectable 0.9 defensive box plus-minus, the 40th-best among 182 qualified players. He has a seven-foot-three wingspan despite standing just six-foot-seven, and he uses his long arms to wreak havoc in passing lanes, and although he can be inconsistent as a defender, his ceiling is high. He had a six-steal game on March 16 against the Portland Trail Blazers, one of just 28 games this season in which a player recorded as many swipes.
Since Coulibaly’s injury, Washington has struggled to hold onto the ball, allowing opponents to rack up 10.7 steals per game, the fifth-most in the league. Wizards point guard Jordan Poole has reverted to some of his loose ways since sopping up a larger role in the offense, with a 15.5% turnover percentage in his last six games, the 10th-highest among 185 players who have appeared in at least five of those six games and averaged at least 20 minutes per game. Rookie Alex Sarr, too, has been relatively turnover-prone since Coulibaly’s injury.
