UPDATE: Barnes is out.
After playing through a questionable tag in Thursday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, Scottie Barnes has once again been listed as questionable for this evening’s contest versus the Pistons. Barnes’ finger issue has clearly been impacting his recent play, with the former All-Star saying postgame, “it hurts at times, and then in games it gets hit, it hurts more than it usually hurts… It’s a pretty daily thing.”
Toronto is almost mathematically locked into the seventh-best lottery odds with five games to go on its schedule, so there’s little reason to run Barnes out there if he isn’t 100%. Though, at the same time, Barnes comes into Friday three appearances short of 65 — the number needed to qualify for end-of-season honors and All-NBA. It’s likely the man himself is pushing the team to allow him to suit up.
Barnes has been awful in his past three starts, failing to score in double-digits in all three games and shooting a paltry 29.4% (10-for-34) from the field. Between these struggles, his hefty price tag on DraftKings and his minutes restriction, there’s no reason to consider him in DFS if he ends up available.
Now, if Barnes joins RJ Barrett (rest) and Ochai Agbaji (rest) in street clothes, there would suddenly be a fantasy impact. Immanuel Quickley owns a massive 31.4% usage rate in 2024-25 with both Barnes and Barrett off the floor and he’d be worth a look even with his own minutes limit in place. Ja’Kobe Walter would also become one of the best values on the slate. The rookie has logged at least 29 minutes in four of his last five starts, a span where he’s exceeded 20 FPTS every game.
