Scottie Barnes Ruled Out Wednesday With Groin Injury
Scottie Barnes (groin) listed out for Wednesday. - @UnderdogNBA
The are officially putting their franchise engine in the garage for Wednesday night. According to Underdog NBA, has been ruled out with a groin injury, turning an already shaky Toronto rotation into a complete mystery box.
Groin injuries are the absolute worst kind of vague basketball update. You cannot just throw some tape on an adductor and play through it unless your goal is to spend 48 minutes looking like a guy slipping on a frozen driveway.
Barnes is the entire operating system for this roster. He is putting up 23.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. When he sits, the ' offense usually devolves into a chaotic pickup game where nobody seems to know each other's names.
This is an immediate red alert for anyone looking at the Wednesday slate. With Barnes out of the lineup, the usage rates for the rest of the starting five are going to spike dramatically. That completely shifts the math on player props and team totals, because someone has to take those missing 15 to 20 shots.
The real concern here is the lingering nature of soft tissue problems. Barnes has already dealt with a laundry list of ailments over the last couple of seasons, from hand fractures to ankle sprains. Now you can add a tricky groin issue to the mix.
Watch the upcoming injury reports closely. If this forces Barnes to miss extended time, Toronto is going to have to completely rewire how they play basketball just to keep their heads above water.