**What:** Charlotte Hornets (18-54) (7-28 away) at Toronto Raptors (26-47) (16-21 home)
**When:** 7:30pm Eastern
**Where:** Scotiabank Arena; Toronto, ON
**How to watch:** FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
**Outfitting:** Hornets–City (mint), Raptors–City (black)
**Game Lines:** Hornets +6.5, Hornets money line +200, O/U 217.5
**Injuries:**
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Josh Okogie-out (hamstring management), Brandon Miller-out (wrist), Tre Mann-out (back), Grant Williams-out (knee)
Raptors: Chris Boucher-questionable (sick), RJ Barrett-out (rest), Ochai Agbaji-out (rest), Brandon Ingram-out (ankle), Gradey Dick-out (knee), Ulrich Chomche-out (knee)
On paper, this looks like a battle of tanks, but the Raptors have been good enough to be a tier better than the Hornets this season. Both teams are positioning themselves for draft positioning, but neither is a threat to the other’s pre-lottery standing.
That said, because both teams are mailing it in, a lot of players are being held out of this game. LaMelo Ball is out because the team is taking it easy on his ankle. The Raptors are resting 24 year olds RJ Barrett and Ochai Agbaji after they played fewer than 30 minutes on two days of rest on Wednesday.
The Raptors do look like they’ll have Scottie Barnes active for the game. Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl rested on Wednesday, so I assume they’re good to go tonight as the Raptors try to make sure they don’t have too many good players playing at once.
Barnes has struggled with his outside shooting this year, but he’s still a very good player that does pretty much everything else well. He’s the Raptors’ hub. Quickley hasn’t gotten the same press he did in New York, but he’s still a very, very dangerous shooter that I think a lot of people forget about. If Mark Williams isn’t locked in, Jakob Poeltl is a decent bet to go for like 25 and 15 while shooting 85% from the field.
We’re 72 games into the season. This is the first of the final 10. The Hornets are angling to finish somewhere in the bottom four of the overall standings. Buckle up. It’s going to get rough out here.
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