Positive injury news means it’s time to make some tough roster cuts
Special to Yahoo Sports
Believe it or not, we’ve received a lot of positive news on the injury front across the NBA lately. Some notable players who have recently returned are C.J. McCollum, Cam Thomas and Bojan Bogdanović. Players who might not be too far behind them include Tyler Herro (ankle), Anfernee Simons (thumb) and Wendell Carter Jr. (finger).
Players coming back means fantasy managers might need to make some difficult drop decisions to clear roster space. With that in mind, let’s highlight five players to consider moving on from in most Yahoo leagues.
Looney has bounced in and out of the starting lineup this season. He is averaging only 23 minutes per game, which comes on the heels of him averaging 24 minutes per game last season. With Dario Šarić now in the fold and playing well, it’s not likely that Looney is going to see a significant increase in minutes anytime soon.
With Looney not playing much, he has averaged just 5.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He has provided very little in terms of defensive stats, and while he is shooting 58.5% from the field, his 10.2% usage rate doesn’t leave him with enough opportunities for his efficiency to significantly help fantasy managers. Unless someone is desperate for rebounds, it’s time to move on from Looney.
Barnes is a key veteran for the Kings and is logging 32 minutes per game as a starter. Playing time is not an issue for him and likely won’t be anytime soon. The problem is his dwindling role within the Kings’ offense. His usage rate was just 17.1% last season, and it is down to 13.8% this season. That has resulted in him averaging 11.8 points per game.
The problem with Barnes is that if he’s not scoring, he’s not helping fantasy managers much. Despite playing plenty of minutes, he has averaged just 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.8 steals per game. He can be an asset from behind the arc and is putting up 1.8 three-pointers per game this season. However, that’s about the…
