Title: Stanley Johnson, Raptors’ 36th starting lineup clinch No. 7 lottery odds; a look at the weirdest lineups of the decade
Date: May 13, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about the Raptors’ tank finale, a shorthanded loss to the Bulls featuring some of their strangest lineups yet.
Unless you are a daily fantasy player or someone in the final sit-start decisions of a fantasy championship run, you had to chuckle at the unnecessary gamesmanship on display from the Raptors on Thursday.
In what amounted to nearly a must-lose in the reverse standings now that the Raptors have officially been eliminated from play-in contention, Nick Nurse went with his thinnest rotation of a season that’s had some pretty thin ones. But not before Chris Boucher was upgraded from out to questionable to available, only to draw a DNP-CD. Boucher, a top-40 per-game fantasy producer on the year, may have been the biggest question mark on Thursday’s slate for the fantasy-minded. Joining him as a healthy and unannounced scratch was Gary Trent Jr. The list of 10 players the Raptors had available on paper was effectively eight.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 