The Toronto Raptors will receive a boost to their lineup on Thursday.
Star forward Scottie Barnes was cleared from the injury report, the team announced less than two hours before tipoff against the Brooklyn Nets.
It clears the way for the 23-year-old to return to the court sooner than many expected after spraining his ankle against the New York Knicks on Dec. 9.
As it turned out, the fall when he hurt his ankle looked far worse than it ended up being.
“After those first two days, everything began to just calm down a little bit, started to feel a lot better,” Barnes told media after practice. “I started to be able to walk on it more. So just day by day, it just started to feel better.
“It took a little bit of time, but I’m so happy that it wasn’t as serious as I thought it was.”
However, Barnes is still returning to a short-handed Raptors squad. Earlier Thursday, RJ Barrett was ruled out with illness, while Davion Mitchell was later deemed unable to play with a shoulder injury.
They join Immanuel Quickley (elbow) and Bruce Brown (reconditioning) on the shelf, in addition to centre Jakob Poeltl who will also miss his first game after suffering a groin strain.
Barnes is averaging 20.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists over 14 games this season. Those numbers are better than last season when he had 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game to earn his first-ever NBA All-Star Game appearance.
He’s also a defensive force, with 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game this season.
–with files from The Canadian Press
