Kawhi Leonard is out tonight versus the Bulls. The trend of not playing him on both ends of a back-to-back continues, and considering he’s coming off a 43-minute effort last night in Boston makes this quite predictable. OG Anunoby is a game-time decision, having left last night’s game after a wrist injury.
Given that it’s the 4-12 Bulls the Raptors are facing, that it’s a back-to-back, and that Kyle Lowry is also coming off a season-high 43 minute outing, it would make sense to rest Lowry as well. He’s been struggling on the defensive end having been burned by three point guards in a span of a week. If the regular season is about minutes management at the expense of Ws, tonight serves as an ideal rest situation. Overall, though, Lowry is 21st in the league in minutes played, and seventh among point guards at 34.3. So far, he’s averaging 2 minutes more than last year’s 32.2.
Back to Leonard, this will be the fifth game he will miss, having sat in Washington, Milwaukee, Lakers, Utah, and now Chicago. All the games missed have been on the road.
Update:
Fred Van Vleet will also start the game at point guard, moving Danny Green to the three spot. Van Vleet is a native of Rockford, Illinois, which is about an hour and a half drive from the United Center, so this is a bit of a homecoming for him, in the stretchiest of ways.
Here are the starting lineups:
