Devin

Ebanks

Ebanks will function as depth at the end of the Lakers bench. After beginning the season as the starter at small forward, Ebanks has become an afterthought in the rotation.

With Metta World Peace serving his ironic suspension for throwing an unhinged elbow, the Lakers will need solid production from Barnes and Devin Ebanks.

Ebanks came out blazing with 12 first-half points, but he’s not a major part of the game plan in this series. The Nuggets love to play Ty Lawson with Andre Miller, so the Lakers can match up with Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake. That leaves Kobe Bryant at the small forward spot and Ebanks without a real role. He played just 18 minutes despite the start Sunday.

Barnes’ contract is up at the end of the season and there has been some chatter about World Peace being an amnesty clause casualty, so nothing is written in stone. But if they’re both back, Bauman said that Ebanks will look elsewhere for a chance to “break into a rotation.” After starting the first four games of the season for the Lakers, Ebanks hasn’t gotten into a game since February 29.

Ebanks is worth deep league consideration and that’s about it. Sessions’ inclusion is the most interesting, as it indicates that his shoulder injury may be on the mend. He’ll be a decent fantasy start that carries a bunch of risk. Blake could log big minutes and put up low-end numbers, while Hill is the better of the two big man plays and deserves standard league consideration. McBob is a versatile producer when given the minutes, but he’ll be a flier play for deeper formats.

MWP has been great in two March games, averaging 16.0 points per game, and Mike Brown is rewarding him with extra playing time (37 on Sunday, 32 on Friday). Both Devin Ebanks and Jason Kapono were DNP-CDs, and World Peace might be worth picking up if his minutes stay north of 30 per game.

The Lakers didn’t practice Monday, but Barnes came in for treatment. Consider him very questionable for Thursday’s regular season finale in Sacramento. With Metta World Peace facing a suspension, Devin Ebanks is going to get a ton of burn.

Brown said that Ebanks will be the starter regardless of Matt Barnes’ health in order to develop “continuity” with the starting unit. Ebanks played crucial minutes in Los Angeles’ double-OT win over the Thunder on Sunday, and now he’ll slide back into the role he started in to begin the year.

That means he’ll not only miss the Lakers’ season finale on Thursday, but the first six games of their opening series in the playoffs. Luckily, Harden’s injury doesn’t sound as serious as it might have been and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll play before MWP does. Matt Barnes and Devin Ebanks are going to get all the minutes they can handle in the opening round.

Barnes will stay behind in Los Angeles to rehab. He has previously hinted that he’ll be ready for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Devin Ebanks figures to see a ton of burn on Thursday with Barnes and Metta World Peace (likely suspension) out.