Happy Thanksgiving! Before you indulge in the food and football, we need to talk about Wednesday night in the NBA, which featured 14 games. Trae Young (43 points) outdueled Mikal Bridges (45 points) as the Hawks beat the Nets in overtime. Miles Bridges hit a late triple to help Charlotte complete the comeback against Washington. Toronto, Orlando, Boston and Dallas all held on for close wins. And last but certainly not least, the greatest rivalry in sports continued. Fans had to pay extra to get a ticket to the Suns-Warriors game with Scott Foster and Chris Paul facing off. With Foster going off for five technical fouls, 81 free throws and an ejection of his archrival, he clearly won this round.
There are no games on Thanksgiving, so any streaming options won’t need to be added to your lineup until Friday. However, that also means we don’t have any injury reports to look at, which limits our options. Also, be sure to check out Zak Hanshew’s column dissecting the NBA players that we should be thankful for this holiday season!
Jaime Jaquez- 22% rostered in Yahoo leagues
Jaquez set some career-highs during Wednesday’s blowout win with 22 points, eight rebounds and four 3-pointers. Unfortunately, he also set a career-high with six turnovers. On the bright side, a few games ago, it felt like he was able to do a bit of everything, but the 3-point shot wasn’t really there. However, he has seven triples over his last two games. He’s going to be a consistent part of Miami’s rotation for the rest of the year, and even if his game isn’t ideal for 9-cat leagues, he’ll see too many minutes for him to be left on the waiver wire.
Richaun Holmes- 2%
Dereck Lively exited Wednesday’s game early after taking a hard fall on an alleyoop attempt. Holmes ended up seeing most of the center minutes after that, with Dwight Powell only playing five. If Lively remains sidelined for Saturday’s game against the Clippers, Holmes should get the starting nod. He hauled in 10 rebounds in 23 minutes against the Lakers.
Craig Porter Jr.- 19%
As if the hype meter wasn’t already high enough, Porter Jr. moved into the starting lineup for the Cavs on Wednesday. He was the only bright spot in the blowout loss. He posted a 16/2/5/1/2 line and hit the first two 3-pointers of his career. Keep an eye out to see if Donovan Mitchell is back on Saturday against the Lakers. If he isn’t Porter Jr. should be in line for another start. If he is, CPJ will still play a role off the bench. He has played too well to drop out of the rotation completely.
John Konchar- 1%
Desmond Bane exited early with an ankle injury and should be considered questionable for Friday. Konchar didn’t score in his 29 minutes in this game, but he did contribute 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks. If Bane remains sidelined for their next game, Konchar should slide back into the starting unit.
Coby White- 49%
White had some hype coming into the season, and after a slow start to the year, he has been better as of late. He has scored at least 20 points in two straight games, and if Zach LaVine is traded, his role will only expand. He’s not on many waiver wires, but if he’s on yours, he’s worth picking back up for the scoring boost.
Daniel Theis- 6%
Theis is now the Clippers backup center with Mason Plumlee out. He played 20 minutes on Wednesday and posted an 8/11/4 line. He’s more of a deep league option, since that level of production won’t come often, but he is the only other option for the Clippers at center behind Ivica Zubac. The minutes should be reliable.
