NBA Player News

The defensive stats are interesting, but there’s no real value for Williams playing a limited role off the bench. Hopefully the Wolves can move Michael Beasley and create some extra space for him after the trade deadline.

Sasser, Holland and Isaiah Stewart will all sit out Wednesday’s matchup with the Thunder, while Stewart will miss an additional game after getting slapped with a two-game suspension. Neither Sasser nor Holland has played meaningful minutes consistently this season, but their absences will allow guys like Simone Fontecchio and Lindy Waters III to log a little extra court time.

Stewart will miss Wednesday’s tilt with Oklahoma City and Friday’s matchup with Toronto. His next chance to return will be Saturday against the Grizzlies, and Paul Reed should fill in for him while he’s suspended.

Sengun bounced back after missing three free-throw attempts Sunday against the Suns to make all four of his free throws against the Lakers Monday. The 22-year-old center had an otherwise solid, but unspectacular effort. He only committed two turnovers, which has also been an issue for him. Sengun’s varied skillset allows him to contribute in many categories, but his free-throw shooting and turnovers have dragged his value down a bit on the season.

Dinwiddie has had an excellent stretch as the starting point guard for Dallas. He has started at point guard for their last seven games and has had at least seven assists in six of those. He has also scored in double figures in 10 of their last 11 games. Monday’s performance wasn’t his best as a scorer, but he still ranks inside the top-50 in nine-cat leagues over the past two weeks and will look to keep that going over their final three games of the week, starting against the Hawks on Wednesday.

Thompson played 34 minutes Monday against the Lakers after tweaking his left ankle again during the Rockets’ game against the Suns Sunday. The good news didn’t stop there for the 22-year-old point guard as he was highly effective. Thompson also, as usual, contributed on the defensive end. It appears that everything is fine with his ankle as Thompson continues to live up to the hype that comes with being a top-five draft selection.

Finney-Smith came off the bench Monday against the Rockets, but played 32 minutes in the Lakers’ victory. The 31-year-old small forward was feeling it and made 6-of-11 three-point attempts. Finney-Smith has been regularly playing over 30 minutes of late and should be rostered in deeper formats as long as that continues.

LeBron didn’t have a huge scoring game, though he hit some clutch free throws to put the game away for the Lakers in the final minute. The 40-year-old small forward added two three-pointers. Since returning from a groin injury, James has struggled a bit in shooting 43 percent from the field against 51 percent on the season. But he just adds so much value in other areas that he’s still returning sixth-round value in nine-cat leagues over the last two weeks. LeBron’s legacy is already cemented as one of the greatest players of all-time, but with his production at this stage of his career, he’s become one of the best “old” players in the history of sports.

Doncic’s three-point shot has been off lately as he’s 7-of-28 from behind the three-point line over his last three games. It’s a testament to his typical usage that he’s still managed to score at least 20 points in all three of those games. The 26-year-old point guard was just four rebounds and one assist away from a triple-double against the Rockets Monday. Doncic hasn’t committed more than three turnovers in a game in any of his last five games. He’ll break out of his three-point slump, but the lower turnover numbers are a legitimate positive trend.

AD was expected to be on a 25-28 minutes restriction for this game, and he ended up playing a little more than 28 minutes. Head coach Jason Kidd tried to get every minute out of AD that he could, but it wasn’t enough for Dallas to get a home win over the tanking Nets. In his four games since returning from a six-week absence, Davis has averaged 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and one block while shooting 37.7 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from the free throw line in 28.5 minutes per game.

Gafford was expected to be restricted to 15-20 minutes, and head coach Jason Kidd used him for 19 minutes in his first game since February 9. It wasn’t enough for Dallas to get the win, but Gafford was able to lead them in scoring, which was good to see in his first game in nearly two months. Gafford should see a similar workload against the Hawks on Wednesday and then will likely only play one leg of their back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. He has been able to provide excellent value in limited action throughout his career, so it isn’t surprising that he was able to do that in his first game back.