NBA Player News

Cleveland gave its most important players the night off (and Jarrett Allen is injured), which opened the door for Wade and Damian Jones to start at power forward and center. Wade had a good night shooting the basketball, knocking down three of his four attempts from beyond the arc while leading the team with eight rebounds. Even with the signing of Georges Niang (six points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, and two 3-pointers in 19 minutes) this summer, Wade appears to be a lock for rotation minutes. Jones may not be so lucky, but he did chip in with 11 points, four rebounds, and three blocked shots in 21 minutes on Monday. Jones was perfect shooting the basketball, going 2-of-2 from the field and 7-of-7 from the foul line. While there may be minutes available to Jones if Allen isn’t ready for the start of the regular season, it would likely be as Evan Mobley’s backup, which isn’t great for potential streaming value.

Jaquez Jr. twisted his ankle at the end of the third quarter and was helped to the locker room. He was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game, which isn’t a great sign. Jaquez Jr. had only two points in 15 minutes, but theoretically he has more fantasy value while Jimmy Butler has been out for Miami.

Sheppard played 26 minutes as a fill-in starter with Andrew Nemhard still out for the Pacers. This injury isn’t a big deal for fantasy basketball, but will stretch the Pacers’ depth if it lingers as the team has four games in the next six days.

A game-time call for Sunday’s game, McBride will miss a second straight due to his knee issue. Cameron Payne will pick up a few more minutes off the bench, but that’s unlikely enough to impact fantasy basketball. The same can be said for Tyler Kolek, who entered the rotation on Friday.

Towns is back after a one-game absence, which drops Jericho Sims to the bench. And given how rookie Ariel Hukporti outplayed Sims in Friday’s win over the Nets, he may be out of the rotation entirely. Neither Hukporti nor Sims is worth the risk in fantasy with Towns available.

Ighodaro has played 21 minutes or more in three of his last four appearances, including 27 and 26 over the previous two. Jusuf Nurkic’s landing in early foul trouble impacted the rookie’s minutes on Sunday, so fantasy managers should not consider Ighodaro a factor. But there may be moments throughout the season when he’s worth the risk as a deep-league streamer.

The Suns went with a bigger lineup on Sunday, starting Plumlee alongside Jusuf Nurkic. Unfortunately, Nurk got into early foul trouble, so they didn’t get to see that tandem on the floor together for too long. Nurkic played 14 minutes, finishing with five points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one 3-pointer. Plumlee’s best path to credible fantasy value would be to stick as a starter, albeit as the lone big. A two-game Week 5 in which the Suns will be done on Wednesday is not a good time to roster him, but keep an eye on Plumlee’s minutes.

Allen has seemingly rebounded from a two-game stretch last weekend in which he scored nine points on 3-of-17 shooting. In his last two outings, he’s scored 33 on 11-of-20 shooting from the field (8-of-16 3-pointers). Allen’s improved production comes at a good time, as the Suns are without Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant. He’ll have some fantasy value to begin Week 5, but the Suns will finish their two-game week on Wednesday.

Booker put on a show during the first half of Sunday’s game, scoring 27 points. But he and the Suns could not hold off the Timberwolves, who won on a Julius Randle 3-pointer as time expired. In scoring a season-high 44 points, Booker hit the 40-point mark for the second time this season. Phoenix plays two games in Week 5, home games against the Magic (Monday) and Knicks (Wednesday).

While Gobert did not produce an elite stat line on Sunday, he outplayed Jusuf Nurkic and Mason Plumlee on Sunday. The “Stifle Tower” recorded a double-double and four blocked shots, and he heads into a two-game Week 5 ranked just inside the top 75 in per-game value.

Edwards took a back seat to Julius Randle on Sunday, with the offseason addition scoring 35 points and hitting the game-winning 3-pointer. That likely boosted Edwards’ efficiency, but the 14 shots are the second-fewest in a game for Edwards this season. Don’t get used to this, as Edwards is more likely to lead the Timberwolves in shots than not on most nights.