NBA Player News

Cissoko has barely played for most of the season, but he has taken on a larger role over their last two games. He has scored in double figures in both and set career-highs for points, rebounds and assists in this one while also hitting the first 3-pointer of his career. Cissoko should continue to play a large role off the bench during their final two games of the season, which will be a great opportunity for him to log NBA minutes. It’s unlikely that he turns into a standard league option next year, but he has the upside to make an impact in a few years.

Herro got off to an incredibly hot start to this game and entered the break with 22 points and five 3-pointers. That led to his third straight game with at least 30 points, and he has been pouring in the triples as of late. Herro has taken on a larger workload on offense with Jimmy Butler out of the lineup, and that is a trend that will continue until Butler either returns or is traded. Regardless, Herro has been on a tear recently, and they still have two more games this week for him to continue lighting it up from deep.

Powell’s streak of games with 20 points or more ended at four, but that had more to do with the nature of Wednesday’s game than anything he failed to do. Powell shot 70% from the field and only played 22 minutes in the 126-67 win; he clearly would have played more if needed. With Kawhi Leonard likely out for Thursday’s game in Portland, that will be a good opportunity for Powell to do more offensively.

“Point Reaves” has been on a tear recently and now has a double-double in six of their last nine games. His scoring has slowed down over the last few games, but he made more than 50% of his shots in this game after going six straight games without hitting that mark. He has been a top-75 player in 9-cat leagues over the last two weeks, and the bump in assists has been the main reason for that. They still have two more games this week, with Brooklyn coming up next on the schedule on Friday.

Edwards didn’t have a great shooting night, but he was still able to pour in the points by having a lot of success from the free throw line. After scoring 41 points in their previous game, the encore didn’t provide the same excitement, but it was still part of a strong line for Minnesota’s superstar. Their next game is in New York on Friday before they close out the week against the Cavaliers on Saturday. Edwards only had 17 points when they played the Knicks earlier this season, so he’ll be looking to have a more productive night in this game.

With Cameron Johnson (ankle) out again Wednesday, Wilson was due to see more minutes off the bench. With the game completely out of hand early, the 24-year-old small forward ended up on the floor for 34 minutes. He scored 16 points, which led the team, and was -35, though that mark was bested by most of the starters including Tyrese Martin, who was -56 in the 59-point loss.

Jones was Tyronn Lue’s choice to be the fifth starter on Wednesday, with Kris Dunn moving to the bench. “Airplane Mode” made a few plays in transition, but the stat line didn’t encourage confidence in his fantasy value moving forward. However, Jones offered greater value than Dunn, who played 13 minutes and went scoreless with one rebound and one assist. Even with Wednesday’s game being a blowout, neither Jones nor Dunn can be relied on in most fantasy leagues, whether they start or come off the bench.

Harden and the Clippers coasted to the biggest win in franchise history, and he ended an unfortunate streak on Wednesday. Responsible for at least four turnovers in 21 consecutive games, The Beard finished the win with just one and made some history as a scorer. Harden passed Dominique Wilkins to move to 15th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. The overall stat line was excellent, but there isn’t too much to take away from a game that was effectively over by halftime. The Clippers play twice more during Week 12, beginning with the Trail Blazers on Thursday.

Early in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game, the Nets held a 25-24 lead. Then, things got out of hand, with Leonard and the Clippers coasting to the biggest win in franchise history. He played a few minutes during the third quarter as the minutes restriction was pushed out slightly, which is one of the positives for fantasy managers to take from Leonard’s performance. Leonard has been ruled out for Thursday’s game at Portland, an unsurprising development.

Johnson has never really been fantasy-relevant, but with the Nets missing enough players he’s worked his way into the starting lineup and translated that into top-150 value over the last two weeks. The 22-year-old small forward had even scored at least 20 points in two of his last three games. The Nets were probably going to get their doors blown off by the Clippers no matter what Wednesday, but Johnson didn’t help matters with six points on 2-of-9 from the field and an otherwise empty stat line.

Jackson-Davis didn’t do much scoring in this game, but he was able to make a massive impact as a rebounder. Jackson-Davis has been disappointing in fantasy basketball for most of the season, even though he has been a consistent starter as of late. In this game, he provided boards and blocks, but in the prior game, he only had six rebounds and zero blocks in 30 minutes. He has been a difficult player to trust, but he fell one rebound shy of tying his season-high for boards in this game, which was a positive note.