NBA Player News

Poeltl will start after coming off the bench in Thursday’s game against Miami when he was initially believed to be a late scratch. Bruno Fernando heads to the bench and is not worth rostering in fantasy leagues. Also of note is Barrett remaining in the role of primary playmaker while Mogbo makes another start for the injured Scottie Barnes.

For the first time this season, Vassell was part of the starting unit. He played a season-high 38 minutes, and his 33 minutes in regulation would have still been a season-high. Vassell is a beast in fantasy basketball, but he hasn’t played a large enough role this season to make the impact that he’s capable of making. As long as he remains in the starting lineup, Vassell will be a borderline top-50 option in 9-cat leagues. Julian Champagnie was still able to log 26 minutes despite the move to the bench and finished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two 3-pointers.

An extended absence put a damper on Sochan’s season, but he has been fantastic, especially since returning. He has had at least three stocks in four straight games and continues to provide points, rebounds and assists. The free throw perecentage continues to be iffy, and he isn’t much of a threat from deep, but he has been productive in every other category. Sochan is somehow available in 40% of Yahoo leagues, but he will continue to be a top-100 player for the rest of the season.

Dinwiddie was productive in his spot start but was far from efficient from the field. The Mavericks guard has been getting more opportunities to contribute off the bench as of late, but his streakiness makes it hard to count on his fantasy value on a week-to-week basis.

Wemby did a little bit of everything to help the Spurs beat the Hawks in overtime. He took over late and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter before adding eight more in overtime. The defensive numbers are expected, but this was his second-highest mark of the season in both points and 3-pointers. Wemby will continue to be one of the best players in fantasy basketball, and this stat line shows just how unique his skillset is. The rebounds were a bit lower than normal, but he’ll look to get back on track with Portland coming to town on Saturday.

Thompson attempted to lift Dallas without Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving but fell short despite his strong scoring performance. His scoring average is the lowest it’s been since his rookie season and his efficiency has been down as well since relocating from Golden State.

Green did most of his work in the third quarter of this game. He scored 22 points in the period, which was the highest-scoring quarter of his career. With how well Amen Thompson has played, there have been plenty of questions about how long Green will maintain the starting shooting guard job. Consistency has always been the issue for Green, since he is capable of performances like this, but he had 12 points on sub 40% shooting in each of their last two games. Managers should enjoy this stat line, but don’t expect this to continue to be the norm.

Morant fell hard on his back after attempting a shot during the third quarter of Thursday’s game. While the Grizzlies announced that he was officially questionable to return, Morant had no reason to play with the game already well in hand. The Grizzlies visit Atlanta on Saturday; Scotty Pippen Jr. will be the next man up if Morant cannot play.

Powell has scored 29 points in two straight contests and is averaging 24.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists through five games in December while shooting 52.5% from the field and 47.9% from deep. The Clippers wing has blossomed with Paul George out of the picture and Kawhi Leonard on the mend.

Phoenix continues to have terrible injury luck. They haven’t had many games with their three stars all healthy, and we’ll see if Booker can play against the Pistons on Saturday. Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale should fill the void down the stretch.

Shooting efficiency has been an issue for Sengun this season, but that wasn’t the case in this game. Sengun made over 70% of his shots for just the second time this season and was still able to approach triple-double territory. His scoring has been down, which is directly correlated to a 5.6% drop in his field goal percentage. As that continues to correct, Sengun will approach top-25 status in 9-cat leagues. He has had one of the best seasons of his career, but there is still plenty of room for him to get even better.