NBA Player News

Houstan is the lone change to the Magic starting lineup, replacing Wendell Carter Jr. WCJ is available for Friday’s game, so the lineup change likely has more to do with the matchup (Jakob Poeltl is the only big in Toronto’s starting lineup) than anything else. Houstan hasn’t been much of a fantasy asset this season, so fantasy managers can afford to leave him alone.

Herro is a late afternoon addition to the injury report, and he’s in danger of missing his first game of the season. If he’s sidelined, Terry Rozier and Alec Burks could see additional playing time.

Hart will presumably be available Tuesday. He has averaged 12.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists across his last nine, and he’ll look to stay hot in Tuesday’s inter-borough matchup with Brooklyn.

Yikes. The Magic are already missing a slew of key starters and role players, including Gary Harris, who has been downgraded to doubtful. If Anthony is sidelined, Cory Joseph and Trevelin Queen could see increased run off the bench behind Anthony Black and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Isaac’s absence would free up more playing time for Tristan da Silva and Caleb Houstan.

D’Lo has averaged 13.7 points, 8.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 2.7 triples across his last three games. He’ll be asked to handle additional minutes tonight with Ben Simmons (illness) sidelined.

Simmons was deemed probable on Monday before getting downgraded to questionable and ultimately to out on Tuesday afternoon. In his absence, expect Keon Johnson and D’Angelo Russell to step up and fill the void at PG.

This was Chicago’s 11th game in the month of January, and LaVine has now scored at least 30 in seven of them. He has been on a year, and in this game, it was enough to help them snap a five-game losing streak. LaVine has been enjoying a bounce back season, especially in the month of January. With Chicago barely hanging on to the final Play-In spot, LaVine’s name will certainly be tossed around at the trade deadline, especially if he continues to play this well. They have two more games this week, with Golden State up next on the schedule on Thursday.

With Ivica Zubac (eye) missing his first game of the season, Bamba was able to slide into the starting lineup for the first time this year. Unfortunately, Tyronn Lue abandoned the traditional lineup quickly and opted to roll with a small ball lineup for most of the game. Bamba turned in a solid line for only playing 15 minutes, but it’s clear that he shouldn’t be streamed if Zubac misses time moving forward.

Entering this game, Giddey had been going through a rough patch. He went scoreless in Portland on Sunday, and he had gone four straight games with less than 10 points. However, with both Ayo Dosunmu (calf) and Coby White (ankle) sidelined, Giddey was able to get back on track. He had his highest-scoring game since December and fell one assist shy of a triple-double. This was one of his best games of the season and was encouraging after his last few games. He’ll look to keep it going in Golden State on Thursday.

After sitting out the first leg of their back-to-back, Ball was able to slide into the starting lineup for this game with both Ayo Dosunmu (calf) and Coby White (ankle) sidelined. White doesn’t have a timeline for his return to the lineup, so Ball may end up seeing more starts in the future, especially if he will continue to have staggering availability during back-to-backs with Dosunmu. He shot poorly in this game, but he has been a top-100 player over the past two weeks. They don’t have another back-to-back until February 4th, so Ball should be available for their next handful of games.

Harden logged 40 minutes in a win over the Lakers on the first night of this back-to-back, and fatigue clearly set in for both him and the team in this game. They held a lead at halftime, but the tide turned in the third quarter, where the Bulls outscored them 36-16. Harden already has efficiency issues, but playing almost 80 minutes in 24 hours takes a toll on 35-year-olds, especially with both Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out. Norman Powell (27 points) led the team in scoring and helped Harden record another double-double.