NBA Player News

Hawkins entered the Pelicans’ starting lineup on Sunday due to CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson being out of the lineup. Unfortunately for fantasy managers hoping his usage would skyrocket, the second-year guard played 24 minutes and only attempted 10 shots. Antonio Reeves (11/2/3 with three triples) played a solid 22 minutes, likely cutting into Hawkins’ opportunities. Hawkins is worth watching for the rest of the season, especially if the Pelicans decide to sit McCollum and Williamson more often.

Simply put, Poole had no help in Monday’s game. The rest of the starting unit combined to score 29 points in the blowout loss. Poole got off to a quick start and score Washington’s first nine points of the game, but the score got out of hand quickly. The good news is that Poole was able to play 29 minutes after playing less than 25 minutes in four consecutive games. That isn’t something managers should expect to continue, since Washington hasn’t been shy about limiting his minutes to give their young players more minutes.

Vucevic played only 21 minutes in a game the Bulls lost by 28 points. The 34-year-old center was struggling anyway with 11 points on 12 shots including a 1-of-5 performance from behind the three-point line. Vucevic is still a top-50 fantasy player on the season, but his first half was much better than his second half.

Though he surprisingly wasn’t able to knock down a three-pointer, Herro was still able to continue his hot streak in Monday’s big win. Following a 10-game losing streak, Miami has now won five games in a row, with Herro scoring at least 20 points in each of them and at least 25 points in four of the five. He only had 20 points on 10 shots in their blowout win over the Warriors last week. Their winning streak will be tested in Boston on Wednesday, which is the first night of a back-to-back.

The most notable flaw in Jackson Jr.'s game is his lack of rebounding production, but that wasn’t the case on Monday. Though it wasn’t enough to get the win, JJJ set a new career-high for rebounds, eclipsing his previous best mark of 13, which he has done twice over the last two seasons. It was a nice boost in Monday’s game, but it isn’t something that managers should grow accustomed to. Memphis still has three more games this week, including the second night of a back-to-back against the Warriors on Tuesday.

With Jaylen Brown sidelined, Joe Mazzulla opted to start Xavier Tillman instead of Horford or Sam Hauser. However, Tillman only played eight minutes. Horford ended up getting the minutes boost and set a new season-high with 26 points in 37 minutes. He also tied his season-high for three-pointers. This was an excellent performance for the 38-year-old, which is encouraging with the postseason approaching. Boston is going to need Horford to provide depth if they want to repeat as champions, and this type of performance is certainly encouraging.

With Myles Turner sidelined with an illness, Bryant made a return to the starting unit. While he has generally been productive as a starter this season, this was one of his quieter performances. The opportunity was too good for managers to pass up, but it was a disappointing night. If Turner remains out against the Hornets on Wednesday, Bryant should get another start and have a much better matchup than trying to deal with Domantas Sabonis on the glass.