NBA Player News

Kennard started Saturday’s game for Ja Morant, who did not play due to a shoulder injury. While the final stat line certainly wasn’t elite, Luke was far from a liability for deep-league managers. His value for Week 20, which begins Monday in Sacramento, depends on Morant’s availability. Kennard won’t need to be rostered if Ja is available.

Hachimura has missed the last 12 games with a knee injury, but is now likely to return Saturday against the Bulls given he’s been upgraded to probable status. Vincent continues to manage a knee injury, but is also now likely to suit up Saturday.

Middleton continues to manage an ankle injury after undergoing bilateral ankle surgery over the offseason. Justin Champagnie figures to be the primary beneficiary of the 33-year-old small forward’s absence.

While there’s no official timeline for Davis to return, it’s notable that Stein is merely reporting the 32-year-old power forward “could” return during next week’s road trip. There’s little incentive for Davis to return this season with the Mavericks’ chances of making the Play-In fading and no chance of making it out of the western conference playoffs this year. Fantasy managers should still consider Davis returning this season as a bonus and he’s not a recommended option for weekly lineups in Week 21.

Williams was initially listed as questionable, but will ultimately miss Saturday’s game against the Pacers with a hamstring injury. Cameron Johnson will take his spot in the starting lineup as he returns from a one-game absence due to rest, but Tyrese Martin and Trendon Watford figure to see increased minutes off the bench as well.

The last five games for Leonard should scare the rest of the NBA. During that stretch, he has averaged 26.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.8 three-pointers while shooting 60.2 percent from the floor. That has allowed him to provide top ten value in nine-cat leagues during that stretch. The Clippers have three more back-to-backs this season, though two of them are in April and one is during the final week of the regular season. There is no reason for him to play back-to-backs this close to the playoffs, but when he is on the floor, he will continue to shine.

Harden seems to have turned back the clock over the past few weeks, and he is producing like the player that won an MVP Award. He has had a strong year overall, but he has cleaned up the inefficiency recently, which has taken his game to another level. He has averaged 4.4 turnovers per game this season but has only turned it over five times over his last three games. On top of that, he has shot at least 50 percent from the floor in three of his last four games. This may not stick, but it has been a big reason for the Clippers winning eight of their last nine games.

Head coach Taylor Jenkins hasn’t always turned to Pippen to start when Ja Morant is out of the lineup, but he did on Friday. Though it didn’t result in a win for the Grizzlies, it was a strong performance for Pippen. He was able to contribute value across the board while maintaining efficiency as the starting point guard. He had been playing well as a reserve entering this game, so perhaps the starting nod was Jenkins’ way of rewarding him. He’s provided third-round value over the past two weeks, mostly because he has averaged 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals during that stretch.

Entering this game, Bane had averaged 29.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 4.3 three-pointers over his last three games, which includes a 44-point performance on Monday to start this week. Everything fell flat on Friday for him, and Memphis dropped a third-straight game. Bane has had plenty of success without Ja Morant in the lineup, but that simply wasn’t the case on Friday. This was the Grizzlies’ final game of the week, and they’ll return to the court in Utah on Tuesday.

The points were nice, but the rest of this outing was disappointing for Jackson Jr. and his team. He started at center against Ivica Zubac, but he was only able to grab two rebounds in 35 minutes. Jackson Jr. is known for being a weak rebounder, but he wasn’t able to offset the lack of production in that category with dominance in others; he only blocked one shot and had an inefficient shooting night. Unfortunately, this was the last game of the week for Memphis, and they only have three games next week.

Zubac added another double-double to his season total in another big win for the red-hot Clippers. They have won five in a row and eight of their last nine, and Zubac’s dominance has been a big reason for that. He has had the best season of his career, which includes career-highs for points, rebounds, assists and minutes per game. Tyronn Lue has finally handed the keys to the center position to Zubac instead of making him split minutes with another big, and it has resulted in success for both fantasy managers and the Clippers.