Alex Len started the second half in place of Aron Baynes on Monday, but he went scoreless with two rebounds and an assist in nine minutes.
Nick Nurse started Len over Baynes to open the third quarter, as Baynes was struggling to score (zero points on 0-of-5 FGs) in 14 first-half minutes. Neither of the two made a shot in the game, and it was actually Chris Boucher who had a decent night with nine points, six rebounds, one assist, two steals and two blocks in 21 minutes. He's the only Raptors big man worth a roster spot right now, but only in standard and deeper leagues.
Avery Bradley played through an illness on Monday and hit 3-of-4 shots and a couple 3-pointers on his way to eight points, one rebound, one assist and one steal in 17 minutes.
He's worth a look if you're in a deeper league, but managers in 12-team leagues can probably leave him on the waiver wire.
Darius Miller (Achilles) played in his first game since 2019 on Monday, playing seven minutes and finishing with three points.
He hit a 3-pointer and while he's not going to do much for the Thunder this season, it was nice to see him make back from such a serious injury.
RJ Barrett shot 10-of-19 from the field and 5-of-7 from the foul line in Monday’s win over the Hawks, finishing with 26 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and one 3-pointer in 44 minutes.
Based upon the way in which Tom Thibodeau distributed the minutes Monday night, it’s obvious that he trusts both Barrett and Julius Randle (44 minutes). Barrett is ranked well outside of the top-100 in both 8- and 9-cat formats, due in large part to his field goal percentage (37.5% entering Monday’s action). But his status within the Knicks rotation makes him a must-have regardless of format. In addition to making just over half of his field goal attempts in Monday's win, Barrett managed to not commit a turnover (one in the last two games).
Daniel Theis played a season-low 14 minutes on Monday and was replaced by Semi Ojeleye in the second half.
Theis had just two points and three rebounds in the first half before being replaced by Ojeleye in the starting lineup to start the third period. Brad Stevens went to a small-ball lineup, but this shouldn't come as a surprise, as Stevens has already said that he's not committed to a Theis-Tristan Thompson lineup. Besides, both of the veteran bigs were outplayed by youngster Robert Williams III who had a monster game off the bench. Theis has no fantasy value at this point in the season.
Elfrid Payton accounted for 14 points (6-of-18 FGs, 2-of-2 FTs), three rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 29 minutes Monday vs. Atlanta.
Payton, who led the Knicks in field goal attempts for most of Monday’s game, sat for much of the fourth quarter as Tom Thibodeau handed the keys to rookie Immanuel Quickley. Rostered in 53% of Yahoo leagues due in large part to his starting role, Payton hasn’t offered much in the way of fantasy value as he ranks well outside of the top-200 in 9-cat formats. It’s still early, but with Quickley and Austin Rivers (8/2/1/1 with two 3-pointers in 33 minutes) playing well, Payton could be at risk to lose some rotation minutes.
Mitchell Robinson played 28 minutes in Monday’s win over the Hawks, tallying eight points (4-of-7 FGs), seven rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots.
Robinson managed to stay out of foul trouble, which was good news for the Knicks given the team’s lack of depth in the post. Nerlens Noel was a late scratch due to a sprained ankle, and as a result Robinson was backed up by Julius Randle. The third-year center has been a top-100 player in both 8- and 9-cat formats through the first two-plus weeks of the season, and he’s averaging nearly 28 minutes per night.
Immanuel Quickley shot 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line in Monday’s win over the Hawks, tallying 16 points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block and two 3-pointers in 19 minutes.
Quickley had himself another good night, playing so well that Tom Thibodeau kept starting point guard Elfrid Payton on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. Currently rostered in just 4% of Yahoo leagues, the rookie guard has been a top-150 player in 8-cat formats. That isn’t great, but Quickley (15 points in the game’s final 16 minutes) has established himself as the Knicks’ best option to back up Payton. And on Monday, he showed that he’s capable of handling crunch-time minutes as well. He’s worth taking a flier on in deeper leagues right now.
John Collins played 33 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Knicks, posting a line of 18 points (8-of-15 FGs), eight rebounds, one assist, two steals and two 3-pointers.
After scoring a total of 50 points in two games against the Nets, Collins scored 28 points in losses to the Cavaliers and Knicks. The concern here, for Collins individually and the Hawks as a whole, is that they blew double-digit leads in the fourth quarter of both games. "Really, it just comes down to us locking in. For some reason, fourth quarters have eluded us…,” Collins said Monday night. “We’ve just got to do a better job of locking in mentally and can't let small mistakes beat us at the end of the game.” Fantasy-wise Collins is a top-50 player, but he has just one blocked shot in the last three games. Getting back on track in that area would boost his value.
Khem Birch hit 5-of-7 shots and 2-of-2 free throws for 12 points, 12 rebounds, one assist, a steal and a block in 23 minutes off the bench on Monday. This was easily his best game of the season and the lopsided score, as well as the absence of Evan Fournier contributed to his success. Birch isn't worth rostering in most fantasy leagues, but can at least be put on the radar after tonight's success.
Payton Pritchard had a career-high 23 points and eight assists off the bench in the Celtics win on Monday.
Pritchard had his best game of the season, so far, shooting 8-of-13 from the floor, 2-of-4 from deep and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line in 32 minutes. And while Tremont Waters got the start for Marcus Smart, Pritchard took advantage of both Smart and fellow reserve Jeff Teague being sidelined with injuries. A true breakout game for the Oregon rookie who could see a bump in the rotation after this big-time performance. He's worth a roster spot in deeper leagues.
P.J. Washington played through his sore thumb and had a nice line with 12 points, eight boards, five assists and two 3-pointers on 4-of-10 shooting in 27 minutes of a loss to the Sixers on Monday.
He was limited in the second half on Saturday but looked fine tonight. He's yet to have a true breakout game but you have to think one is coming sooner than later.
Dwight Howard had nine points, a season-high 13 rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes during Monday's win vs. the Hornets.
Philly took control of this game in the second quarter and had seven players score double-digit points, so extra playing time filtered down to the second unit. The fact that Howard's 18 minutes were a season high says plenty about his lack of fantasy appeal while Joel Embiid is healthy.
Tremont Waters struggled in his first start of the season, managing just five points and five assists in 24 minutes on Monday.
Waters got the start in place of Marcus Smart, but even with Smart and Jeff Teague out, Waters didn't do much. He went 1-of-8 from the floor, 1-of-4 from three and had four turnovers. He was also outplayed by rookie Payton Pritchard who had a career night off the bench and could move past Waters in the rotation moving forward.
Danny Green played through a hand injury on Monday, shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 3-of-8 from deep for 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 23 minutes.
That's two straight games with 13 points for Green, who is settling in nicely as a 3-and-D starter for the Sixers. Joel Embiid even said he's passing more out of double-teams this season because he "has [faith] in his teammates that they’re actually going to make shots ... compared to last year." Even so, Green hadn't scored double-digit points in five December games and doesn't see enough minutes or shots to benefit fantasy managers most nights. At least the hand injury wasn't serious.
Joel Embiid scored a season-low 14 points in 25 minutes on Monday, but he added 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
The defensive stats make this line in most formats, and Embiid also limited himself to one turnover as an added bonus in 9-cat. Embiid could have done more but the Sixers were up big late and Dwight Howard was playing well, so Philly took the opportunity to give Embiid (and most of their starters) extra rest. That may reduce the odds that he gets a DNP during a back-to-back set this Wednesday and Thursday, but DFS managers should double-check his status just in case.
Al Horford hit just 1-of-6 shots for two points, five rebounds and almost nothing else on Monday.
He missed all four of his 3-pointers in his worst game of the season and had nothing for Bam Adebayo tonight. He had a similar line in the opener and then played pretty well in three straight. Look for him to bounce back on Wednesday against the Pelicans, when Steven Adams will likely be looking to post some big numbers in a revenge game against his former team.
Damyean Dotson started at small forward for the Cavaliers on Monday and came through with 16 points, one rebound, two assists, a steal, three 3-pointers and just one turnover in 29 minutes of a blowout loss to the Magic.
Dotson got the spot start for Darius Garland (shoulder) and played pretty well, notching his first double-digit scoring line of the season and basically setting season highs across the board. He'll likely disappear once Garland is back but may have earned a few more minutes in the rotation with tonight's start.
Cedi Osman came off the bench to hit 6-of-14 shots and four 3-pointers for 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block in 38 minutes of Monday's ugly loss to the Magic.
We're not sure where this version of Osman has been but we like it. Maybe he was motivated by Damyean Dotson getting the start over Osman with Darius Garland out tonight, or maybe he was just due to break out of his funk. Whatever the case may be, Osman had hit 7-of-32 shots over his previous three games and was being dumped in fantasy leagues for waiver-wire fodder. Maybe he's ready to start playing like this on a regular basis but we've seen this movie before. Osman is as inconsistent as they come, but as long as he's getting big minutes for the Cavs, he's worth holding onto in deeper leagues. And while this was his best game of the season, none of his stellar numbers marked a career high for Osman.
Aaron Gordon caught fire on Monday and hit 9-of-17 shots and 6-of-9 3-pointers for 24 points, 11 rebounds and a. steal in 28 minutes of an easy win over the Cavaliers.
Those are season highs in points, rebounds and 3-pointers and the six triples matches his career high. After seeing minutes in the low 20s in three straight games due to load management while recovering from a hamstring injury, Gordon has played 28 minutes in two straight and his numbers have exploded as a result. He's averaging 19.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.5 3-pointers over his last two. Hopefully the weird minutes will be a thing of the past going forward.