Greg Whittington won't play on Tuesday against the Timberwolves because of a left knee sprain.
We'll update when Whittington's injury makes meaningful progress, but he's unlikely to join the Nuggets rotation, even when healthy.
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins is considering starting rookie Desmond Bane.
Bane, the No. 30 pick in the 2020 draft, is averaging 9.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.7 steals in 23 minutes per game, filling in nicely off the bench with 2.3 3-point makes. He's having a very nice opening year in the league, and for fantasy purposes, 14 made 3-pointers in six games is solid production. He's worth a look in deep leagues as is, and a starting role could hike his numbers even more.
Alen Smailagic will be re-evaluated in four weeks after having surgery for a minor right meniscal tear on Monday.
The Warriors took a big hit to their frontcourt when Marquese Chriss went down for the season with a fractured fibula, and fortunately for them, Smailagic won't be out for too long. Still, he shouldn't be rostered in fantasy leagues at this point.
James Ennis won't play on Monday against the Cavaliers with strained hamstring/sore calf that's kept him out of every game this season so far.
Ennis continues to make progress on his injuries, but he isn't ready to play just yet. When he returns, he'll be worth a look in deeper leagues. Managers who've rostered Dwayne Bacon should expect his numbers to then take a hit. Ennis was upgraded to questionable on Monday, so he's likely returning sometime soon.
Spencer Dinwiddie underwent surgery to reconstruct the partially torn ACL in his right knee and he's expected to miss the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
It's important to note that Dinwiddie's ACL was reconstructed, and not repaired, which typically involves a 12-month timetable. There's no way that Dinwiddie will be back this season, so he's safe to send to the waiver wire in all re-draft settings. With him done for the year, the Nets are expected to apply for the disabled player exception, although in order to do that Brooklyn would need to waive one of their guys on a guaranteed deal.
Pat Connaughton (left groin) will not play on Monday vs. Detroit.
This was the expectation after he was listed as doubtful on Sunday's injury report. Connaughton usually sees minutes in the teens, so his absence could raise the floor of Donte DiVincenzo.
The Grizzlies will use their hardship exception to sign free agent guard Tim Frazier.
Frazier will just provide some emergency depth behind Tyus Jones and De'Anthony Melton until Ja Morant (ankle) gets back.
Luka Doncic's (bruised left quad) status for Monday vs. Houston is yet to be determined.
Luka sat out on Sunday vs. the Bulls and there's some hope that he was simply held out as a precaution on the front end of a back-to-back. We'll know for sure when the injury report is released this afternoon but there's been no indication that this is anything more than a day-to-day issue.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff had strong praise for Collin Sexton, calling the guard a "walking bucket."
There are certain people who have a knack for putting the ball in the basket all sorts of ways. The kid is not afraid of the biggest moments," Bickerstaff said. "When we needed a basket, he went and manufactured a basket, and that’s a unique skill.” Sexton has been living in the paint, hitting 56.9% of his shots. He's also shooting a red hot 55% from beyond the arc and averaging 26.0 points per game, proving that his strong play late in 2019-20 was just the beginning.
Dejounte Murray hit just 1-of-13 FGs and 2-of-4 free throws for four points, fives assists, three rebounds and two steals with no turnovers in a blowout loss to the Jazz.
Murray's cooled down mightily since a scorching 12-of-19 shooting night before the New Year, but he's contributing elsewhere. A pair of steals and five assists without a turnover is a nice showing for fantasy purposes. With Derrick White (toe) returning, Murray is unlikely to see many 29-point nights again, but he's still a top-75 fantasy player in 9-cat leagues.
Rudy Gay hit 4-of-10 FGs and 2-of-5 3-pointers for 10 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block with one turnover in loss to the Jazz on Sunday.
Gay put together a nice game for fantasy purposes, contributing defensively and from range. The 34-year-old can still play, averaging more than 25 minutes per game, and ranks just outside of the top-100 of all players in 9-cat leagues.
Josh Richardson contributed 16 points (5-of-14 FG, 3-of-4 FT), three triples, four rebounds, two assists, one block and three turnovers in 36 minutes on Sunday.
Richardson did not record a single steal or block in his previous game, and while he did manage to pick up a block today, he still finished with zero steals. Through the first six games of the season, Richardson’s numbers are nearly identical to what they were with the 76ers last year, with marginally better shooting percentages but far fewer swats. It’s looking more and more like his top-30 campaign from 2017 was more of an anomaly than a trend.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting (3-of-5 FT) Sunday, to go with two 3-pointers, four rebounds, four assists and three turnovers in 33 minutes.
THJ has seen a bit of a usage bump (22.1) through the first six games of his 2020-21 campaign with Kristaps Porzingis (knee) on the sidelines, and he’ll be the clear cut No. 2 option on offense until KP gets back. He came into tonight's game averaging 1.2 steals per contest, but he failed to record a single swipe, which may be the norm moving forward considering his career average is just 0.6. Still, he'll be a reliable source of points and triples with a steady stream of dimes.
Nicolas Batum hit 5-of-9 FGs and 4-of-7 3-pointers for 14 points, three assists, one rebound and one steal with no turnovers in a win against the Suns on Sunday.
Batum's found a nice spot for himself in the Clippers rotation after a couple of lost seasons in Charlotte. One season after not placing in the top-200 in 9-cat leagues, Batum's ranked No. 93. He'll have hit or miss box score games, but he's always a deep-ball threat who won't turn the ball over in heavy minutes.
Maxi Kleber (ankle) went 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the stripe for 16 points in 29 minutes off the bench in Sunday's loss to the Bulls.
Kleber added three triples, five rebounds and one assist while he was out there, but he failed to record a single block. He's popped up on quite a few injury reports through the first six games of the year, but he's yet to actually skip a matchup. Dwight Powell finished with four points (1-of-4 FG, 2-of-2 FT), four rebounds, four assists, one steal, one block and one turnover through 20 minutes as a starter, but Kleber was the closer for today's game. Both these guys are too inconsistent to bother with in standard settings.
Coby White scored 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting (5-of-5 FT) Sunday, to go with four triples, seven rebounds, four assists and four turnovers across 33 minutes in a win over the Mavs.
White got off to a slow start, picking up two fouls in the first three minutes of play, which resulted in him taking an early seat on the bench. However, he completely flipped the script after halftime, scoring 21 points in the second half, which included some clutch buckets in crunch time. He had converted on just 31% of his shots in the previous two games, but he went 7-fo-13 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the stripe in this one.
Patrick Williams brought the defensive stats in Sunday's win over the Mavs with three steals and two blocks through 28 minutes as a starter.
The defensive production was solid, but he didn't do much else while he was out there with six points (3-of-9 FG), five rebounds and an assist. Chicago’s No. 4 pick has shown us some flashes this season, but he’s struggled to string everything together consistently. He may eventually get hot, but he’s been too inconsistent in the early goings this year to justify a roster spot in standard 12-team leagues.
Otto Porter scored 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting in Sunday's win over the Mavs, adding two triples, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two turnovers in 29 minutes.
Porter was held to just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting his last time out, but he got things back on track tonight and was even a perfect 5-of-5 at the line. He's going to see more opportunity while Lauri Markkanen (COVID-protocol) is out, so savvy fantasy GMs may want to use this hot streak to test his value in your leagues.
Thaddeus Young didn't bring much to the box score in 28 minutes off the bench on Sunday, tallying seven points, four rebounds, one triple, one assist, one steal and three turnovers in a win over the Mavs.
After posting 15 points with a solid stat line in his regular-season debut, Young has been held to single-digits in the scoring department over his past two games while committing more turnovers (seven) than assists (three). He does appear to be in Billy Donovan's good graces, as he closed today's game over Wendell Carter Jr., but he's not bringing enough to the stat sheet to warrant a roster spot in standard leagues.
Kawhi Leonard hit just 4-of-21 FGs and 7-of-10 free throws for 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block with two turnovers in a win over the Suns on Sunday.
Leonard really struggled in the 112-107 win over Phoenix, opening the door for the Suns to come roaring back despite a 31-point lead in the second quarter. A 19% shooting night from Leonard is an eye-opening irregularity for one of the game's best scorers. There's no reason to believe this slump will continue.