Maxi Kleber is reportedly "behind" other Mavs players in his recovery from COVID-19, according to Brad Townsend of Dallas Morning News.
Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell and Josh Richardson were all on the Mavs' bench in street clothes during Monday's game, and it sounds like they're closer to a return than Kleber. When he does return, Kleber will give Dallas an instant infusion of defense and rebounding, but he has a narrow path to fantasy value with Kristaps Porzingis, Powell, and even James Johnson in the mix.
After scoring 30 points during Monday's win vs. Dallas, Michael Porter Jr. said he and the Nuggets' second unit have "really developed a chemistry."
MPJ said he "didn't want to mess anything up" by displacing Will Barton as a starter when he returned from a multi-week absence due to health and safety protocols. He's been fantastic despite the bench role, and coach Mike Malone employed standard coach-speak by emphasizing Porter Jr.'s presence late in games. "Everybody gets caught up in who starts,” Malone said. "I don’t really understand it. If you have a chance to close the game, that’s more important than hearing your name before a game in an arena with no fans." No matter where he begins games, MPJ is a star in both reality and fantasy -- and he's only getting better.
Rockets coach Stephen Silas said he'll be "smart" about Danuel House's minutes in his return from an extended absence on Tuesday.
"There was the back injury and then the COVID stuff, so yeah, it's going to take him a little while to get back in the flow," Silas said. "He was good at practice [Monday] though." During his absence from the team due to COVID-19, House worked on conditioning and core-strengthening to address his back injury. He's a low-usage guy but could get enough 3-pointers and steals to make a dent in standard leagues, so we'll keep an eye on his role. The Rockets did not list him on the injury report for Tuesday's game.
After playing 16 minutes off the bench on Monday, James Wiseman said a reserve role is "helpful for [his] development."
The typical starting lineup of Wiseman, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre and Stephen Curry has struggled this season with a net rating of -20.3 in 161 minutes played. As a result, veteran Kevon Looney got the nod at center ahead of the rookie. “That [starting] lineup has not been good, and when you are the young guy that’s just kind of what happens,” Draymond said. Head coach Steve Kerr noted after the game that Wiseman's bench role isn't "a permanent decision," adding, "He's still going to play plenty." The Warriors will find ways to accelerate Wiseman's development, such as surrounding him with capable shooters, and fantasy managers' patience should be rewarded as the season progresses.
Rodney Hood's mysterious absence from Monday's game was due to a thigh contusion, Terry Stotts confirmed after the game.
We have no idea while the injury wasn't revealed sooner but it makes sense after Hood had started the previous two games for the Blazers. Gary Trent Jr. started in his place last night and scored 22 points, while Anfernee Simons had a big game off the bench. The Blazers have a bunch of guys (Hood, Trent Jr., Simons, Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Jones Jr.) that can help fill the void left by C.J. McCollum's foot injury, and they're all likely to step on each other's toes going forward, at least in terms of fantasy. Consider Hood day-to-day for now.
Naz Reid had a decent game on Monday, posting 11 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and two blocks in 24 minutes.
Reid couldn't find his shooting stroke vs the Warriors, missing 11 of his 16 field goal attempts and going 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. He also committed six fouls and two turnovers in what was his worst game in about a week. He'll look to bounce back on Wednesday when the Wolves play the Warriors once again. Just beware that he's likely to take a big hit once Karl-Anthony Towns (COVID) is back in action. We'd rather grab Jarred Vanderbilt off the wire for long-term help.
Jordan McLaughlin played 22 minutes off the bench and hit 7-of-12 shots and a 3-pointer for a season-high 15 points, two rebounds, five assists and a steal in Monday's loss to the Warriors.
D'Angelo Russell is out with quad contusion and may or may not be ready for Wednesday and McLaughlin has been getting some nice run as a backup point guard to Ricky Rubio. He'll likely crawl back under a rock once DAR is back in action, but if he's out again on Wednesday, McLaughlin could be worth a DFS flier again on Wednesday.
Ricky Rubio scored just six points vs the Warriors on Monday but dished out a season-high 11 assists with four rebounds and a steal in the loss.
Rubio was able to get everyone but himself involved in Monday's game vs the Dubs. He went 1-of-8 from the field and continues to shoot it terribly this season, connecting on just 37% of his shots and 21% of his threes. Unless you're in a deep league, there's no need to hang onto him other than when D'Angelo Russell is out of the lineup.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 24 points, nine rebounds, six assists, a steal, two blocks and three 3-pointers on 8-of-12 shooting in Monday's big win over the Blazers.
SGA hit just 5-of-10 free throws but he's a shaky shooter from the line, as he had hit 12-of-12 in his previous two games and came in at 81.5 percent on the season. SGA got off to a bit of a slow start this season but he's cooking with grease now, scoring at least 20 points in eight of his last 10 games while filling up stat sheets and shooting the ball well. And he's returning fourth-round fantasy value on the season, which is probably where you drafted him.
Stephen Curry was on one against the Wolves on Monday night, dropping 36 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win.
Curry was brilliant shooting the ball, but what else is new? He made 11 of his 19 field goal attempts, 7-of-11 3-pointers and 7-of-8 free throws vs a terrible Minnesota defense. He's made 32 long bombs since his forgettable 1-of-10 outing vs the Raptors on Jan. 10 and leads the league in 3-pointers made while ranking fourth in scoring at 27.9 points per game. The Dubs have three more matchups this week starting with these same Wolves on Wednesday, the Suns on Thursday and the Pistons on Saturday.
Mike Muscala caught fire on Monday hitting 8-of-12 shots and a season-high six 3-pointers for a season-high 23 points, two rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes off the bench.
We've been saying that he might go off in the absence of Al Horford (birth of baby), who last played on Jan. 12, and Horford may be set to miss Wednesday's game, as well. Muscala is nothing more than a DFS flier for the hope that he might get hot, but unless you used that card tonight, he may have just played his best game of the season. Isaiah Roby is a much better option off your waiver wire.
Carmelo Anthony started for Robert Covington (concussion) and hit 9-of-21 shots and a 3-pointer on his way to 22 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks in 35 minutes of Monday's 125-122 loss to the Thunder.
Melo took just one fewer shot than Damian Lillard and the Blazers allowed OKC to snap a three-game losing streak. The Blazers are hoping that Covington will be back on Wednesday, but with Jusuf Nurkic (wrist) and C.J. McCollum (foot) out indefinitely, Melo should continue to get plenty of run whether he's starting or coming off the bench.
Derrick Jones Jr. started again on Monday but hit just 2-of-4 shots for five points, two rebounds and nothing else.
He's got an opportunity with several of his teammates injured right now but he just can't get any consistency going. And if he's not stealing and blocking shots, he doesn't score enough to be used in fantasy. Jones Jr. had two steals and three blocks in his previous game and is pretty reliable in those categories, but the fact he hasn't stepped up with C.J. McCollum (foot) out is a big concern. If you want to drop him for a hot free agent, we aren't going to stop you.
Enes Kanter hit 5-of-10 shots for 13 points, a season-high 22 rebounds, three assists and two steals in Monday's loss to the Thunder.
Kanter's game log reads like a single-digit manifesto but he has had a few big games this season. And with Jusuf Nurkic out indefinitely, Kanter should be putting up more lines like this more consistently. He won't get to face the Thunder every night, but there's no reason he can play better than he has in Nurkic's absence. He's worth grabbing if he's somehow available in your league.
Gary Trent started over Rodney Hood (DNP-CD) on Monday and hit 9-of-17 shots and four 3-pointers for 22 points, but had just one rebound, zero assists and two steals in a team-high 41 minutes in a tough loss to the Thunder.
Rodney Hood, who had been playing well, didn't even get off the bench tonight and Trent played a ton of minutes and looked pretty good. The lack of peripheral stats is not an anomaly and he'll likely be a scorer and 3-point specialist going forward, but the start tonight and the minutes were highly encouraging.
Kelly Oubre played extremely well on Monday vs the Wolves, totaling 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block in 28 minutes.
The three swipes were Oubre's second-highest mark of the season and he was one of three Warriors players (Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins) to record three steals in the game. He shot 4-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the line and made two 3-pointers after failing to make any in the last couple of games. The first-year Dub is getting more comfortable in Steve Kerr's system each night, and if he continues to play like he did tonight, we should see his shooting percentages increase over time.
Rodney Hood, who started the last two games for the Blazers and scored 21 points in one of them, got a DNP-CD on Monday when he never got off the bench.
Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Jones Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. all started on Monday while Anfernee Simons went off for his best game of the season off the bench. All three of these guys now appear to be ahead of Hood on the depth chart, so it's probably time to drop Hood if you recently picked him up thinking he was locked into a starting gig.
James Wiseman came off the bench on Monday and finished with 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes.
Wiseman was moved to the bench while veteran Kevon Looney got the start. After the game, Draymond Green said of Wiseman, "If he's coming off the bench or not, he's one of the most important players on this team." And Draymond's right, but for now, it appears the rookie will come off the bench as Steve Kerr looks to shake things up and so far, he's 1/1. We'll see how long this move lasts moving forward.
Jarred Vanderbilt stuffed the stat sheet on Monday night, tallying 12 points, five boards, two assists, two steals and two blocks in 25 minutes.
JV had another productive night as a starter, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and playing some impressive defense on the other end. He's notched at least 10 points, four rebounds, two steals and a block in his last three games is making a legitimate case to be the starting power forward for the rest of the season.
Malik Beasley hit 10-of-18 shots, four 3-pointers and 6-of-6 free throws for a season-high 30 points, seven rebounds and a steal in 30 minutes of Monday's 130-108 loss to the Warriors.
Beasley, who has a pending suspension still hanging over his head, has now scored at least 12 points in 13 straight games and has been hitting a ton of 3-pointers, grabbing some boards, racking up assists, and swiping some steals, as well. He was returning sixth-round fantasy value prior to tonight's explosion and has been a must-start fantasy player for the season. Just roll him out there and watch him go off until further notice, as we have no clue when his 'threat of violence' suspension may be happening.