Josh Hart scored seven points on 2-of-4 shooting (2-of-2 FT) Thursday, to go with eight rebounds, three assists, one 3-pointer, two steals and one block across 25 turnover-less minutes.
The Pelicans have the best defensive rebounding percentage in the league (77), and it's Hart who leads the team in defensive rebounds per game at 6.7 a night. He's a superb rebounder for a guard who is capable of chipping in a little bit of everywhere without hurting you in any one category, but the reserve role and his inconsistency as a scorer limits his value to 14-team leagues.
Kelly Oubre was held to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from the stripe in Thursday's blowout loss to the Knicks.
Oubre had hit double figures in the scoring department in his previous five games, so this was a step in the wrong direction when it looked like he was ready to start rolling. He did add six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block without committing a single turnover in his 31 minutes of play, so it wasn't a total wash, and while he went 0-of-4 from distance, he was getting good looks. Unfortunately, he's going to get another tough matchup on Friday against the Jazz in Utah.
James Wiseman put up 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one turnover across 25 minutes in Thursday's blowout loss to the Knicks.
Wiseman got off to a slow start in this one, with just five points on 1-of-3 shooting through the first half of action, but he managed to turn things around after halftime and finished 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the stripe. “He’s got the full package as a young player to be a great player in this league," said head coach Steve Kerr during his pregame media availability. "I think he’s got an amazing future.” He's getting better with each game and it wouldn't be surprising to see him truly take off in the second half of the season.
Eric Paschall hit 5-of-10 shots for 12 points, four rebounds and one turnover across 19 minutes in Thursday's loss to the Knicks.
Paschall also hit both of his freebies, and he started the second half with Draymond Green getting ejected. He's an effective scorer, but he doesn't do much outside that, nor does he get enough minutes to make a consistent impact in fantasy hoops. Leave him on the wire.
Joe Ingles dished out a season-high nine assists on Thursday vs. the Pelicans to go with eight points, one rebound, one steal and two triples in 20 minutes.
He was coming off a 15-point game in just 19 minutes, hitting five triples with a pair of dimes and a block. The workload is worrisome, but perhaps the Jazz are just being cautious after he recently returned from Achilles soreness. If Mike Conley or Donovan Mitchell ever pick up a knock and need to miss time then Ingles will become a mid-rounder, but until then he's more of a late-rounder as Jordan Clarkson does most of the damage for the second unit.
Royce O'Neale finished Thursday's game vs. the Pelicans with five points, six rebounds, one assist, one block and one triple in 33 minutes.
He’s actually flirting with top-100 numbers in 9-cat on the season, but his value has gone downhill quite fast in recent games. He contributes to every category with very few turnovers, but we’d rather stream his roster spot in a standard league because there’s not much upside here.
Alec Burks (left ankle) scored 11 points off the bench in his return from a 12-game absence on Thursday, adding five rebounds, one 3-pointer, one assist, one block and one turnover in 31 minutes off the bench.
Burks looked a little rusty in his first game back, going 2-of-7 from the field, but he did a nice job of drawing fouls on his drives and finished 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. It was also impressive to see him log so many minutes after the lengthy absence, but that tends to be Tom Thibodeau's MO. If you need a cheap source of scoring and triples, Burks is worth a look.
Immanuel Quickley saw just 11 minutes off the bench in Thursday's easy win over the Warriors, and he finished with five points (1-of-5 FG, 2-of-2 FT), three rebounds, one assist, one 3-pointer and one turnover.
Quickley saw just 15 minutes off the bench in the previous game, but with Alec Burks (ankle) making his return tonight, the rug was ripped out from under Quickley as he was just the 10th man in the rotation. This is how it tends to go for rookies playing under Tom Thibodeau, so he's going to be an incredibly frustrating guy to roster this season if he's not able to earn any minutes alongside Elfrid Payton. Payton finished with 15 points (5-of-11 FG, 4-of-6 FT), two rebounds, five assists, one 3-pointer, one steal and three turnovers in 38 minutes, and there's not much incentive for Thibs to switch things up with New York currently sitting on a winning record.
Kevin Knox hit 1-of-4 shots for one 3-pointer, one rebound and nothing else in 11 minutes off the bench on Thursday.
Alec Burks (ankle) is back, so it's going to be tough for Knox to find consistent minutes in the rotation moving forward. This was his fourth straight single-digit scoring performance, and when he's not scoring, he's really not doing anything for you in fantasy hoops. Leave him on the wire.
Nerlens Noel had one of his best games in a Knickerbockers jersey on Thursday, tallying six points, 11 rebounds, one assist, one steal, four swats and one turnover in 20 minutes off the bench.
The boards accounted for a season-high, and this was a nice bounce-back game for Noel following his scoreless performance on MLK Day. He got some added run tonight with Mitchell Robinson in foul trouble, but he has been heating up in the shot blocking department over the past four games with 3.5 swats a night, so he's on the radar as a potential shot-blocking specialist in deep leagues. Despite the foul trouble, Robinson still managed to finish with 18 points (8-of-11 FG, 2-of-2 FT), eight rebounds, one assist, one steal, two blocks and zero turnovers in 27 minutes.
Lonzo Ball hit 6-of-15 shots for 14 points, five assists, one rebound, two 3-pointers and three turnovers across 27 minutes in Thursday's loss to Utah.
Ball went 3-of-10 from the field and 0-of-6 from distance his last time out, so this qualifies as a bounce-back game, although some defensive stats would have been nice. He's currently shooting a career-worst 28.6% from 3-point range, after connecting on a career-high 37.5% of his long-balls last season, so we'd expect that shot to start falling sooner rather than later and it's encouraging that he's attempting a career-high 7.0 triples a night. Also, while he's struggling from beyond the arc, he's been drilling a career-best 84.2% of his shots at the rim, and all these numbers suggest that a surge is coming. We still view him as a solid buy-low target.
Steven Adams hauled in a career-high-tying 16 rebounds on Thursday, to go with eight points, three assists, one steal, one block and five turnovers in 30 minutes.
Adams was held to just six points and nine boards his last time out, but he was a lot more active on both ends of the floor in this one, and he finished 4-of-9 from the field. He had failed to block a single shot in his previous three games, but the swat-less streak ended tonight, and this was his second straight game with a steal. He’s an okay low-end center to roster, but there’s very little upside here.
Jrue Holiday had a strong showing vs. the Lakers on Thursday, scoring 22 points with seven dimes, five rebounds, one steal and two triples in 39 minutes.
Holiday also had one of the plays of the game with some nifty dribbling before nailing a step-back 3-pointer in LeBron James' face. It's early in the season, but Jrue is outpacing his ADP of 36.0 with top-24 numbers of 16.1 points, 5.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 steals, 0.6 blocks and 1.7 triples. The Bucks are the No. 1 ranked offense in the NBA and have seen the league’s biggest jump in points scored per 100 possessions from 111.9 last season (eighth) to 117.7 (first), and Jrue is obviously a big reason why.
Dennis Schroder had a night to forget vs. the Bucks on Thursday, hitting 2-of-10 shots for just four points.
Despite playing 33 minutes, he wasn't able to salvage his line either with just one assist and two steals. Schroder only has a total of eight dimes in his last three games with the Lakers running more offense through Anthony Davis, so that trend could hurt Schroder going forward. He's still a hold but his upside doesn't compare to what it was in OKC.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points (11-of-17 FGs, 2-of-4 FTs), 12 rebounds, three assists, one block, one triple and a career-high nine turnovers in Thursday's loss to the Lakers.
He had a whopping seven turnovers with three fouls in just 12 first half minutes, but turned things around after that to make things interesting. He had some really bright spots including a stunning block on LeBron James (link below), but the Bucks still ended up losing their second game in a row for the first time this season. Unfortunately, Giannis will have to sit on this 2-game losing streak for a minute, as Friday's game vs. the Wizards was postponed due to contract tracing on Washington's side.
Khris Middleton scored 20 points vs. the Lakers on Thursday, shooting 6-of-15 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line with seven assists, five rebounds and three triples in 36 minutes.
Middleton had a chance to win their previous game vs. the Nets when the Bucks drew up a step-back triple for him which went in and out, a play the Bucks have run before. "We're good with the look that we got,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. Coach Bud added that there’s multiple variations of that play, and the takeaway here is that the Bucks are comfortable with the ball in his hands in the clutch. And it’s easy to understand why, as he came into tonight with shooting splits of 52/44/93. Tonight was his toughest test yet against the No. 1 defense in the NBA, so his fantasy managers will take this line and run.
Anthony Davis hit 8-of-18 shots for 18 points, nine rebounds, six dimes, one steal and two blocks in 38 minutes vs. the Bucks on Thursday.
He's now scored 19 or fewer points in his last five games, and had a tough time in particular vs. Draymond Green on Monday, hitting 1-of-7 shots when matched up against him. LeBron James noted that he and Davis have been a “little out of rhythm,” but despite some streaky shooting Davis has been able to keep his fantasy value in the elite tier with some improved playmaking -- he has a combined 18 dimes in his last three games and is on pace for the second best playmaking season of his career.
Josh Hall (COVID-protocol) is expected to miss at least the next four games.
He's a non-factor in the rotation, so this news is irrelevant for fantasy hoops.
Elijah Hughes (left ankle sprain) won't play on Thursday vs. the Pelicans.
He's a non-factor in the rotation.
Damian Jones (health and safety protocols) will not play on Friday vs. the Nuggets.
Jones is not a rotation player so there are no fantasy implications here.