• The Layup Line: Thursday, December 19th 2024

    Injury Report

    To stay up-to-date on all of the injury news with up-to-the-minute updates, make sure to check out our LIVE Injury Report!

    Teams that have a Friday-Saturday B2B:

    Rockets, Jazz

    Phoenix Suns @ Chicago Bulls

    Game Time: 5:00 pm ET

    DraftKings Lines

    PHO -3.5 (-162), CHI +3.5 (+136)
    Game Total 239.5

    Key Storylines

    Another Bol Flameout: The nice run of games ended with a 10-minute game on Thursday. That doesn’t mean we won’t see Bol producing again this season, but remember, fantasy production does not equate to real-life impact. Bol isn’t the best decision-maker on the floor despite his raw physical gifts allowing him to be a “fantasy stud” as a stat collector. 

    Ball and Buzelis Watch: Those two are starting as Ayo Dosunmu moved to the bench last game with Ball back. Ball has a fantasy-friendly game on paper (threes, assists, steals) but hasn’t put it together consistently so far. Buzelis is just a player that we hope will have the rookie breakout. He doesn’t lack confidence, but we want to see it translating better. 

    Stream of the Game

    Lonzo Ball:  Assists, threes and steals upside. 

    Alternatives:

    Royce O’Neale
    Matas Buzelis
    Ayo Dosunmu – questionable
    Grayson Allen
    Nick Richards

    –deep league line–
    Zach Collins (with Jalen Smith – concussion – out)
    Tre Jones
    Julian Phillips (with Patrick Williams – knee – out)

    Brooklyn Nets @ Philadelphia 76ers

    Game Time: 7:30 pm ET

    DraftKings Lines

    BKN +10 (+310), PHI -10 (-395)
    Game Total 214

    Key Storylines

    Russell out, Cam Thomas close, Clowney further away: In case you missed the update a few days ago, Noah Clowney aggravated his ankle injury further prior to the All-Star break so he will be out for a while. That gives Day’Ron Sharpe some freedom to be the per-minute hero that he is, who hopefully gets fill-in chances (they would typically start Clowney at C if given the chance). Now, it’s just to see how Thomas looks when he is back. 

    To Be or Not to Be: The Sixers’ season is in the balance. If they take a run of losses, I would not be surprised if they call it a day and allow Joel Embiid to have that knee surgery that he needs to try to recover some semblance of who he used to be (70%-to-80% of old Embiid is still pretty good though). If they do pack it in and tank, Quentin Grimes, Jared Butler and Guerschon Yabusele would be the most intriguing players. Maybe Ricky Council IV too. 

    Lonnie Walker IV is expected to make his debut, but should only be a bench-gunner and his points plus threes fantasy profile limits his upside.

    Stream of the Game


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