Last Updated on March 21, 2026 12:24 pm by Mike Passador | Published: March 21, 2026

Friday’s six-game slate didn’t have a ton of competitive games — the Knicks escaped Brooklyn in a rock fight thanks to Karl-Anthony Towns, the red-hot Hawks got clipped by Houston, Boston stole a comeback win because the Grizzlies are losing on purpose and the shorthanded Pistons trounced the very shorthanded Warriors. The best ones were Toronto and Denver, where Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s shooting proved too much despite a terrific game from Jakob Poeltl and another all-world defensive effort from Scottie Barnes, and the Blazers squeaking out a win over Minnesota thanks to a huge night from Donovan Clingan and a clutch shot from Jerami Grant.

Sometimes it’s not the close games that have the most compelling fantasy stories, however, and for Friday’s big development we turn to the Rockets.

With all of this season’s rotation players available besides Steven Adams, the Rockets decided to trot out a lineup of Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith, Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard. It’s the group we projected them to start this season but Ime Udoka has had other plans, occasionally starting Adams and Sengun together, and then going with Josh Okogie for a bit and settling on Tari Eason for a while. The Rockets were terrific on Friday, shredding a team that came into the game on an 11-game win streak.

Sheppard played 25 minutes — the same as Eason — and turned in 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting with four rebounds, four assists, a steal, two blocks and four 3-pointers. Eason had 10 points (3-of-9 FG, 3-of-3 FT), 10 rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block off the bench. It just makes sense to have Sheppard’s shooting in the starting five, and he’ll take some pressure of Thompson as a primary ball-handler as well. Even better, after the game coach Udoka said that he’s going to give this new lineup a run of games to find its legs. They certainly passed their first test, and it looks like Sheppard — one of our favorite draft targets this year — could be breaking through in time to decide fantasy championships.

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Top Pickups

This is the “general must-add” section regardless of the slate. If these players are being overlooked and remain chilling on the waiver wire, consider adding them to your squad.

Reed Sheppard (47%)

We’ve been treating Sheppard as a must-roster player all season long and it looks like he could peak over the final couple of weeks of the fantasy campaign. Even with all the lulls he has been a top-100 guy on a per-game basis with big production in triples, steals and blocks. Sheppard’s occasional lack of counting stats has left him undervalued by some fantasy managers, but the foundation of his appeal has never wavered and now he’s got a chance to cash it all in.

Daniss Jenkins (23%)

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