Last Updated on January 11, 2026 2:10 am by Keston Paul | Published: January 11, 2026

Sunday is winning day!

Top Long-Term 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.

Jaylon Tyson (16%)

Tyson finished with 23 points, four triples, two rebounds and two dimes in 26 minutes on Saturday. While he has been a little more up and down lately, I think he belongs in the 12-team mix.

Sam Merrill (16%)

Merrill accounted for 20 points, five triples, two rebounds, one assist and three steals in a little under 26 minutes on Saturday. It ain’t much but it is honest work. On a serious note, Merrill seems to have found a different gear this season and the Cavs are really utilizing his shooting. If you need threes, he should be on your radar.

Julian Champagnie (23%)

Champagnie did not let mid-back soreness stop him overcoming a questionable tag to deliver 12 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, one block and two triples in 35 minutes on Saturday. With Devin Vassell (adductor) out, Champagnie should easily be on your radar for standard formats.

Keldon Johnson (23%)

A possible Sixth Man of the Year contender, Johnson kept it rolling with 18 points, two triples, 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal in 28 minutes off the bench on Saturday. I wouldn’t necessarily say Johnson is must-roster, but with Devin Vassell (adductor) out and Champagnie starting, Johnson’s role off the bench is even bigger. He is on a hot run that means he might just be a hold until it slows down.

Ryan Nembhard (3%) & Naji Marshall (22%)

With Anthony Davis out, Ryan Nembhard moved into the starting lineup. Nembhard had 16 points, three triples, three rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes. I’m not sure if Nembhard is must-roster but you can view him as a flier since Davis is projected to be out for around six weeks in the best-case outcome or multiple months in the worst-case outcome.

Marshall supplied 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a 3-pointer in a 24-minute start with PJ Washington out once again. Marshall is a solid option who can produce at around a top-105 level when starting.

When Washington is back, either Nembhard or Marshall should be bumped back to the bench. The Mavs showed a willingness to start Marshall and Washington together for a period last month, so there are no guarantees that Nembhard just holds the job.

I will note that Daniel Gafford (20%) was underwhelming in 24 minutes with six points, seven rebounds and one block. Moussa Cisse (0%) added five points, 10 rebounds, two steals and three blocks in 19 minutes. I think the right ankle issues this season might have just sapped Gafford but I would try giving him another week given the nature of Davis’ injury. Hold Gafford for now despite it not being pretty. Cisse is interesting but I wouldn’t expect production like that. Maybe is a 16-team flier, especially if Gafford remains flat. Dwight Powell didn’t appear here but he had his moments in a few games earlier this season too.

Games

Pelicans – Magic @ 3:00 ET
Nets – Grizzlies @ 3:30 ET
76ers – Raptors @ 6:00 ET
Knicks – Trail Blazers @ 6:00 ET
Spurs – Timberwolves @ 7:00 ET
Heat – Thunder @ 7:00 ET
Bucks – Nuggets @ 8:00 ET
Wizards – Suns @ 8:00 ET
Hawks – Warriors @ 8:30 ET
Rockets – Kings @ 9:00 ET

Teams on Second Night of a Back-to-Back

Note: Teams on the second night of a back-to-back must submit their injury report by the release of the 4:00 pm ET Official NBA Injury Report. 

MIA, SAS, MIN

For the Heat, Tyler Herro has only played eight games this season due to foot/ankle and toe injuries. I think there is a strong chance he sits.

For the Spurs, we know Victor Wembanyama is playing back-to-backs and he likely will on some type of restriction as he only has three more absences left before hitting the 65-game threshold (so four more until he is under it).

Anthony Edwards has been questionable for the past two games and Julius Randle was questionable on Saturday but none of those listings have resulted in a missed game. Monitor the injury report, but I do not expect either of them to be out if I had to guess.

Teams on First Night of a Back-to-Back

BKN, TOR, PHI, SAC

The Nets are sitting Michael Porter Jr. and Drake Powell for rest/injury management, while Ziaire Williams is out with an illness.

Joel Embiid is questionable.

RJ Barrett is out after getting injured on Friday, while Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram are battling injuries they picked up on Wednesday, headed into Sunday’s game listed as questionable.

The Kings are without Dennis Schroder, who will begin serving a three-game suspension.

Top Stories to Watch

Major Injury News
(View our Live Injury Report & Blurb Feed for the day-to-day news)

CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert are not on the injury report, meaning they should be available to make their Hawks debut on Sunday. McCollum remains a hold in standard formats, but I will be interested to see Kispert’s role and if he can do anything for deep leagues. For now, I do not think it is guaranteed that Kispert’s role is substantial enough right away, but that could very easily be wrong. Shooting is a premium skill!

Moritz ‘Moe’ Wagner (left ACL tear) will be available for his season debut on Sunday. I am not expecting much and I would honestly be shocked if the Magic still view him “above” Goga Bitadze.
As a reminder, we used to get the weird Wendell Carter Jr. starter, Wagner backup, Bitadze third string alignment, which would turn into Bitadze starting and Wagner remaining in the backup role when Carter would miss games. Given the major injury for Moe, I wouldn’t add him outside of a 20-team league as a gamble. Monitor the situation though.

Alperen Sengun (right ankle sprain) is questionable to play on Sunday after missing three games. Earlier in the week (Monday to be specific), Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said that Sengun would be evaluated this weekend but was expected to miss 10-14 days. Obviously, it hasn’t even been 10 days but maybe the evaluation went well! Look out for the final update.

Josh Hart (right ankle sprain) is questionable for Sunday after missing the last couple of weeks.

Jrue Holiday (right calf strain) is questionable to play after a 27-game absence. He last played on November 14. Holiday is only 54% rostered on Yahoo at the time of writing and he should be added anywhere he is available given the upside he showed early in the season. If he he slows down from a top-40 pace, he looks like mid-round upside is plausible.

The Wizards listed Trae Young as out with a right quad contusion (recent injury) and a right MCL sprain (his prior injury) on Friday. If you missed it, there was chatter that the Wizards won’t push Young too much this season.
To explain, the Wizards have the fourth-worst record in the NBA. The NBA lottery allows up to four teams to “jump up” and the Wizards’ first-round pick is top-8 protected. Staying in the bottom four ensures that they keep their pick even if they fall in the lottery. They obviously didn’t trade for Young to tank. I believe they see use in his offensive creation, helping the young guys to improve and develop; however, they also want to get a high draft pick and won’t want to win too many games because of Young.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, Young has been listed as out again and we genuinely do not know when he will play.

Some players who got hurt and left games on Friday include RJ Barrett, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Tari Eason and Robert Williams III.
Barrett and Eason are out for Sunday. KCP is available and Williams is questionable.

As said above, Barrett is already out for Sunday’s game, while Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram (both hurt in Wednesday’s game) are questionable. We got both Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Murray-Boyles starting with the absence of Barnes last game and that makes both players nice streaming candidates if Barnes is out again. I do think Jamal Shead could get a bump off the bench for a 12-team streamer, but I doubt he would start. Ja’Kobe Walter, Ochai Agbaji and that bunch are deep-league fliers at best and I don’t trust Gradey Dick or Jamison Battle much.

Dennis Schroder was suspended for three games and should return on Friday. Malik Monk should hopefully rise into a strong role off the bench as a result with 12-team stream appeal if you feel like trusting the Kings. Surely, right? Surely?

While the Bulls don’t play on Sunday, we also got updates on Saturday night indicating that Zach Collins (right toe sprain) will remain out for a while and that Josh Giddey (left hamstring strain) doesn’t have a timeline as the medical staff continue to assess when it makes sense for him to begin ramping up.

Rotation Notes

In some weirdness, Terance Mann got a DNP-CD combined with a Ziaire Williams start on Wednesday, but then Mann moved back into the starting lineup on Friday combined with a Williams DNP-CD. We have trust issues! I believe Mann should be preferred since he has been the season-long starter but that could be a situation to monitor. With Michael Porter Jr. resting on Sunday, I expect that Danny Wolf might start but we may at least see Williams off the bench. As a side note, Williams is out on Sunday with an illness, so that could be the reasoning for the DNP-CD but it also might not be.

As for Cam Thomas, I do believe he is on a minutes restriction, but I also believe that head coach Jordi Fernandez is not a fan of the “all I do is score” mentality. Given Thomas doesn’t seem to have a long-term future in Brooklyn, I am worried that things don’t get much better there and that means he wouldn’t have the volume (minutes mainly, he will suction usage whenever possible) to sustain 12-team value given his stat profile depends on scoring (points, threes, FT%).

Keon Ellis started last game and Malik Monk got 19 minutes off the bench. I still have trepidation about trusting Monk’s rotation role as I stated above, but Ellis seems to be getting enough run lately to at least be a low-end 12-team streamer. With Dennis Schroder suspended for three games, you can likely feel a little better about both Ellis and Monk as streamers.

Jeremy Sochan is back in the Spurs’ rotation but the mid-to-low teens is not enough minutes for real fantasy appeal. Maybe he is a 20-team gamble at best.

Noah Penda was the fill-in starter on Friday, seeing 30 minutes with Tristan da Silva (back spasms) out. Da Silva is questionable for Sunday and I think Penda has earned the good will to start again if da Silva remains out. Da Silva would likely start if available. Penda projects as a 14-teamer for rebounds, steals and blocks mainly in my opinion, but could be a low-end 12-team specialist streamer if Da Silva is out. Penda’s pre-draft profile suggests his 3-point shot is going to be inconsistent as it was an area that needed work.

Last game, Andre Drummond got all of the backup minutes and Adem Bona was a DNP-CD. Personally, I just don’t trust either of them when Embiid is active. If Embiid is out, both should be 12-team-worthy as streamers with Drummond having the edge for rebounds and Bona having the edge for blocks aside from the other areas they may produce in.

Kel’el Ware came off the bench for 17 minutes on Saturday, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. maintained an acceptable 25 minutes. Don’t make any rash moves with either player but monitor that trend. Tyler Herro rejoined the starting lineup on Saturday, but as I said earlier, he might sit out on Sunday.

Obviously, the Nuggets’ rotations are going to depend on who is available. I will simply say that I do not trust Hunter Tyson at all.

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Stay up to date on news for this slate with our NBA Blurb Feed! 

Check out our Live Injury Report to see who is probable, questionable, doubtful or sidelined for this slate!

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Streamers

We typically do not include players who are either most likely on a roster or should be on a roster.

I might push the boundaries on that a little here since it is a 10-game Sunday and you guys have matchup-deciding moves to make.

For any new readers, consider this a guiding list. Read through and see what players might suit your needs and then go see if they are available in your league(s) and make a decision.

Standard Formats

Jeremiah Fears – points with upside for assists, steals, 3s

Wendell Carter Jr. – solid across-the-board value but mainly points & rebounds (should be rostered)

Anthony Black – points, rebounds, assists, upside for 3s & steals (bad percentages) and should just be rostered

Noah Clowney – points, 3s, blocks, potential steals & rebounds (potentially bad FG%)

Egor Demin – 3s & assists with potential for out-of-position rebounds & occasional steals (trending toward must-roster)

Cedric Coward – points, 3s, rebounds with upside for steals or FT% if he gets to the line

Jock Landale – points, rebounds, FG% & occasional 3s

Cam Spencer – points, 3s, assists & FT% if he gets to the line (potentially poor FG%)

Sandro Mamukelashvili – 3s & rebounds with upside for across-the-board production

Jamal Shead – assists & steals specialist

Collin Murray-Boyles (especially if both Barnes/Ingram are out) – rebounds & steals with upside for across-the-board production

Miles McBride (small hit if Hart plays) – 3s with some upside for points, steals or assists

Mitchell Robinson (small hit if Hart plays) – FG%, rebounds, blocks

Toumani Camara (likely rostered but just in case) – double-digit points, 3s, rebounds, steals and may get two or three assists

Ajay Mitchell – points, assists, FT%, rebounds, steals, occasional 3s

Cason Wallace – steals specialist with upside for 3s, assists, low-end rebounds

Alex Caruso – steals specialist with upside for 3s, assists, rebounds, occasional blocks

Lu Dort – extremely boom-or-bust 3s, upside for steals, occasional rebounds
(more likely to go 1-of-9 than 5-of-9 but he has those big games, so this is a last-ditch stream if nothing else is available)

Bobby Portis – points, rebounds, possible 3s

Kyle Kuzma – points, rebounds & occasional upside in other areas

AJ Green – 3s, 3s & 3s with occasional outbursts of rebounds or assists

Peyton Watson (MUST-ROSTER!!!) – steals, blocks, rebounds with some potential for points/3s

Tim Hardaway Jr. – hit-or-miss points & 3s

Spencer Jones (questionable, wait to see if he plays) – steals specialist with boom-or-bust upside for 3s, rebounds

Tre Johnson (would hold) – points and 3s

Bilal Coulibaly (would hold) – steals, blocks, rebounds, assists & bad percentages

Khris Middleton – points, rebounds, assists, &upside for 3s & steals

Grayson Allen (hold him, trending back up with minutes & usage)– points, 3s, upside for assists, steals

Royce O’Neale – 3-and-D stats, rebounds & upside for assists

Brandin Podziemski – points, 3s, rebounds, assists, steals

Moses Moody – 3s, steals, upside for points, rebounds, blocks

De’Anthony Melton – steals specialist with upside for 3s & assists

Steven Adams (likely still a rebounds specialist if Sengun plays, but would have lower upside) – rebounds specialist with occasional defensive stats

Reed Sheppard – points, 3s, steals, assists & sometimes blocks

Keon Ellis – steals, 3s, upside for blocks

Maxime Raynaud – points & rebounds with upside to produce in all areas

Malik Monk – points, 3s, assists if you trust the Kings

B2B Watch for Standard Formats

Remember, it’s the Heat, Spurs and Wolves on a back-to-back from Saturday. 

Jaime Jaquez Jr. – points, rebounds, assists, usually good FG% (likely rostered)

Davion Mitchell – big assists with upside for steals (likely rostered)

Harrison Barnes – points & 3s with upside for rebounds, a steal or FT% if he gets to the line

Keldon Johnson – points, rebounds, FG% & upside for 3s or a steal

***Julian Champagnie – 3s, rebounds, steals, scoring upside & occasional blocks
(Note: Champagnie played through a questionable tag for back soreness on Saturday. Definitely wait for his status.)

Dylan Harper – points, assists & upside for a steal, some rebounds

Deep Leagues

Bryce McGowens – points with upside for 3s

Tristan da Silva (questionable, wait for update) – points & 3s with upside for rebounds & steals

Noah Penda – mainly rebounds, steals, blocks & hit-or-miss upside for 3s
(14-team upside with low-end 12-team specialist appeal if da Silva is out)
(16- or 18-team upside if da Silva plays)

Day’Ron Sharpe – rebounds, FG% and sometimes adds steals or blocks

*Terance Mann – boom-or-bust points & 3s with potential for rebounds, assists, steals
(Mann is a little risky with a recent DNP-CD but the season-long trend suggests he is trusted. He is only a last-ditch option). 

Danny Wolf – points, rebounds, assists, across-the-board upside

Vince Williams Jr. – points, rebounds, assists with upside for 3s/steals

Jaylen Wells – hit-or-miss points & 3s with upside for steals

GG Jackson II (deeper leagues) – boom-or-bust points & 3s, upside for rebounds

Dominick Barlow – rebounds, blocks, upside for steals, solid FG%

Ja’Kobe Walter – very boom-or-bust 3s & steals

Isaiah Joe – 3s

Aaron Wiggins – points & 3s with upside for rebounds, occasional steals & blocks

Jaylin Williams – across-the-board upside but a low-end deep-league flier since he is returning from a 13-game absence

Bruce Brown (bumped up if Jones/Murray end up being out) – mainly points & rebounds but across-the-board upside

Jalen Pickett – boom-or-bust upside for points, rebounds, assists, 3s

Zeke Nnaji (16-team max) –  points, rebounds, blocks, maybe steals, maybe a three, maybe nothing at all
(Do I trust Nnaji? No. Is he producing well lately? Actually, yes.)

Bub Carrington – points, assists, 3s, out-of-position rebounds & occasional chance of a steal

Justin Champagnie – rebounds, steals, blocks & maybe some upside for points

Jordan Goodwin – general stats

Luke Kennard – points, 3s, occasional upside for assists

Vit Krejci – explosive hit-or-miss 3s & points with occasional steals upside
Krejci may start again with Risacher out.
He can go 7-of-10 or 0-of-10 from three. Are you feeling lucky? 

Mouhamed Gueye (deeper leagues if Porzingis is out) – rebounds, steals, blocks, occasional scoring upside

Quinten Post (deeper leagues) – 3s, rebounds, occasional upside for points, steals or blocks

Al Horford – low-end across-the-board upside

Gary Payton II (deeper leagues) – steals, rebounds, occasional points upside

B2B Watch for Deep Leagues

Remember, it’s the Heat, Spurs and Wolves on a back-to-back from Saturday. 

Nikola Jovic – upside for general stats

Pelle Larsson – low-end points, 3s, assists with upside for general stats

Dru Smith (likely needs Herro or someone else to sit) – steals specialist with assists upside

Luke Kornet – rebounds, blocks, FG%

Jeremy Sochan (18-team stream) – points & rebounds with upside for steals, blocks & a couple of assists

Mike Conley (20-team) – assists with upside for 3s & steals (& FT% if he gets to the line)

Bones Hyland (18-team) – points, 3s, assists

Jaylen Clark (20-team) – steals specialist for very deep leagues