• 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!

    The Sunday-Monday back-to-back teams are the Wizards and Knicks, so look out for their injury report during the day on Monday.

    Also, I’ve seen that the L.A. teams are expected to resume play, so it doesn’t seem like we should get postponements for this slate…unless something weather-related comes up like the Hawks-Rockets game from Saturday.

    Minnesota Timberwolves @ Washington Wizards

    Game Time: 7:00 pm ET

    DraftKings Lines

    MIN -14 (-1000), WAS +14 (+650)
    Game Total: 225

    Key Storylines

    DDV is here: I had the pleasure of blurbing the 27-10-7 game with six triples and two steals from Donte DiVincenzo over the weekend. In that blurb, I said this:

    “In his four games as a starter, DiVincenzo is averaging 16.0 points, 3.8 triples, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 30.1 minutes per game for sixth-round 9-cat value. He is shooting 45.8% from the field and 83.3% from the line with 2.8 turnovers a game. A lot of these numbers should be fairly close to what he is capable of, as a top-80 floor should be achievable if he maintains his minutes and usage.”

    Top-80 seems like a decently conservative estimate, since his ceiling is definitely higher due to the value of the 3s, assists and steals combination. I also said earlier in the season that DDV wouldn’t be a 35% shooter from the field forever and while he was so poor that you didn’t need to hold him, you should have been ready to grab him if he showed signs of an uptick. I hope you did, because the uptick seems to be here alongside a bigger role. Ensure that DDV is rostered in all formats. 


    Wizardry: The Wizards are bad again this season, and based off last season, they likely don’t need to sit many of their main guys to tank. I still think the young players generally look better when Kyle Kuzma isn’t around. Whether it is a trade or a “shutdown,” he is the one I’d be more worried about than Jordan Poole. Poole has integrated himself nicely with the young players throughout the season so I think that is a nod in his favor toward playing the rest of the way…hopefully. 

    Also, I want to drop a reminder that Bub Carrington had already reclaimed a starting role from Malcolm Brogdon (right foot) before Brogdon’s recent absence as that seems to have gone under that radar or was forgotten. Carrington isn’t a must-roster 12-teamer by any means, but he is a starter again so he should always be on streaming radars, even if Brogdon returns sometime soon.

    Stream of the Game

    Jaden McDaniels is always a stream, but, he is a top-120 9-cat player so if you’re okay with a little inconsistency you could feasibly just roster him for the 3-and-D magic he sometimes produces.

    Alternatives:

    Alexandre Sarr (blocks with a few boards)
    Bilal Coulibaly (general stats with potentially poor FG%)
    Mike Conley (assists, steals)
    Bub Carrington (points, rebounds, assists)
    Corey Kispert (3s)

    –deep league line–
    Nickeil Alexander-Walker (3-and-D)
    Kyshawn George (3s)
    Jared Butler (points, 3s, assists)
    Justin Champagnie (general)

    Detroit Pistons @ New York Knicks

    Game Time: 7:30 pm ET

    DraftKings Lines

    DET +7 (+240), NYK -7 (-298)
    Game Total: 225

    Key Storylines

    Tim Hardaway Jr. sighting: Hardaway is one the streakiest players in the league, so after a 27-point game I’d be all over streaming him in the hope that this is the start of another hot run. Ausar Thompson only logged 20 minutes last game but still got us three steals. I’d hope to see 25-plus minutes from him regularly, but there is enough to continue holding and observing what he can give us to figure out if he is indeed a ROS player. 

    Kind of Elite?: The Knicks are clearly better than the teams below the “contenders” tier, but it also seems like they aren’t quite consistently on the same level as the Cavs, Thunder and Celtics either. Though, even the Celtics have shown that they may have some holes, so, who am I to say that about New York? We’ll see. Fantasy-wise, it’s the same ol’ Knicks. Mitchell Robinson isn’t expected back until the end of the month at the earliest. 

    Stream of the Game

    Tim Hardaway Jr. for points and treys, assuming Malik Beasley and Ausar Thompson are rostered like they should be.

    Alternatives:

    Miles McBride (3s, points, assists – very hit or miss)
    Isaiah Stewart (not as good lately, but low-end blocks and boards)

    –deep league line–
    Simone Fontecchio (3s)
    Precious Achiuwa (rebounds, defensive stats)
    Marcus Sasser (shaky numbers)
    Cam Payne (shaky numbers)

    Golden State Warriors @ Toronto Raptors

    Game Time: 7:30 pm ET

    DraftKings Lines

    GSW -4.5 (-192), TOR +4.5 (+160)
    Game Total: 228

    Key Storylines

    Returns: Stephen Curry (bilateral knee injury management) and Andrew Wiggins (personal) are back for this game while Draymond Green (back) is questionable, but we were initially told that he was expected to play, so this may be more of a “probable” questionable. Gary Payton II was also labelled as questionable by a Warriors reporter, but remained listed as out on the official injury report. Payton may be close to a return to muck up the rotation a bit, but remains out for now. Brandin Podziemski is also reportedly without a timeline to return, though we had already been considering him as week-to-week with the way he was being ruled out the day before games consistently. 

    Patience: Immanuel Quickley is basically starting his season all over again and was not able to shoot or use his left arm for a while. He might be a bit of a buy-low at the moment if you aren’t thrown off by the Raptors being bad and perhaps a team full of shutdown risks.

    Ochai Agbaji was cleared for Saturday’s game but was a DNP-CD. I am not sure if that’s because he was not actually fully recovered from the left hip pointer, or if it was a rotational choice. The bench unit was Chris Boucher, Kelly Olynyk, Jamal Shead and Bruce Brown with a four-minute Ja’Kobe Walter stint.

    Stream of the Game


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