Cristiano

Felicio

They’re essentially waiving Felicio, who will now be searching for a minimum-level deal elsewhere. Wherever he winds up, he’ll be safe to ignore in fantasy hoops.

The Bulls are no longer in playoff contention, so they are sitting Vooch in the finale. After giving up a major haul to acquire him at the deadline, this is certainly not how Chicago was hoping he and the team would end their season. With Daniel Theis also sideline, Lauri Markkanen or Cristiano Felicio may slide into the starting lineup.

This was Nikola’s home debut for Chicago, and he did not disappoint recording his 32nd double double this season. The Brooklyn frontline had difficulty defending his inside/outside presence. As a primary option in the Bulls offense, Vucevic should continue providing top 15 value moving forward.

Joel Embiid got whatever he wanted tonight and reserve centers Luke Kornet and Daniel Gafford both got a few minutes to spell Wendell Carter Jr. The fact that Felicio didn’t play at all says plenty about how coach Billy Donovan views his role, or lack thereof.

Kornet played more than starter Daniel Gafford and he’s been ahead of Cristiano Felicio for the backup-center minutes in recent games. He gives the Bulls more court spacing than Felicio, but neither of them are in the standard-league conversation even without Wendell Carter Jr. (quad).

“If you look at Wendell’s injury and he and Gaff (Daniel Gafford) kind of sharing, for the most part, those minutes with Lauri (Markkanen) playing in the five (center), you’re going to have to possibly look at Cris (Felicio) as well in that group,” Donovan said. Felicio has only appeared in two games this season but with WCJ out and Lauri being too small to defend centers, it might be good for the Bulls to utilize Felicio a bit more against teams that play two bigs.

There’s a decent chance this injury will end Kornet’s season, so he can safely be sent to the waiver wire in all formats. Daniel Gafford will continue to hold down the center-spot until Wendell Carter Jr. (ankle) gets back, with Cristiano Felicio serving as his primary backup.

Gafford has started a total of four games previously this season for Chicago. In those four starts, he has averaged 7.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 18.0 minutes. Cristiano Felicio will likely see an uptick in minutes off the bench on Saturday as well.

Gafford returned from a dislocated right thumb on Sunday, but sprained his ankle in the process. He was unable to play Thursday and may miss another contest this weekend. Luke Kornet started on Thursday but logged just 17 minutes. Cristiano Felício played 28 minutes off the bench. This is a situation to avoid from a fantasy perspective.

He’s outplaying Luke Kornet now and may have a shot at additional minutes with the current roster. Still, Felicio only has a handful of games to do some work before the Bulls get bodies back, so he’s only a deep-league option right now.