Dwayne

Bacon

Los Angeles is adding some necessary depth ahead of training camp, but we wouldn’t expect any meaningful contributions from either player in 2022-23.

The Lakers could use some more depth and shooting on the wings, but they have very little cap space, so this is the tier of players they can work with. Lamb could make some sense in LA, and he could possibly even compete for a starting spot, but he’ll need to earn a contract first.

Bacon was signed to a non-guaranteed deal in August, and he was unable to do enough to earn a longer look. The Knicks are still at 14 guaranteed contracts, one below the league max.

Last season, Bacon appeared in all 72 games for Orlando, averaging 10.9 points, 3.1 boards, and 1.3 dimes. However, he shot just 40.2% from the floor and 28.5% from downtown. Bacon will likely compete with Luca Vildoza for the 15th and final spot on the Knicks opening night roster.

He’ll provide some shooting and emergency depth to New York’s backcourt, but he’s irrelevant in fantasy hoops.

With WCJ out, we’ll see Mo Bamba slide into the starting five and he makes sense as a DFS option against the Philadelphia B-team. Joining Bamba will be Cole Anthony, Dwayne Bacon, Garry Harris and Moritz Wagner.

Orlando go blown out and considering Bacon only played 23 minutes, this isn’t too bad of a line. This was actually his second-lowest scoring output in his last five games, with the other three being in the 20s, so he’s in a pretty good rhythm right now. RJ Hampton played well off the bench too, with a new career-high 19 points with five rebounds, three assists, and a pair of triples in 29 minutes.

Anthony made the game’s biggest shot, as his 3-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining gave the Magic the win. That capped what was already a good night for the rookie, who hit the 20-point mark for just the second time in his NBA career. While Anthony’s production hasn’t been great as far as fantasy is concerned, as he’s providing 15th-round value in 9-cat over the last two weeks, he is a player worth rostering. He’s a lock to play 30 minutes per night, and Anthony has hit double figures in 12 straight games. Fellow rookie RJ Hampton (18/7/5/2/1 with two 3-pointers) contributed a full line off the bench, while Dwayne Bacon (23/2/2/3) scored at least 20 for the first time in five games.

Okeke suffered the injury during Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers, and he will miss at least one game. While getting the 2019 lottery pick as many minutes as he can handle would benefit Orlando, there’s no reason to push him if he isn’t healthy. Dwayne Bacon and James Ennis are the players most likely to divvy up the minutes that would have gone to Okeke.

It’s nice to see Ennis healthy enough to play but his availability won’t do much to benefit fantasy managers. His most noticeable impact will be taking minutes away from guys like Gary Harris, Dwayne Bacon and RJ Hampton.