NBA Player News

It’s not the first report that has indicated Adelman is going to return, and at this point it would be a major surprise if he didn’t come back. Adelman had previously contemplated retirement due to his wife’s health, but she’s doing better and Flip Saunders expects to have Adelman in the fold. “We’ve talked every day, every other day,” Saunders said.

What a phenomenal outing it was for White. After scoring a season-high 31 points on Monday, he surpassed that mark in this one to set a new season high for scoring. He also matched his career high for triples and provided blocks from the guard position like only he can. White has been on a tear after a slow shooting start to the season, and he has been one of the best players in fantasy basketball over the past few weeks.

This was a second straight start for Ware, and while he didn’t match his four-block performance from Thursday’s game, he was able to set a new career-high for triples in the loss. Ware is a dynamic seven-footer, which leads to monster performances for fantasy managers. The downside of Ware is that sometimes he comes off the bench and plays less than 20 minutes, but nights like this one should limit how often that happens.

Despite being under a limit of 24 minutes, Jones still managed to provide solid value off the bench. Over the last two weeks, he has been an eighth-round player in nine-cat formats. The presence of Josh Giddey and Coby White in the rotation makes Jones a challenging player to trust full-time in most fantasy leagues, but he’s an automatic streamer when one of those two is unavailable.

While Giddey missed out on recording a triple-double in consecutive games for the first time since early November, fantasy managers will take the final stat line he offered in Cleveland. For the season, he has provided second-round value in 12-team, eight-cat formats. With Coby White (13/6/9 with one three-pointer) being mentioned in trade rumors recently, there’s a chance that Giddey’s fantasy value receives a boost later this season. The Bulls visit the Hawks on Sunday to end Week 9.

After totaling 18 points in his prior two appearances, Buzelis had one of his best games of the season on Friday. The 24 points were three shy of his season-high, with the second-year forward recording his sixth 20-point game of the season. By comparison, Buzelis scored 20 points or more in five games as a rookie. He’s making strides, but the scorers in the Bulls’ rotation may limit Buzelis’ fantasy ceiling. He’s one of the reasons why fantasy managers may be rooting for Chicago to move a veteran (or more) before the February trade deadline.

Vučević came up big for the Bulls during the fourth quarter, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and scoring 11 of his 24 points. He finished with his 11th double-double of the season and first in just over two weeks, with the 15 rebounds being the most in a game for Vučević since October 27 (17 vs. Atlanta). A sixth-round player in nine-cat formats over the past two weeks, the Bulls’ center has pushed his season-long value closer to his Yahoo! ADP (52). The Bulls end Week 9 with a game against the Hawks on Sunday.

Jaquez got the starting nod for the first time this season. He has been excellent as a reserve this year, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on the move into the starting unit. It was a decent outing, but he fell short of his season average of 15.4 points per game despite playing a season-high 36 minutes. Jaquez will head back to the bench on Sunday against the Knicks if Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins return, though that won’t limit his production.

Entering this game, Jakučionis had appeared in two games. Across those, he played a total of less than 10 minutes. He logged 35 minutes in his first career start, which led to the best game of his career. It took numerous injuries for him to enter the rotation, but he may have played well enough to have earned minutes when the team is healthy. He also provided some encouragement for dynasty managers that have patiently waited to see him this season.

Much to the delight of those in attendance or watching on TV, Robinson and Philadelphia’s Andre Drummond put on a shooting clinic. The latter handled the three-point shooting, but the Knicks’ center shot 7-of-8 from the foul line. Robinson entered Friday shooting 6-of-27 (22.2 percent) from the charity stripe. Between the free throws and points, with this being Robinson’s first 20-point game since February 2020, the 7-footer had a massive night. That said, he’s rostered in only seven percent of Yahoo! leagues for a reason. Be sure to keep the expectations in check, fantasy managers.

For the second time in his last three appearances, Bridges failed to record a steal or blocked shot on Friday. The good news for those who have him rostered is that the Knicks wing was productive in the offensive categories. Also, this is the first time that Bridges has scored 20 points or more in at least two consecutive games since New York’s final three games of October. The Knicks end Week 9 with a home game against the Heat on Sunday.