NBA Player News

The Lions are preparing for EuroCup play this season, and they’ve signed a player in Dekker who has ample experience in said competition. The former Wisconsin standout, a first-round pick of the Rockets in 2015, appeared in one regular season game for the Raptors last season. After being waived by Toronto, Dekker finished the season with Bahçeşehir Koleji in Turkey, which won the EuroCup.

Zubac came off the bench in his first game back following a five-game absence, but he was back in the starting lineup for this one. He did most of his scoring at the free throw line, but he was immediately able to record a double-double in his first game back with a normal workload. Zubac will get back to being a strong fantasy option now that he is healthy and available. He’ll look to have another strong performance against the Knicks on Wednesday.

With James Harden (shoulder) sidelined, Sanders got the starting nod for the fourth time during his rookie season. He was solid as a starter previously, but this was his best performance of the year. Sanders may have earned extra minutes with this performance, but he won’t be worth rostering unless he gets the opportunity to start in the future. If Harden remains out against the Knicks on Wednesday, Sanders will have intriguing upside as a streamer.

Leonard missed all eight of his three-point attempts, and the turnovers weren’t pretty, but this was an otherwise strong performance from Kawhi. However, in comparison to his recent stretch, this was an underwhelming outing from him. Leonard has been one of the best per-game players in fantasy basketball this season, and as long as he remains healthy, that should continue. He’ll look to stay hot in New York on Wednesday.

Stephen Curry fouled out with less than a minute left, which meant that the game-winning shot responsibility fell to Butler. He came up short, but he still had a productive stat line in the loss. Butler has been a reliable option for the Warriors this year, and he has been available, which has been an issue for him in the past. As long as that doesn’t change, he’ll continue to be an excellent value at his Yahoo! ADP of 50.3.

Unfortunately, Curry’s typical late-game heroics were cut short. Right after he hit back-to-back three-pointers, Curry committed his sixth foul, which sent him to the sidelines to watch the final 43 seconds of the game. He was still able to lead the Warriors in scoring and have a productive night, but he wasn’t able to get his team the win. It was a subpar shooting night, but he hit the big shots when they mattered. Next up on the schedule for the Warriors is a matchup with the Bucks on Wednesday.

Coming off arguably his worst performance of the season, Sharpe bounced back in a big way in this blowout victory. Sharpe’s been a high-level scorer, and he’s averaging a career high in steals, but his value in category leagues has been limited by a lack of production in other categories. However, that wasn’t the case in this game, and he was more efficient than he has typically been this year. This was an excellent outing, but it’s also one that Sharpe likely won’t be able to make happen often.

Clingan dominated early on in this game and entered the halftime break with a double-double. This was his third straight double-double, and he has one in five of his last six games. However, it’s the deep-range shooting that has been the real revelation. He hit a total of 14 triples as a rookie, but he has five over his last two games and 12 over his last seven. Clingan doesn’t need to become a true stretch five, but if he can space the floor, it will continue to open up the offense for Portland.

Avdija’s dominant first half helped Portland take a 21-point lead into halftime. He had 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists entering the break. He didn’t add much after that, but he didn’t need to for the Blazers to get the win. Turnovers and poor percentages have limited Avdija’s value in category leagues, but those haven’t been as severe an issue over his last three games. He’ll look to keep it going against the Rockets on Wednesday.

Collier’s upside has been limited as a reserve this season, but he has been an elite source of assists in recent weeks. He has had at least eight in 10 of his last 12 games, including at least nine in six of those. That puts him at eighth in the league in assists per game during that stretch, but he’s still available in 83 percent of Yahoo! leagues. If you need dimes, Collier can provide.

Nurkić continues to have a strong season for Utah. This was his first game back after missing two games with a toe injury, and he picked up right where he left off. Over the past two weeks, Nurkić is averaging 19.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.8 triples while shooting 1.8 percent from the floor. The start of the year was rough, but he has been a strong source of rebounds, assists and steals from the center spot, and the recent uptick in scoring has only helped.