NBA Player News

Rivers, former Lakers coach Frank Vogel, and current Suns lead assistant Kevin Young are reportedly the three finalists for the head coaching vacancy. While the latter has a positive rapport with Suns players, Rivers and Vogel are the ones with prior head coaching experience. Whether or not that will enter into the thinking of team governor Mat Ishbia and GM James Jones remains to be seen, but this is clearly a job where contending for a title immediately is the baseline expectation. Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez and Nick Nurse were also mentioned as possibilities earlier in the process. However, the former has reportedly fallen out of contention, while Nurse accepted the 76ers job earlier this week.

KPJ was one of Milwaukee’s top couple of scorers on Wednesday, and he shot efficiently from the floor despite major struggles from the three-point line. He also contributed on the glass and as a passer, which have been standard for him this season. Poter will continue to be counted on by the Bucks for nightly production, regardless of who he is sharing the floor with. He finished December strong and should remain a productive fantasy basketball option at the guard position.

Rollins was part of a productive starting backcourt on Wednesday, performing adequately alongside Kevin Porter Jr. to put up fairly strong numbers. Rollins led the Bucks in assists and was one of three players to tally at least 15 points. He’s rotated in and out of the starting lineup recently, but he’s remained effective regardless. He’ll look to carry his recent success into 2026 as the Bucks face the Hornets on January 2.

Antetokounmpo logged just 28 minutes against the Wizards as he eases his way back from a calf injury. Still, he managed to reach the 30-point mark and tally double-digit rebounds for the first time in over a month. The former league MVP failed to accumulate any stocks in this game, however, and was inconsistent from the line. Otherwise, his night was encouraging, and his performances moving forward should remain strong as his minutes increase.

Sarr came up big down the stretch for Washington, recording a massive block at the rim on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the closing moments of the game to jumpstart CJ McCollum’s transition attack and eventual game-winning shot. The former No.2 pick of the 2024 draft finished with at least four blocked shots for the third time over the past five games, and has scored 20 or more points in two of the last three. His work on the glass against Milwaukee also led him to his second double-double of December. Fantasy managers are hoping he carries this recent momentum into 2026.

Carrington had a great impact on Wednesday, coming off the bench to torch the Bucks from behind the three-point line and finish as one of Washington’s top scorers. Along with the scoring and season-high in made three-pointers, the second-year guard also finished as one of Washington’s best facilitators on the night. The defensive counting stats haven’t become a consistent part of Carrington’s game yet, but if he can add a couple of stocks to his nightly lines, he could really take off in the coming years as a fantasy basketball option.

This is a tough injury for Thiero, who returned from a separate knee injury earlier this season only to get injured again. While he wasn’t getting much playing time so far, there might’ve been a chance for him to play given the Lakers’ other injuries. Obviously, that’s off the table now. Thiero will be re-evaluated in four weeks, though his absence won’t impact fantasy basketball.

Despite his minutes declining, Valančiūnas started 82 games as recently as the 2023-24 season. Last season, he started 21 games, but notably started nine games for the Kings when Domantas Sabonis was injured. Predictably, Valančiūnas started for the injured Nikola Jokic against the Raptors Wednesday. The results were excellent. Valančiūnas had 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes. He’s rostered in just 29 percent of Yahoo! leagues, but absolutely needs to be picked up in more leagues while Jokic is out.

McCollum had shot just 1-of-4 from the field during the fourth quarter in the lead-up to his game-winning pull-up jumper. Yet, with the dagger, he finished as the team’s third-leading scorer on the night and tallied his seventh straight game with at least 14 points and five assists. The veteran guard isn’t putting up eye-opening stat lines at this point, but he remains very involved on the offensive end on a nightly basis. McCollum should continue to put up solid fantasy numbers so long as he is a Washington Wizard.

While Murray will have plenty of opportunities to completely takeover the Nuggets offense with Nikola Jokic (knee) out for the next month, the 28-year-old point guard just had a different running mate Wednesday. It was Peyton Watson who stepped up with 24 points in Jokic’s absence. Murray still came through in the clutch with a layup with 13 seconds left to put the Nuggets up three. The Nuggets will be back in action Friday against the Cavaliers.

Sharpe struggled with his efficiency on Wednesday, tallying nearly as many missed shots as he had points — zero made three-pointers, and limited production from the free-throw line led to the fourth-year guard’s lowest points total of December. He’s struggled as a scorer against OKC in the three matchups with them this season, but fortunately for Sharpe’s fantasy managers, Portland and OKC won’t face each other again this regular season. He’ll shift his focus to Friday’s game against the Pelicans.