NBA Player News

While Booker is simply getting the night off, Beal’s back issue isn’t believed to be something that will linger into the regular season. Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon will fill in for the star guards in the starting lineup for the preseason finale, with the former being one of the options to potentially be the fifth starter when the Suns open their season on Tuesday.

Similarly to last season when Domantas Sabonis was injured which opened up playing time for Valančiūnas to thrive on the Kings, Nikola Jokic’s injury has done the same for Valančiūnas on the Nuggets. That could be coming to an end as soon as next week as Jokic will be re-evaluated for his return then. Valančiūnas continues to be a great waiver wire addition since Jokic went down and Tuesday’s 16-point, 16-rebound effort showed that once again.

Two days after MPJ was held to nine points in a loss, which was the first time this season that he scored less than 10 points, he was able to bounce back in a big way. He set a new season high for scoring and was hyper-efficient while doing it. Porter has been a fantasy stud and will certainly be on the trade block for the rebuilding Nets ahead of next week’s deadline. He’ll make his return to Denver on Thursday and look to stay scorching hot.

Murray struggled from behind the three-point line in this one, missing all six of his three-point attempts. The 28-year-old point guard had multiple chances to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Twice the Pistons fouled Murray while he attempted a three-pointer with the Nuggets trailing by three with less than 10 seconds, but both times he missed one of the first two free throws. Denver’s homestand continues Thursday against the Nets.

Robinson had made at least four three-pointers in six consecutive games entering play Tuesday. In a matchup with the Nuggets with Caris LeVert (illness) out, Robinson missed all eight of the three-pointers he attempted. His only points of the game came on a broken in-bounds play that led to a dunk with less than a minute left, giving the Pistons a three-point lead. Robinson is a better shooter than he showed Tuesday and it’s possible his back strain impacted his shot. He’ll have the chance to bounce back Thursday against the Suns.

Harris now has two games with at least 20 points in his last five games. He was also on his way to a 20-point game Sunday against the Kings before he was pulled with 24 minutes played due to a blowout. The 33-year-old small forward’s scoring has picked up since returning from a hip injury. While Harris’ expiring contract would likely be in any big trade the Pistons could make before the deadline, there’s no guarantee that Detroit pulls the trigger. Harris missed both of his three-point attempts, but made 10-of-13 field goal attempts from inside the arc. On a Pistons team without much outside shooting as currently constructed, Harris seems like a safe source of points for the time being.

Cunningham’s last bucket came with two minutes left in regulation and gave the Pistons a four-point lead. The 24-year-old point guard had just eight points at halftime, but came on strong in the second half. He’s seemingly over his wrist injury now that he’s had at least 20 points in his last two games. Cunningham has the most games of anyone this season with at least 20 points, at least 10 assists and no turnovers. The Pistons’ road trip continues Thursday against the Suns.

McCain was sent to the G League recently, and it seems to have helped him out. Over the last 24 hours, McCain has scored 33 points and hit nine three-pointers. This is a strong stretch of production, and if he is able to continue to play a larger role off the bench, he’ll be able to provide value for fantasy managers. However, Monday’s game was a blowout loss, and McCain had success late. In this game, Quentin Grimes was sidelined. McCain will look to stay hot against the Kings on Thursday.

Considering George scored nine total points in his last game, a new season high of nine triples was the last thing anyone was expecting. It was George’s second 30-point game of the season, and it was enough to snap the 76ers’ two-game losing streak. Even though George has struggled this year, his game is so fantasy-friendly that he has been a top-50 player in nine-category leagues this season. He’ll look to keep it going against the Kings on Thursday.

Embiid’s streak of 30-point games came to an end, but he certainly came close to extending it to a fifth game. He got off to a hot start by scoring 18 points in the first quarter, but he cooled down to close out the rest of the game. Still, considering where Embiid was drafted because of injury concerns, Embiid has been an incredible value in recent weeks. As long as he stays healthy, he’ll continue to be a fantasy superstar.

One game after he set a new season high for blocks, Turner set a new season high for scoring in this game. It has been a rough first season in Milwaukee for Turner, but he’s going to need to continue to step up like this to keep this team afloat with Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) set to miss an extended period of time. He’ll look to stay hot in Washington on Thursday.