NBA Player News

Wiggins has scored 20 points or more in four of his last seven games, a run that began after he was limited to four in a January 20 loss to the Celtics. Since that 40-point beating, the Warriors wing has offered 9th-round value in 8-cat formats. That aligns with Wiggins’ season-long value as he rebounds from a rough 2023-24 campaign. He’ll look to record consecutive 20-point games for the first time since mid-January when the Warriors face Utah on Wednesday.

Knecht, the 17th overall pick in last summer’s draft, was included in a trade to the Hornets that would have sent Mark Williams to the Lakers. However, the Hornets center failed his physical, prompting the Lakers to rescind the deal. Knecht played 17 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Jazz, scoring 10 points (3-of-7 FGs) with one steal and three three-pointers. Following the game, Knecht said the experience was “like a movie,” while Redick said all involved were in a good place. “I thought his spirit was good,” Redick said. “He played well. We’re not going to talk about it anymore. We’ve talked about it. He’s in a good spot. We’re good.” Knecht has hit double figures in four of his last five appearances, but three of those games were played before the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic. Fantasy managers should not expect much to change regarding his value for the rest of the season.

Podziemski played well against the Rockets, logging 39 minutes and finishing with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals, one blocked shot, and two three-pointers. He replaced Buddy Hield in the starting lineup, and that appears to be something that will stick after the All-Star break. Over the past two weeks, Podziemski has provided 10th-round value in eight- and nine-cat formats. His being on the floor gives the Warriors another creator who can help take some of the pressure off Stephen Curry, while Hield does not offer as much value as a playmaker. Buddy will undoubtedly be in the rotation, but the move to the bench cuts into his fantasy value.

24 hours after he put up 20 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists while shooting 58.3 percent from the floor against the Lakers, George wasn’t able to maintain that hot shooting against the other Los Angeles team. However, he was able to continue his success as a playmaker. This was George’s third straight game with at least eight assists. George has been the team’s backup point guard recently with Isaiah Collier starting, but both young guards have been able to dish out plenty of dimes. Unfortunately for George, poor shooting has plagued his first two seasons in the NBA.

Collier provided plenty of assists once again, but turnovers were a major issue for him. This was his seventh straight game with at least nine assists, but he eclipsed his previous career-high of six turnovers. Managers should expect the dimes and turnovers to continue for Collier, but he was also able to set a new career-high for steals on Thursday. Collier averaged 1.5 steals per game in college and may eventually contribute real value in that category. This was also the third-straight game that Collier made at least 50 percent of his shot attempts, which is a major improvement on his season-long percentage of 41.3.

With Walker Kessler (thumb) sidelined, Filipowski started at center for Utah. He ended up setting a new career-high for scoring and recording the third double-double of his career before fouling out. With the Jazz heading towards another early lottery pick, Filipowski should continue to see his role increase as the season progresses. More performances like this should come as a result, especially as we approach “silly season”. Filipowski is rostered in just three percent of Yahoo! leagues.

Since Edwards’ streak of 40-point games ended, he has struggled to score at his normal rate. He scored 28 points on Wednesday, but he shot 10-of-33 from the floor. Edwards made just two of his 10 shot attempts in the first half, and things didn’t go much better after halftime. He was still able to help Minnesota get the win entering the All-Star break, and it has been over a month since Edwards scored less than 20 points in a game. After making his third All-Star appearance this weekend, Edwards will look to shoot the ball more efficiently when the Timberwolves return to the court in Houston on February 21.

With Rudy Gobert sidelined with back spasms, Reid was able to slide over to the starting center role. Reid has been starting at power forward in place of Julius Randle (groin), but with Gobert out of the lineup, he was able to have one of his best performances of the season against arguably the best defensive team in the NBA. Reid has provided third-round value over the past two weeks as a starter, though that could come to an end soon with Julius Randle set to be re-evaluated next week.

After scoring a career-high 11 points on Wednesday, Shannon Jr. was part of the rotation early in this game, which allowed him to eclipse that number early on. He entered halftime with a new career-high of 13 points, but he wasn’t able to add to his total after the break. The 24-year-old rookie was drafted at the end of the first round to contribute immediately, and while he may be able to help Minnesota, his fantasy appeal is limited.

With both Mike Conley (finger) and Rudy Gobert (back) sidelined, Chris Finch opted to use a smaller starting lineup. The result was Clark getting the first start of his career. Unfortunately, despite having a few solid performances recently, Clark wasn’t able to take advantage of the increased opportunity. Clark has played well enough lately to have some dynasty intrigue, but he will be a risky streaming option if he gets another starting nod in the future.

Stormin’ Norman was masterful in this one, hitting 13-of-26 shots, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Known as a three-point specialist, he didn’t settle strictly for outside shots and made it to the charity stripe 13 times. Powell is in the midst of a career-best season in which he’s leading LA in scoring, and his full range of offensive talents were on display. Powell scored eight of the Clippers’ 12 points in overtime, and he was instrumental in this victory.