NBA Player News

If Monday’s game was the last of the summer for Furphy, he finished with a flourish. The Pacers wing produced one of the highlights of summer league with his second-quarter dunk over Chicago’s Noa Essengue, and he was impactful on both ends of the floor. According to Pacers team president Kevin Pritchard, Furphy has added 20 pounds since the end of the 2024-25 season. He clearly needed to get stronger after playing limited minutes as a rookie, and he appears to have done that. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle does not hesitate to go deep into his bench, so Furphy will have opportunities to earn more playing time.

Howard did not play in Wednesday’s win over the Pacers. While his absence did not affect fantasy basketball, there were a few more minutes available to Jamal Cain, who contributed 11 points off the bench.

Isaac did not play in Wednesday’s win over the Pacers, resulting in a few additional minutes off the bench for fellow reserve Noah Penda. However, neither has played enough to influence fantasy basketball. Both can remain on the waiver wire in redraft leagues.

Strawther was also probable ahead of Wednesday’s win over the Raptors. However, after being made available, he received a DNP-CD. Even if Strawther is available for Friday’s game, fantasy managers should not rely on him.

Murray appeared to tweak his ankle on Monday and was moving gingerly, but then played 38 minutes on Wednesday. The Nuggets cannot afford to lose him since he’s the only healthy starter they still have. We’d expect him to play through the tenderness on Friday and then perhaps have his minutes limited on Sunday against the Nets if the Nuggets can build a lead in that game.

Jackson will miss his sixth consecutive game with a concussion. Tony Bradley will serve as the primary backup to Jaff Huff, just as he has in the previous five games.

This will be George’s first missed game of the season. The Jazz will also be without Lauri Markkanen (knee), so things could get rough on Thursday. Isaiah Collier will likely start in George’s place with Walter Clayton also seeing an increase in minutes and usage.

Markkanen is dealing with a left knee contusion that will keep him out of the lineup for this one. The Jazz will turn to Svi Mykhailiuk, Taylor Hendricks, and Kyle Filipowski to pick up the slack, but Markkanen should return to the starting lineup on Saturday against the Warriors.

Grant is traveling with the team, so there is a chance he could return to the court this weekend. He has now missed six straight games with Achilles tendonitis, which has led to an uptick in usage for Kris Murray.

Henderson began non-contact work earlier this month, but now he has progressed to basketball-specific activities. The Blazers will see how he responds to that increase in workload in two weeks, and then we should have a better idea of his exact timeline.

Holiday has been out for over a month with a calf injury, but appears to be inching closer to a return. His exact timeline will “be determined based on functional response to loading and updated accordingly.” There’s a chance he’s back on the court as early as next week, which would mean Sidy Cissoko moves back to a smaller role in the rotation.