NBA Player News

The Rockets effectively treated Tuesday’s win over the Pelicans as a dress rehearsal for the regular season, so many of the team’s stars will not play on Thursday. Many fantasy managers will have an eye on Reed Sheppard, who is not guaranteed to be a starter when the regular season begins. Matchups may dictate his place within the Rockets’ rotation, especially with Amen Thompson being a capable playmaker and Houston having excellent depth in the frontcourt. Holiday may have the best odds of landing consistent rotation minutes among Thursday’s other starters, but he is not a must-have in fantasy leagues.

On a night when Joel Embiid and Paul George (12/6/3/1) combined to score 28 points on 7-of-29 shooting, Maxey did his best to keep the 76ers afloat. Unfortunately for him, another poor third quarter did in the 76ers, with the Lakers winning the period by a 34-24 margin. Maxey finished with another excellent stat line, and he continues to provide top-five value in eight- and nine-cat formats. The 76ers play games on Friday and Sunday during Week 8, starting with the Pacers at home.

Hachimura’s 17 points were the most he’s scored in a game since November 10, when he dropped 21 in a win over the Hornets. While he is playing good minutes, averaging just over 33 per game, playing in a lineup headlined by Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves limits Rui’s fantasy ceiling and floor. He’s ranked just inside the top-200 in eight- and nine-cat formats, which explains why Hachimura is rostered in 19 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

With the Lakers’ “big three” of Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves available, Ayton’s scoring opportunities were bound to take a hit. The seven field-goal attempts were the fewest for the 7-footer in a game that he’s played at least 25 minutes since a November 12 loss to the Thunder. But he made all of them, in his most accurate performance of the season. Add in the rebounds, and Ayton finished with his ninth double-double of the season.

Despite a rough start to the week, rumors of LeBron’s demise may have been greatly exaggerated. Back in the lineup after sitting out Friday’s loss to the Celtics, the 40-year-old picked up the slack for the Lakers in crunch time. James shot 5-of-6 from the field in the fourth quarter, including two three-pointers in crunch time that helped the Lakers end their road trip on a high note. With the NBA Cup knockout stages resulting in lighter schedules for the entire league, LeBron and the Lakers will receive some welcome rest, even if they advance to the semifinals with a win over the Spurs on Wednesday.

Back with the Lakers after missing two games to be present for the birth of his second child, Dončić made up for lost time by recording his second triple-double of the season. Over the past two weeks, only Nikola Jokić has provided greater fantasy value than Dončić, whose season-long production places him third in eight-cat formats. The Lakers return home to host San Antonio in an NBA Cup quarterfinal contest on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Butler helped carry Golden State to an impressive victory on the second night of a back-to-back after sitting out the front-end with left knee soreness. The 36-year-old playmaker did a little bit of everything with Stephen Curry (quad), Draymond Green (foot) and Al Horford (sciatica) all out of the lineup in this one, pulling down eight boards while also dishing out six assists. He’s delivered second-round value for fantasy purposes this season, averaging 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.6 steals through 21 games.

Giddey took a team-high 15 shots in this one as the Bulls fell behind early and never quite recovered. The 23-year-old guard has scuffled a bit recently as his rebounding and assists numbers have taken a hit over the past two weeks. He’s remained a steady 20-point scorer, but the Bulls are reeling of late, having lost seven consecutive games since November 24. They have just two games on tap for next week when they face the Hornets and Pelicans.

Post knocked down a season-high five three-pointers and matched his previous season-high mark with 19 points on the second night of a back-to-back. The 25-year-old sharp-shooting big man has stepped up to offer some fantasy relevance in deeper formats with both Draymond Green (foot) and Al Horford (sciatica) out of the lineup recently.