NBA Player News

Queta returned to Boston’s lineup on Saturday and went off for 19 points, 18 boards and two swats. He’ll get Sunday off for the second leg of Boston’s back-to-back set, and the expectation is that he’ll return to action on Tuesday against the Knicks. With Queta sidelined, Luka Garza could draw a spot start against Cleveland.

One night removed from dropping 43 points in a loss to the Bulls, Sensabaugh scored another 27 on Thursday. Despite coming off the bench, the third-year wing has been an efficient scorer, shooting 25-of-37 from the field. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, Sensabaugh has serious “silly season standout” potential with the Jazz clearly prioritizing their draft lottery odds.

Thursday’s start was the first for Williams since November 24, and he took advantage of the opportunity. The Mavericks’ guard only missed one shot from the field, with the lone negative for him being three turnovers. Ryan Nembhard played 23 minutes off the bench, finishing with eight points, four rebounds and ten assists. Even when both are coming off the bench, Williams has been the favored option recently. That said, both have been challenging to trust in most fantasy leagues.

Due to injuries, Hardy has started each of the Mavericks’ last three games. While the field-goal percentage wasn’t great in Thursday’s 144-122 victory, the 19 points were four shy of Hardy’s season-high. Add in the assists and three-pointers, and there was some value to be gained from streaming Hardy. His value in the short term depends on Max Christie, who has missed the last two games due to illness.

Porter Jr. was one of several Milwaukee players to struggle against San Antonio on Thursday. However, his struggles marked a season low in points and tied season lows in assists and rebounds. The Bucks won’t take the floor again until Monday against the Hawks, so Porter Jr. will have some time to regroup and look for more production in the next outing.

Marshall has started six straight and 18 of the Mavericks’ last 22 games. On Thursday, his fantasy ceiling was raised due to the absence of Cooper Flagg and P.J. Washington, and he came through for fantasy managers. Marshall has scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games, and all that his stat line lacked on Thursday was a three-pointer. Mediocre foul shooting has limited Marshall’s fantasy ceiling, but he’s been close to a top-100 player over the past two weeks.

Dallas’s many absences left more shots available for the players who did play on Thursday, most notably Thompson. Despite coming off the bench, the veteran guard led the Mavericks in field-goal attempts and makes. And Thompson made some history, moving past Damian Lillard into fourth place on the NBA’s career regular-season three-pointers list. Thompson’s ceiling in the short term may be determined by how much time Cooper Flagg misses after spraining his ankle on Wednesday. The longer the rookie sits, the higher Thompson’s ceiling is, given the need for scoring.

Kuzma bounced back from a two-point outing against the Timberwolves to record one of his best scoring performances of January. The former NBA champion mostly did his damage from beyond the arc and did so on high volume, ultimately setting a new season-high in triples before finishing as Milwaukee’s second-leading scorer on the night. Kuzma didn’t have much production elsewhere, but regardless, had a nice bounce-back performance on Thursday.