NBA Player News

Tuesday’s game is the ninth that Vincent will miss as he continues to work his way back from a lumbar back strain. With Austin Rivers also out, the Lakers have turned to Nick Smith Jr. to play rotation minutes off the bench. During his pregame availability, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said that he expects Vincent to be available for Wednesday’s game against the Spurs.

Sunday’s game got away from Siakam and the Pacers in the third quarter, as the Raptors outscored them by a 44-26 margin. That factored into Spicy P playing only 24 minutes, which may be a concerning development for managers counting on him to deliver consistently excellent production through the fantasy playoffs. However, this was the first game since January 10 in which Siakam played less than 32 minutes, so there’s no need to panic. The Pacers play five games in Week 17, starting with the Knicks on Tuesday.

Jackson-Davis made the most of his debut appearance for the Raptors, recording a double-double. While 16 minutes aren’t a big deal for most players, TJD met or exceeded that number just 14 times with the Warriors this season before being traded. The issue moving forward is that the Raptors were shorthanded on Sunday: Jakob Poeltl (back) was out, and Collin Murray-Boyles left the game in the first half with a thumb injury. While Jackson-Davis played well, fantasy managers should not overreact.

Back in the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s win over the Bulls, Barrett had a good afternoon against the Pacers. All that was missing from his stat line was a blocked shot. Unfortunately, Barrett’s fantasy value has tailed off after a hot start to the season. But, in fairness to him, there may have been too much expected of Barrett in terms of fantasy value. While days like Sunday are certainly possible, Carter is a better option in points leagues than category leagues.