NBA Player News

Like Jamal Murray, Tuesday’s game was a tale of two halves for Jones. After making all four of his three-point attempts during the first half, he was 0-of-3 from beyond the arc after halftime. Jones shot 2-of-5 from the field in the second half, and the Nuggets blew a 14-point lead. The two-way contract forward has filled in admirably over the last few weeks, but he’s barely been a top-200 player over the past month. There’s no need to add Jones, especially with Aaron Gordon back in the lineup.

It has been an underwhelming season for White, and while he didn’t shoot as efficiently in this game, it was his third straight with at least 20 point. During that time, he’s averaging 24.3 points, 4.3 assists and 5.3 three-pointers per game. He’s starting to figure things out, and he’ll look to stay hot in their next game against the Celtics on Saturday.

Avdija was having an excellent night before his lower back flared up, tallying 20 points (6-of-11 FGs, 6-of-6 FTs), seven rebounds, four assists and two three-pointers in 18 minutes. Avdija missed three games earlier this month after injuring his lower back during a January 11 loss to the Knicks. Having Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant back in the lineup will help account for Avdija’s absence, and Caleb Love can also pick up some of the slack from a playmaking standpoint.

Giddey missed Chicago’s last 11 games with a hamstring injury, but he returned to the lineup for this game. However, he was on a minutes restriction, so he came off the bench and only played 26 minutes. That meant no changes to the Bulls’ starting lineup in this game, but that won’t hold for long. Jalen Smith, who scored 17 points in this game, is the likely candidate to head back to the bench when that happens. For now, it was a strong first game back for Giddey.

While De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama combined to score 57 points, Castle had one of his best games of the season from a distribution standpoint. In addition to eight assists, the second-year guard recorded just one turnover in 37 minutes. Castle didn’t have a great night shooting the basketball, but the efficiency as a playmaker was of far greater importance.

Fox scored 12 of his 31 points during the fourth quarter, a fitting cap to one of his best games of the season. This was his third 30-point game of the season and first since December 3, with the Spurs guard shooting the ball exceptionally well from the field. Over the past two weeks, Fox has offered fourth-round per-game value in eight-cat formats.

Wembanyama has recorded double-doubles in three straight and four of his last five appearances. On Thursday, his shot-blocking was also elite, with five blocks the most in a game for Wemby since he reached that mark in a December 27 loss to the Jazz. Over the past two weeks, Wembanyama has offered top-5 value in nine-cat formats, which aligns with his season-long value.