LaMarcus

Aldridge

Aldridge officially announced his retirement on Friday after 16 seasons in the NBA. He had worked out for a few teams this season, but he hasn’t played since the end of last year. He spent his first nine seasons with Portland after being drafted second overall in 2006. He was with the Spurs from 2015-2021 before finishing his career in Brooklyn. He briefly retired in 2021 after experiencing an irregular heartbeat during a game.

The Mavs had just signed Silva to a second 10-day contract on February 10th, but they decided to move on before the contract was up. This will free up a roster space for them to potentially bring in LaMarcus Aldridge, who they recently brought in for a workout.

Despite having Dwight Powell, Christian Wood, and JaVale McGee, the Mavericks are exploring the possibility of adding Aldridge. His name, along with that of Dwight Howard, was mentioned as a possibility for the Mavericks in September, but no move was made. Now Aldridge will go through an official workout with the team. He appeared in 47 games (12 starts) for the Nets last season, averaging 12.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 22.3 minutes.

With recent news that Robert Williams will be forced to miss time due to surgery, Boston is in the market for some frontcourt depth. Both Howard and LMA could be viable fill-ins for the short-term alongside Al Horford and Grant Williams, but neither would be expected to contribute significantly for fantasy hoops.

Claxton was the better of the Nets’ two options at the center position in Game 1, as starter Andre Drummond (8/4/0/2/1) only played 17 minutes. However, he was a liability at the foul line, making just one of his five attempts on the day. With the Celtics being without Robert Williams (knee), it’s possible that Claxton will serve as the primary option at center in this series. And with the foul shooting issues that both he and Drummond have experienced throughout their respective careers, that may open the door for LaMarcus Aldridge (DNP-CD in Game 1) to re-enter the rotation. Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday night in Boston.

Aldridge hadn’t left the bench in Brooklyn’s previous four games, but with James Johnson (illness) hitting the sidelines tonight, LMA was finally able to get back into the rotation. This was his first game in a month and it showed, so we wouldn’t anticipate him suddenly becoming fantasy relevant again over the Nets’ final three games.

Johnson will miss Tuesday’s game with a non-COVID-related illness, meaning LaMarcus Aldridge could get back into the rotation.

It’ll be interesting to see how Steve Nash handles Brooklyn’s frontcourt rotations now that LMA’s right hip is no longer giving him issues, but the Nets sure could use a spark in their second unit, so we’d be surprised if DNP-CDs became the norm for Aldridge moving forward. That said, it could take LMA a handful of games for him to get fully up to speed, and the Nets only have seven remaining on their schedule, so Aldridge probably won’t be all that useful in fantasy hoops over this final stretch.

It appears that LMA is set to return for this matchup, which puts an interesting hiccup in the Nets’ rotation. Andre Drummond has been very good since Aldridge left the lineup, so he should continue to start. However, for guys like Nicolas Claxton and Blake Griffin, they’ll likely take a minutes hit from Aldridge’s return. LMA could end up making for a decent streaming option in deeper leagues.

There’s optimism LMA can return next week, but at this point, there’s no reason to continue holding him.