Jaylen

Wells

After six consecutive games of ten points or less, Wells snapped out of his slump on Wednesday. During that six-game run, the second-year guard shot 25.5 percent from the field, which obviously isn’t going to get it done for the Grizzlies or for fantasy managers. And Wednesday’s 18-point night occurred on a night when the guard shot 6-of-16 from the field. Wells is rostered in nine percent of Yahoo! leagues and with good reason, as the production has been inconsistent to put it kindly.

After a quiet first three quarters, Wells got hot in the fourth, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and scoring 15 points. For the sake of fantasy managers, it would have been nice to get a little more from Wells earlier in the game. With Ja Morant out and Cedric Coward leaving with an ankle injury, there was more room for the second-year wing to get shots. For his fantasy value to improve, Wells will need to be more aggressive offensively when the Grizzlies are at or near full strength.

Wells is good to go after initially being questionable for Friday night with a sore left hamstring. He’ll occupy his usual place in the starting lineup, but the second-year wing has been a disappointment in fantasy basketball this year.

Wells was initially listed as questionable with a sore left hamstring. Now it looks like the 22-year-old small forward will play Friday against the Lakers as he’s been upgraded to probable. Wells ranks outside the top-200 players in fantasy this season.

Wells is dealing with a sore left hamstring, which is why he is listed on the Grizzlies’ injury report. His absence would open up a spot in the starting lineup, with GG Jackson and Cam Spencer being potential replacements. Spencer has been the more consistently productive option, whether he starts (for Ja Morant) or comes off the bench.

With Ja Morant (ankle) unavailable, the Grizzlies decided to go big on Wednesday, with Brandon Clarke joining the starters. That may have opened some things up for Wells offensively, and the second-year wing extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to 10. Over the past two weeks, Wells has been a top-100 player in eight-cat formats, a significant improvement for a player ranked outside the top-200 for the season. Cedric Coward (13/5/3/1) continues to have superior season-long fantasy value, but the gap between him and Wells is shrinking.

Wells was solid on the offensive end on Monday, connecting on half of his shot attempts while getting some production from the free-throw line. Yet, his effort defending the Clippers’ James Harden all night long was impressive and significant in limiting the former MVP’s production — Wells’ counting stats won’t tell the full story of just how impactful he was in this game. Nevertheless, he’ll have a chance to extend his streak of double-digit scoring performances to 10 games on Wednesday against the Timberwolves.

While Coward’s final stat line lacked defensive stats, the rookie did record his second double-double in three games and fifth of the season. Given how well he began the season, most fantasy managers understood that Coward’s production would cool down eventually. Over the past two weeks, he’s ranked just outside the top-200 in fantasy value. However, Coward still offers a higher ceiling than Jaylen Wells, who finished Friday’s defeat with 19 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and two three-pointers.

Wells has been exceptional over the past two weeks, topping 15 points in six of his last seven games during that span, averaging 18.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.9 steals during that span. The 22-year-old guard continues to play big minutes with Ja Morant sidelined with a calf injury and should be rostered in most fantasy leagues at this juncture.

Wells had a rough start to the year, but he’s figured things out on offense during this five-game stretch. Over the last five games, he is averaging 19.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 3.0 triples per game while shooting 64.4 percent from the floor. This was his third 20-point outing of the season, with all of them coming during this stretch. He’s currently rostered in just 18 percent of Yahoo! leagues but should be comfortably streamed, as long as he continues to produce to this level.