Robert

Williams

Because of the opposition and Robert Williams III getting the day off, Yang played 21 minutes on Monday. The 7-foot-1 center made the most of his height advantage on offense, shooting 75 percent from the field, but he recorded no defensive stats. Once the regular season begins, Yang is unlikely to get the minutes needed to affect fantasy basketball, especially if Williams and starting center Donovan Clingan remain healthy.

With Donovan Clingan on the roster, Williams is locked into the backup center role. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t provide good value, especially for managers punting points or free-throw percentage. Against the Warriors, Williams was an excellent rim protector and already appears to have established good on-court chemistry with Ja Morant. With an ADP outside the first 100 picks, the Time Lord can be a fantasy surprise, especially if injury restrictions aren’t the issue they’ve been in past years.

Even with past injury concerns, Williams was due to be a popular target in free agency for teams needing to bolster their center rotation. That won’t happen now, as the Time Lord has reportedly agreed to a deal to remain in Portland. Williams appeared in 59 games last season, averaging 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 17.1 minutes. With Donovan Clingan penned in as the starting center, Williams’ season-long fantasy value will be limited, but the blocks and rebounds can be useful.

It has been a few seasons since Williams was playing a full-time role, but he is a player that can make a massive impact in limited minutes. That was on full display in this series, and while it wasn’t enough for the Trail Blazers to pull the upset, he is clearly still a valuable player. He’s set to be a free agent this summer, which will be a complex situation, given his injury history. Wherever he ends up, he’ll likely make a big impact on a value contract.

Williams played 23 minutes off the bench in the victory and had 11 points and nine rebounds. The 28-year-old center also had a put-back dunk and got fouled with 15 seconds left in regulation to put the Trail Blazers up by three. He’ll continue to have a significant bench role in this series.

Williams is good to go after tweaking something in his lower back during Friday’s loss to the Mavericks. He’ll take on his usual backup center role, which means Yang Hansen may only see action if the game gets out of hand.

Williams appeared to tweak something in his lower back during the second quarter of Friday’s loss to the Mavericks, and he did not play after halftime. If he can’t play on Sunday, the Trail Blazers may call on Yang Hansen to fill out the rotation since Jerami Grant (calf) has already been ruled out.

Williams looked uncomfortable after landing on the court after completing an alley-oop dunk late in the second quarter. The Time Lord tweaked something in his back and is now done for the night. The Trail Blazers will likely go small when starting center Donovan Clingan is not on the floor.

Williams will be good to go after initially being listed as questionable. He’ll continue to make an impact in limited minutes, which will make him a difficult player to be worth rostering.

Friday’s game is not part of a back-to-back, but Williams is still on the report for injury management reasons. If he’s unable to play against the Mavericks, the Trail Blazers will likely play starting center Donovan Clingan for a few more minutes while going small when he isn’t in the game.