Semi

Ojeleye

Ojeleye, a second-round pick of the Celtics in 2017, is the latest NBA free agent to decide to head to Europe for the next phase of his professional career. He appeared in 27 games last season for the Bucks and Clippers, averaging 3.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 13.5 minutes per.

The five-year veteran never caught on with the Clippers’ rotation, averaging 4.1 points on 41% shooting, 1.6 boards and little else in 10 appearances. Speculating about his next move would be meaningless for fantasy purposes.

L.A. played musical chairs with roster spots to get Coffey on the regular roster. He takes the spot of recently-waived Semi Ojeleye, while his former two-way slot will go to G League call-up Xavier Moon. Coffey has struggled to help fantasy managers in recent months, but he’s coming off a 21-point game and should benefit from the minutes restrictions on Reggie Jackson, Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris.

Covington rejoined his teammates at practice on Tuesday, and he’ll be good to go Wednesday night. His return will mean a decrease in minutes for either Semi Ojeleye or Rodney Hood, neither of whom offered much in the way of fantasy value when RoCo was away from the team.

Rodney Hood has also been moved to Los Angeles with the Clippers sending Serge Ibaka to the Bucks. Ojeleye is a defensive specialist with a tank of a frame, but he’s guaranteed a rotation spot on his new team.

This doesn’t mean a whole lot as he’s not a guy you need to consider for fantasy.

Nwora, Semi Ojeleye and Thanasis Antetokounmpo are all available after spending time in protocols and conditioning, and we have our eye on Nwora specifically tonight. Giannis Antetokounmpo (non-COVID illness) isn’t playing, and Nwora has put up averages of 11.8 points, 6.4 boards and 1.1 steals per game in eight games without the Greek Freak this season, so he looks like a great guy to target tonight. The other two are not nearly as attractive, which is always the case.

Ojeleye doesn’t play enough to be a relevant fantasy option on most nights. But with Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton currently in the league’s protocols, Ojeleye is well-positioned to pick up playing time if he’s cleared for Wednesday’s game. There’s still no need to consider streaming him, however.

There are no fantasy implications here as Semi is not a rotation player.

Prior to Saturday, Ojeleye had not played in a game since November 19, so his being rusty was to be expected. There’s no need to consider streaming him, even if Giannis Antetokounmpo (protocols) and Khris Middleton (knee) remain sidelined for an extended period of time.