The NBA knows social media drama like no other league. Just this past Friday evening, reports surfaced from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns were close to completing a three-team deal.
The original three-team deal crumbled late on Friday night (as Woj deftly detailed), but on Saturday, the Wizards and Suns cut out the middlemen, with Washington acquiring forward Trevor Ariza for a second time and Phoenix getting combo guard Austin Rivers and wing Kelly Oubre Jr. in the transaction.
I might be most excited about the fantasy prospects of Mikal Bridges of everyone involved on both rosters. The rookie from Villanova played 40 minutes on Saturday night in an impressive win over the Timberwolves. The addition of Oubre might appear to compromise Bridges' opportunity rates in a similar fashion to Ariza's effect on him at times this season, but I think we'll see Josh Jackson, who logged just 23 minutes and hit 20 percent of his shots against Minnesota, lose opportunity equity in the weeks ahead.
Oubre is a career 32 percent 3-point shooter who has averaged more turnovers than assists for his career. I'm not exactly down on Oubre's game, given he's still just 23 and has a fun block rate to consider, but I'm also hesitant to get excited about this shift, as it's tough to envision him consuming much more than the 27.1 MPG and 10 shots per game he has averaged dating back to the start of last season in Washington.
There is more fantasy appeal for Rivers, in my opinion, who steps into a backcourt that has been pursuing veteran reinforcements ever since Eric Bledsoe was dealt to Milwaukee last fall. Sadly, this move seems to demote rising rookie De'Anthony Melton, as he'll likely lose minutes and touches to Rivers in the coming weeks.
Back to Ariza, he's an interesting speculative addition, assuming he consumes at least the 26 MPG and 11 shots Oubre had as the team's sixth man, but with Porter heading for an MRI on his knee on Monday for an injury that has kept him out of the past three games, Ariza's speculative value is even greater, given context.
With an eye on meaningful fantasy performances and relevant statistical trends, let's delve into the weekend that was in the NBA.
Saturday and Sunday recap
Highlights
Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers: 16 points (7-11 FG), 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 steals, 2 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 19 points (6-14 FG), 20 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 blocks, 1 TO
James Harden, Houston Rockets: 32 points (9-14 FG), 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, 5 TO
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers: 22 points (9-15 FG), 11 rebounds, 14 assists
John Wall, Washington Wizards: 40 points (16-27 FG), 6 rebounds, 14 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 5 TO
Lowlights
Robert Covington, Minnesota Timberwolves: 4 points (1-8 FG), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 TO
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets: 4 points (2-11 FG), 1 rebound, 1 assist
Gordon Hayward, Boston Celtics: 6 points (3-11 FG), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 TO
Justin Holiday, Chicago Bulls: 8 points (1-12 FG), 7 rebounds, 2 assists
Weekend takeaways
Lonzo Ball and LeBron James both turned in triple-doubles in Saturday's win over the Hornets, becoming the first pair of teammates with triple-doubles since way back on Apr. 7, 2007 with Jason Kidd and Vince Carter of the then New Jersey Nets. They are the first pair of Lakers teammates with triple-doubles in a game since Jan. 22, 1982, when these two guys named Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did so. They are just the eighth pair of teammates with a triple-double in the same game in NBA history, per Elias. It marked the 75th career triple-double for James, putting him just three behind Wilt Chamberlain for fifth all-time. James is now 27-1 facing Charlotte since Michael Jordan became majority owner of the team, including an incredible 27-0 facing Kemba Walker in his career. Ball, meanwhile, became the first Lakers player with a triple-double and at least five steals since Magic Johnson on Jan. 24, 1989 against the Knicks.
Speaking of pulling off the Ice Cube special, Simmons produced 22 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists and 0 turnovers in a win for Philly over the Cavs on Sunday afternoon. The zero turnovers stuck out to me -- and for a good reason -- this marked just the fourth game on record with as many points, boards and dimes with no turnovers, and the first since Antoine Walker in 2002. This was Simmons' third triple-double of the season, tied with James Harden for second-most in the NBA this season. With his 15th career triple-double, Simmons breaks his tie with Billy "The Kangaroo Kid" Cunningham for second-most in franchise history (Chamberlain had 62).
Teammate Joel Embiid's monster Friday night included 40 points on 22 shots to go with 21 rebounds. There have been just 11 games in league history where a player has produced as many points and rebounds in as few as 22 shots. Embiid is now slashing for an absurd 26.9 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.9 BPG. Only prime Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal's MVP 1999-2000 season match Embiid's blend of aforementioned production. Roping in Philly's third star, Jimmy Butler returned from a two-game absence with a minor groin injury to deliver an efficient 19-point showing in 25 minutes. The 76ers are 11-3 with Butler in the lineup and 9-8 without him.
Losses are mounting in Atlanta, but this also seems to be part of the plan -- or the "process," as a nod to Philadelphia's journey through the lottery system. Trae Young is struggling with his shot still, but is proving productive as a passer -- he tallied 13 points and 10 assists on Sunday in a blowout loss to the Nets, marking is ninth double-double of the season. We also find John Collins surging as a do-everything frontcourt playmaker for the Hawks. The second-year talent is now averaging 18.5 PPG and 9.3 RPG on 59 percent shooting from the field, joining only Giannis Antetokounmpo in this uniquely efficient production club this season.
The Bulls haven't had a ton of positive news of late, but how about some drama-free fun with Kris Dunn tallying 24 points in his fourth game of the season on Saturday night after totaling 23 points in his previous three games. Dunn netted 16 points in the second half of the comeback win over the Spurs. Dunn is available in free agency in a third of ESPN leagues.
The Pistons ended the Celtics' eight-game winning streak on Saturday, thanks to big games from their frontcourt stalwarts. Blake Griffin is now averaging 28.2 PPG in December, seventh in the NBA during this sample, after averaging 23.3 PPG in November. Griffin's assertion that he's finally back to being fully healthy is proving accurate. Teammate Andre Drummond produced his eighth 20-rebound game this season in the win, while no other player has more than five. Drummond's performance marked only the fifth time on record a player has produced at least 19 points, 20 rebounds, three steals and five blocks since steals became an official stat in the 1973-74 season.
The Pacers' Myles Turner averaged just 11.3 PPG during his first 22 games of the season, but has been stellar during the team's seven-game winning streak with a slash of 16.9 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.6 3PG, and a whopping 3.0 BPG. Turner leads the NBA with 79 blocks and is finally rewarding investors with the type of overall production expected of the talented young rim protector.
Injuries of note
The Mavericks were without J.J. Barea (ankle) and Dennis Smith Jr. (wrist) on Sunday, with Smith's injury creating some concern given he missed time with the injury this past week. If these vets miss any more time, rookie Jalen Brunson becomes a viable streaming play in deeper leagues.
Julius Randle left Sunday's loss to the Heat with an ankle injury. The team doesn't play again until Wednesday, as fantasy managers are now tracking the injury status of both Randle and Nikola Mirotic.
Denver coach Mike Malone implied the team could soon get Will Barton back in the rotation within the next two weeks, per the Denver Post.
Zach LaVine suffered an ugly ankle injury in Mexico City on Saturday in the otherwise rousing win over the Spurs and is expected to miss at least a few games as the team learns more about the ailment.
Analytics advantage for Monday
For those in deeper leagues, it's worth mentioning the recent work of Emmanuel Mudiay for the Knicks. New York has done well canvassing the league for "second draft" assets -- former lottery picks worthy of another look. If it hasn't worked out with Mario Hezonja save for that one hilarious dunk on Antetokounmpo, it helps that Mudiay is averaging 18.5 PPG and 5.8 APG on solid shooting rates in December. Stretch big Noah Vonleh has also reinvented himself in New York.
With this concept of mining for talent, we can build a "stream team" of sorts between the rosters of the Knicks and Suns meeting at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. If Phoenix debuts Rivers and Oubre, it could offer insight into how the rotation will look in the wake of the Ariza deal. It helps the stock of New York players that Phoenix rates 26th in the defensive rating, while we can stack the Suns' young stars, given the Knicks are 29th in the NBA in defensive rating. With a tight spread favoring the Knicks by just 1.5 points and with a healthy enough point total that opened at 218.5, this is a quietly fun game to target for bargains.
Top players to watch tonight
Giannis and Blake meet tonight in Motown. Griffin is an OG unicorn, he of jumping cars during dunk contests and what not. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, leads the NBA in points in the paint and is on a historically good pace for dunk production. Both respective offenses funnel key playmaking duties to these two dynamic forwards, making them premier targets to pay for in daily fantasy competition tonight. Investing in stars from this game and values from the Garden could be a nice recipe for production on Monday.