Joe Kaiser, ESPN Staff Writer 4y

Fantasy 30: Kristaps Porzingis hurt, Suns stand pat

Fantasy NBA, NBA, Fantasy

Are you totally up-to-date on what's happening around the NBA? You have to be if you want to stay ahead of the competition in your fantasy league.

To help, I've done the work for you and compiled a look at the most fantasy-relevant news and notes for all 30 teams around the league.

Atlanta Hawks: Newly acquired big man Clint Capela is an exciting addition to the Hawks' frontcourt, but it could be a little while before he dons a Hawks jersey. Capela's heel injury is reportedly more serious than initially thought. According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic, "There's a growing sense internally he could be out for a while, at least until after the All-Star break." Once Capela is available, he and John Collins will give the Hawks one of the most efficient frontcourts in the league, but the two could eat into one another's scoring and rebounding production.

Boston Celtics: The Celtics were among the teams that made an offer for Pistons forward Christian Wood, per James Edwards III of The Athletic. The Celtics could use reinforcement in the frontcourt with Enes Kanter proving to be injury prone and Daniel Theis (ankle) and Robert Williams III (hip) both out, among others. On Wednesday, Jaylen Brown injured his ankle in the final minute of the game against the Magic and can be considered day-to-day.

Brooklyn Nets: Caris LeVert might be turning the corner this season, even if helped by the absence of Kyrie Irving (knee) and favorable matchups against the Suns and Warriors. During his past two games, LeVert has put up 26.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 7.5 APG. He remains available in 43.1% of ESPN leagues.

Charlotte Hornets: Remember when Devonte' Graham came out of nowhere and was all the rage in November. Well, his season has still been quite remarkable overall, but from a fantasy perspective the poor shooting since November has been troubling -- particularly for fantasy managers in roto leagues. Graham posted a 33.0 FG% in December, then 36.6% in January and is at 37.5% for the season. After being a top-30 type of fantasy option in the early going, the shooting woes drop him into the 50-60 range.

Chicago Bulls: Kris Dunn (sprained MCL) will be sidelined through the All-Star break and is currently in the midst of a two-week phase of immobilization and physical therapy. Dunn, who has been out since Jan. 29, ranks second in the league with 2.0 SPG. Only Philadelphia's Ben Simmons (2.1) has more.

Cleveland Cavaliers: A strained quad has slowed Tristan Thompson, keeping him out of the lineup since Feb. 1, but in the six games before that, he wasn't himself from an offensive perspective. That's a bit concerning. Thompson, who has averaged a career-high 11.9 PPG this season, failed to score more than seven points in five of his previous six games before missing time. Andre Drummond is now on the Cavaliers, which complicates Thompson's role and throws his production even further into doubt.

Dallas Mavericks: Kristaps Porzingis broke his nose in Wednesday's loss to the Grizzlies and he is scheduled to see a doctor on Thursday. If he's unable to play Friday against the Wizards, it will mean a bigger role for Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith and Willie Cauley-Stein. Keep an eye on his status leading up to that one against Washington, which has the worst defense in the league (114.1 points allowed per 100 possessions).

Denver Nuggets: After missing nearly three weeks with an ankle injury, Jamal Murray returned this week and played in both ends of a back-to-back against Portland and Utah, which is an encouraging sign that he's all the way back from the injury. Murray scored 20 points in 20 minutes against Portland on Tuesday then went for 31 points in a whopping 43 minutes at Utah the next night.

Detroit Pistons: Christian Wood can be expected to see a spike in minutes and production with Drummond having been dealt to Cleveland and Blake Griffin done for the year. Wood, an undrafted third-year pro out of UNLV, has averaged 33.0 MPG during the past two games and added 19.0 PPG and 6.5 RPG to the cause. He remains available in 72.2% of ESPN leagues.

Golden State Warriors: The Warriors are sure to take their fair share of criticism after dealing D'Angelo Russell for Andrew Wiggins, a player who has never reached a PER of 17.0 in his six NBA seasons. But Wiggins has quietly managed a career-high 25.9 points-per-40 minutes this season and 6.0 rebounds-per-40 minutes. Along with that, Wiggins' 3.7 APG is far and away the best of his career. He will have an opportunity to put up big numbers on an undermanned Warriors team, which now is without Russell, Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III.

Houston Rockets: Russell Westbrook (sprained thumb) sat out Tuesday's game against Charlotte and is considered questionable for Thursday's game against the Lakers. If Westbrook doesn't play, James Harden will benefit statistically and Ben McLemore, Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers, Danuel House Jr. and Robert Covington all have a chance to see an uptick in scoring.

Indiana Pacers: T.J. Warren has dealt with his share of injuries throughout his NBA career, and he's dealing with another one -- a concussion. The efficient Pacers forward passed two of the tests required by the league to return but still has two more to pass before he's allowed to return for Friday's game against Toronto. If he cannot go, Justin Holiday figures to get a bump in fantasy value against the Raptors.

LA Clippers: The Clippers improved their roster shortly before the trade deadline by acquiring veteran power forward Marcus Morris Sr. from the Knicks for a package that includes Maurice Harkless. While this adds depth to a championship-caliber Clippers squad, it is a big blow for fantasy managers who have Morris, who was averaging a career-high 19.6 PPG and 2.7 3PG in his first season with the Knicks.

Los Angeles Lakers: How about this for a LeBron James reunion? According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Lakers are expected to work out sharpshooting veteran JR Smith. The workout could happen as soon as next week. Currently, the Lakers have six players averaging at least 1.0 3PG, but Smith could conceivably provide a lift as a long-range shooter off the bench. Stay tuned.

Memphis Grizzlies: With all the impressive first- and second-year players on the Grizzlies, it's easy to overlook the grizzled veteran, Jonas Valanciunas. He put up 17.0 PPG in his first two games in February, and the bump in scoring is a trend that has continued all season. Valanciunas averaged 11.8 PPG in October, 14.1 PPG in November, 15.6 PPG in December and 16.2 PPG in January.

Miami Heat: The addition of a savvy glue player, defender and ball handler -- with three championships on his resume -- like Andre Iguodala is quite a move by the Heat. But how will Iguodala impact the Heat rotation? It will take time for him to get into game shape, but once that happens don't be surprised if Iguodala helps the Heat lessen the load that Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson have been carrying -- especially those latter three young guys.

Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton has always been seen as a solid glue player, and before 2019-20 he had never finished a season with a PER above 17.45. Any guesses where he is this season? Try 22.25! His usage rate is at an all-time high of 25.6 and his true shooting percentage of 63.0 dwarfs his previous best of 57.7. This has helped Middleton score a career-high 20.3 PPG  despite playing just 29.2 MPG, his lowest since his rookie season.

Minnesota Timberwolves: In acquiring the long sought-after trade target, D'Angelo Russell, the Timberwolves add a player who is among the league's best in threes made per game. In fact, Russell's 3.6 3PG ranks fourth in the league behind only James Harden, Damian Lillard and Buddy Hield. While Russell's 37.4 3P% might not seem amazing, it is a career high -- breaking last season's mark of 36.9%.

New Orleans Pelicans: One of the most encouraging parts of Zion Williamson's early NBA career is how quickly he has been able to ramp up his minutes. After logging 18 minutes in his debut on Jan. 22 and 21 minutes two days later, he has played 27 minutes or more in every game since and averaged 30.4 MPG during the past four games. If anything, the Pelicans might have to worry about ramping up too fast.

New York Knicks: Dealing Morris to the Clippers opens up things for veteran big men Bobby Portis and Taj Gibson to possibly see a larger role. Julius Randle has already been averaging 32.5 MPG, so that probably won't change much, but Portis (21.0 MPG) and Gibson (16.4 MPG) as well as Mitchell Robinson (22.7 MPG) and Kevin Knox II (18.6 MPG) all have room to see gains in their time on the floor.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Dennis Schroder all stayed in Oklahoma City, as none were dealt by Thursday's trade deadline. This is particularly meaningful for someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is already the team's leading scorer at 19.5 PPG. He likely would have seen an even greater need to score had Schroder (19.3 PPG), Gallinari (19.1 PPG) or Paul (17.0 PPG) been traded.

Orlando Magic: Markelle Fultz has turned around his career this season with the Magic, and slowly but surely he is turning himself into more of a distributor. A big, athletic point guard once known more for his scoring ability, Fultz dished out a career-high 14 assists in Monday's win over the Hornets. He is at just 4.8 APG on the season, but he has put up 5.8 APG during the past 10 games and has at least five in each of his past four games.

Philadelphia 76ers: Josh Richardson (hamstring) is out for the road game in Milwaukee on Thursday, but he took part in 3-on-3 work in Tuesday's practice and did some individual work on Wednesday. Richardson, who hasn't played since Jan. 22, could return in one of the three games leading up to the All-Star break. If he doesn't, though, he will get some extra rest and wouldn't have to play until the 76ers' first game back on Feb. 20.

Phoenix Suns: The Suns stood pat at the trade deadline, which has to be infuriating for their long-suffering fan base, seeing this as a window to win while Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton are on the roster. Nothing says more about the 2019-20 Suns than that they rank No. 16 in the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency, scoring 108.1 points per 100 possessions and allowing 108.0 points per 100 possessions.

Portland Trail Blazers: This was the season to draft Damian Lillard in your fantasy leagues. The eighth-year pro has put up career-highs in scoring (29.7), assists (7.9) and 3-pointers made per game (3.9) ranking third, sixth and second in those categories, respectively. Without many other scoring options on the court and CJ McCollum having a down season, Lillard is having the best season of his career by almost every metric.

Sacramento Kings: The Kings added frontcourt depth Wednesday by moving Dewayne Dedmon to Atlanta for Jabari Parker and Alex Len, and they are expected to get a little more size very soon as Richaun Holmes (shoulder) is nearing a return. Holmes went through practice on Wednesday and he could return as soon as Friday against Miami. Holmes has been out since Jan. 6, and he figures to provide a spark, especially with Marvin Bagley III (foot) out for at least another two weeks.

San Antonio Spurs: When 34-year-old power forwards in their 14th NBA season go through a rough stretch, you need to take notice. That's exactly what's happening to LaMarcus Aldridge. In his past five games, Aldridge has scored 10 points or fewer three times. On top of that, his 7.4 RPG this season is the second-lowest of his career since his rookie season way back in 2006-07.

Toronto Raptors: The Raptors had to deal with losing Kawhi Leonard over the summer (old news) and have been hampered by injuries to their top players throughout the season, but if there's a constant in Toronto it's the team's stellar defense. Despite all we mentioned above, the Raptors rank second in the league behind only Milwaukee in defensive efficiency (101.9 points allowed per 100 possessions). Think about that before streaming or starting players against them.

Utah Jazz: A move back into the starting lineup might be just what veteran Mike Conley needed to jump start his woeful season. Since replacing Royce O'Neale in the starting five two games back, Conley has put up 21.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 4.5 APG and played 32.0 MPG. While this development is great for Conley, the same can't be said for O'Neale. Just when it looked like he might be worth adding as a streamer due to his assists, his fantasy value has plummeted.

Washington Wizards: With the Wizards shipping Isaiah Thomas to the Clippers as part of the three-team deal involving Morris, Ish Smith becomes a bigger factor once again. If you recall, Smith came up big in his usual distributor role when Thomas missed time last month. He becomes an excellent source of assists for the duration of the season for the rebuilding Wizards.

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