Dealing with short-handed rosters is now a reality in fantasy hoops. With so many players sidelined due to the league's health and safety protocol, we've been seeing massive shifts in roles and rotations around the league. For instance, with Atlanta Hawks offensive engine Trae Young not available to play against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday evening, Cam Reddish erupted with the top DraftKings score among wings.
Reddish scored a career-high 34 points in the loss to Orlando, becoming just the seventh Hawks player over the last decade with at least 35 points and five 3-pointers in the same game. The depleted Hawks gave Reddish his first start of the season and he ended up playing a season-high 42 minutes -- this just few days removed from playing 14 minutes against Denver.
Such fluctuations in opportunity rates are now the norm in the NBA. With the Hawks likely to still be short-handed heading into Philadelphia tonight, it's quite possible that Reddish will continue to be an important part of Atlanta's plans.
Wednesday recap
Highlights
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder: 27 points (10-24 FG), 11 rebounds, 12 assists
Cam Reddish, Atlanta Hawks: 34 points (11-23 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks
Lowlights
Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics: 4 points (1-7 FG), 2 rebounds, 4 assists
Wednesday takeaways
Milwaukee's Jordan Nwora has been stellar for several games now in place of Bobby Portis, who has been in the league's healthy and safety protocol. Nwora posted 18 points and nine rebounds in a win over Houston last night. He's now averaged 20 points and 11 boards during his last three games, all starts. Nwora is rostered in just 3.5% of ESPN leagues.
Boston's Robert Williams III posted a brilliant line against a depleted Cleveland team that was missing top defenders Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Even if the matchup was somewhat soft, Williams set a new career-high with 21 points, to go along with an impressive seven assists and four combined blocks and steals in an efficient double-double performance.
The surge from Sacramento's Tyrese Haliburton continued in a loss to the Clippers, as he joined Larry Drew (1981) as the only Kings players ever with at least 20 points and 10 dimes in four straight games -- and just the third player age 21 or younger to do so, joining Trae Young and Luka Doncic. It will be interesting to see how De'Aaron Fox and Haliburton coexist in the coming weeks in the wake of this impressive stretch from the second-year guard.
In a somewhat random outcome, Orlando's Robin Lopez tallied 10 points and a career-high 11 assists in the win over Atlanta last night. His six assists in the fourth quarter tied for the most in a final quarter by a starting center over the last 25 seasons. Unique things will happen when a team's entire backcourt is sidelined.
Injuries of note
The most significant injury news of the day is Derrick Rose requiring ankle surgery, which will shelve New York's most trusted playmaker for at least two months. Kemba Walker's resurgence in the rotation now appears to be sustainable, given Rose's extended absence.
Richaun Holmes is due to return to the Kings' starting lineup this evening after having missed seven games due to an eye injury.
Malcolm Brogdon is listed as questionable to play for the Pacers against the visiting Rockets due to a sore Achilles. With T.J. McConnell sidelined, Caris LeVert stands to take on distribution duties.
Analytics advantage for Thursday
The Pelicans won't have Jonas Valanciunas for tonight's game in Orlando against a short-handed Magic roster. With the team's top glass cleaner off the floor, it's actually guard Josh Hart who sees the highest uptick in fantasy points per minute. One of the better rebounding guards in the league, Hart (rostered in just 31% of ESPN leagues) has posted 15.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per 36 minutes with Valanciunas off the floor this season.
DFS discussion
DeMarcus Cousins, Milwaukee Bucks: Boogie is back. The Bucks play a Dallas team that is light on size and rebounding, while Cousins posted 18 points and eight boards in 28 minutes last night against the Rockets.
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers: The 76ers will be without Danny Green, Shake Milton, Andre Drummond, and Georges Niang for tonight's game against Atlanta. The absence of Milton means Maxey will have light competition for running the offense and creating his own looks.