The Big Trade Fallout
Donte DiVincenzo went crazy with a career-high 38 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals, a block and seven three-pointers against the Pacers on Friday, the day O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa were sent to the Knicks for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. DiVincenzo had been starting for the Knicks for most of December and is an automatic pickup until we see how things shake out in New York.
I think the starting five will be Jalen Brunson, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein with Josh Hart coming off the bench. If that's the case, Hart could take a fantasy hit, but while we've already seen the greatest game DiVincenzo will ever play, he needs to held onto until we see how he fares on Monday against the Timberwolves. Keep an eye on Achiuwa, as well, as he could eat into some of the big minutes Hartenstein has been getting as the last center standing in New York.
Quickley should start for the Raptors, likely pushing Dennis Schroder to the bench, and is another must-add player from this trade. The Raps should use a starting five of Scottie Barnes, Quickley, Barrett, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl. That would move Gary Trent Jr. to the bench which will potentially damage his fantasy value some. The Raptors host the Cavaliers on Monday night, which will give us a better idea of what will happen in Toronto going forward.
Pistons win!
I guess I
The Big Trade Fallout
Donte DiVincenzo went crazy with a career-high 38 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals, a block and seven three-pointers against the Pacers on Friday, the day O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa were sent to the Knicks for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. DiVincenzo had been starting for the Knicks for most of December and is an automatic pickup until we see how things shake out in New York.
I think the starting five will be Jalen Brunson, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein with Josh Hart coming off the bench. If that's the case, Hart could take a fantasy hit, but while we've already seen the greatest game DiVincenzo will ever play, he needs to held onto until we see how he fares on Monday against the Timberwolves. Keep an eye on Achiuwa, as well, as he could eat into some of the big minutes Hartenstein has been getting as the last center standing in New York.
Quickley should start for the Raptors, likely pushing Dennis Schroder to the bench, and is another must-add player from this trade. The Raps should use a starting five of Scottie Barnes, Quickley, Barrett, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl. That would move Gary Trent Jr. to the bench which will potentially damage his fantasy value some. The Raptors host the Cavaliers on Monday night, which will give us a better idea of what will happen in Toronto going forward.
Pistons win!
I guess I could have put this under Trade Fallout, as well, since the Raptors were left short handed from the trade and then lost to the Pistons on Friday night 129-127. As you probably know, that snapped the Pistons' 28-game losing streak as Detroit got 30 points and 12 assists from Cade Cunningham, 18 points and 17 boards from Jalen Duren, and all five Pistons starters hit double figures in scoring. Siakam scored 35 for the Raptors and Schroder had his best game of the season with 30 points and nine assists and it will be interesting to see what the Raptors point guard rotation looks like a week from now.
Deni Avdija is hot
Avdija went through a dry spell a couple weeks ago, scoring in single digits in five of six straight games but is suddenly on fire. He's double-doubled in back-to-back games, has three of them in his last six games played and has averaged 16.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.8 blocks and 2.0 triples over his last three games. The only downside is that he only has three games this week.
Andre Drummond is cooking
Drummond has made three straight starts for the Bulls with Nikola Vucevic out with a groin injury and it's been quite the party. Drummond has averaged 15.3 points, 21.3 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.7 blocks in them. Vuc should miss another week with the injury and the Bulls play three times in Week 11. If Drummond is somehow still available in your league, he's worth using for the next three games. But after that, all bets are off.
Victor Wembanyama to play in all three games this week?
Speaking of three-game weeks, Wemby has missed two of the Spurs last five games and Gregg Popovich has said that he will rest the big man in back-to-back situations until he's fully over his ankle injury. The good news is that the Spurs play three games this week and none of them are in a back-to-back set. Hopefully, that means a full week of Wemby for those of us who roster him.
Jalen Johnson should be rostered
Johnson came through with 24 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of Sunday's win over the Wizards. He's fully healthy again and should continue to see a ton of minutes with De'Andre Hunter out with a knee injury until further notice. Once Hunter is ready to play, Saddiq Bey is going to take a significant hit, although that might already be happening with the return and emergence of Johnson.
Josh Giddey still has it
Giddey struggled with his scoring earlier in the season and had fantasy managers pulling out their hair but he came through with 20 points, six rebounds and five dimes on Sunday. His season high in scoring is 21 points and that happened way back in October, so hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
Jimmy Butler out again on Monday
Butler's latest foot injury has him back on the shelf as the missed games are really starting to pile up. He won't play on Monday and is iffy for the entire three-game week. Jaime Jaquez Jr., per usual, should be rostered everywhere, regardless of Butler's status. But when Butler's out, he's simply a must-start fantasy player.
Aaron Gordon is back
Gordon took 21 stitches after an incident with a dog on Christmas Day and while he hasn't officially been cleared to play on Monday, he said on Sunday that he's ready to go. If he's not back on Monday, he should be good to go for Thursday and he should be in all weekly starting lineups with a four-game week in Week 11. If you picked up Peyton Watson, the party is over.
Plan ahead
Thirteen teams play four times next week in Week 12, while the Nets and Cavs somehow have just one game, and the Sixers only have two. Having a bunch of guys who play four times instead of getting just one game from a few is huge in head-to-head formats so take a look at your waiver wire and start planning ahead for Week 12. It's going to be a weird one. Check out the full weekly schedule breakdown here.
