For Weekend Recap this season, I'm going to focus on 10 players who made news or noise over the weekend, whether it be good or bad, and the fantasy impacts that result. Here is some of what you may have missed over the weekend while you were watching football.
Beware the two-game week: The Mavericks, Pistons and Thunder play just two games in Week 5, while 15 teams play four times. Fantasy managers will have some tough decisions to make on guys like Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Ausar Thompson and the entire starting unit for the Thunder.
Thunder shoot lights out from everywhere on Sunday: Speaking of the Thunder, they not only blew out the Blazers 134-91 on Sunday, but set some shooting records along the way. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Thunder are the first team in the last 25 years to shoot at least 60% from the field, 60% from downtown (three-pointers) and 100% from the free throw line in a game. It's just unfortunate that they only have two games this week, on Wednesday and Saturday.
Santi Aldama goes off over the Weekend: Aldama got his weekend off to a great start on Saturday when he came off the bench for 17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal, a block and a three-pointer in an easy win over the Spurs. Then, as the Celtics held on to beat the Grizzlies by two on Sunday, Aldama started over Jacob Gilyard and went off for 28
For Weekend Recap this season, I'm going to focus on 10 players who made news or noise over the weekend, whether it be good or bad, and the fantasy impacts that result. Here is some of what you may have missed over the weekend while you were watching football.
Beware the two-game week: The Mavericks, Pistons and Thunder play just two games in Week 5, while 15 teams play four times. Fantasy managers will have some tough decisions to make on guys like Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Ausar Thompson and the entire starting unit for the Thunder.
Thunder shoot lights out from everywhere on Sunday: Speaking of the Thunder, they not only blew out the Blazers 134-91 on Sunday, but set some shooting records along the way. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Thunder are the first team in the last 25 years to shoot at least 60% from the field, 60% from downtown (three-pointers) and 100% from the free throw line in a game. It's just unfortunate that they only have two games this week, on Wednesday and Saturday.
Santi Aldama goes off over the Weekend: Aldama got his weekend off to a great start on Saturday when he came off the bench for 17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal, a block and a three-pointer in an easy win over the Spurs. Then, as the Celtics held on to beat the Grizzlies by two on Sunday, Aldama started over Jacob Gilyard and went off for 28 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and six three-pointers in the loss.
He started alongside Bismack Biyombo and Jaren Jackson Jr. and played 39 minutes on Sunday and has been cooking over the last three games. His averages over the last three are 23 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.0 blocks and 3.3 three-pointers in 33 minutes per game. The only bad news is that Aldama and the Grizzlies only play three times this week, but if he's available in your league, it's time to pick him up and get him in your lineup.
Marcus Smart out with foot injury: Staying in Memphis, Smart will miss three-to-five weeks with a sprained left foot. John Konchar started on Sunday but scored just two points in 26 minutes and Ziaire Williams came off the bench for six points on 3-of-11 shooting in 24 minutes. Williams looks like the most likely candidate to step up in Smart's absence, but the reality is that Desmond Bane, who scored 30 on Sunday with seven triples, may be the biggest winner as a result of Smart's injury.
Bradley Beal out for at least three weeks: Beal's nightmare of a season will continue with him in street clothes for at least the next three weeks as he deals with a back injury. He's played in just three games thus far and it now looks like we may not see him back on the court until around Christmas time. Beal has averaged just 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.7 3-pointers on 39% shooting on the season. His value is probably too low to trade and he's too good of a player to drop. It's probably best to just put him in your IR spot and prepare to wait this out. Grayson Allen has been starting for the Suns and had 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal, a block and three three-pointers on Sunday and has now scored in double figures in three straight games. Allen is worth a pickup but the Suns only have four games this week.
Miles Bridges plays well in Hornets debut: Bridges finally returned to NBA action for the first time in over a year this weekend and has averages of 18 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.5 triples after playing on Friday and Saturday. The Hornets only play three times in Week 5 but Bridges appears to be worth picking up everywhere for now.
Nicolas Batum comes back to ruin Robert Covington: Batum returned from a personal leave on Sunday and had three points, three rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes, hitting 1-of-1 shots, which was a three-pointer. Unfortunately for Covington, he played just 11 minutes to finish with four points, two rebounds, a steal and a block. Covington had been cruising over his previous two games without Batum, averaging 11 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.0 three-pointers in 28.5 minutes. I'll still use RoCo in my 30-team league but any hope of him being worth a roll of the dice in standard fantasy leagues appears to have been ruined by the return of Batum. Philly plays three times this week.
Lonnie Walker is hot again: Walker went off for 26 points, six rebounds, two assists and six three-pointers on Sunday after hitting 9-of-18 shots for 23 points and two triples on Thursday. He posted a 14-minute dud for five points on Sunday, Nov. 12, but has otherwise been a scoring machine for much of the season. In fact, that was his only single-digit scoring game of the season. The Nets play just three times in Week 5 but Walker is hot enough to be added in most formats.
Keyonte George and Talen Horton-Tucker both played well on Sunday: George has either scored in or assisted in double-digit numbers over his last four games and is averaging 11 points, 3.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 0.8 steals and 1.5 three-pointers over that stretch. He hasn't really put a monster game together yet but he's averaging 30 minutes over his last five games and big things should be coming soon. Utah plays three games this week and then four games in three of their next four weeks.
Horton-Tucker got loose for 25 points and four three-pointers in 29 minutes of Sunday's double-overtime loss to the Suns but wasn't playing too well prior to that explosion. George should be rostered everywhere by now while THT still belongs on waivers unless he can build on Sunday's success going forward.
LeBron James has big weekend with two wins: LeBron hit the game-winning free throw at the end of Sunday's game and scored a season-high 37 points as the Lakers held off the streaking Rockets, giving the L.A. their fifth win in six games. Bron was just one point shy of his age (38) and scored 35 and 28 points in each of his previous two games. Over his last three he's averaging a ridiculous 33 points, 7.0 rebounds, 9.7 assists, 3.0 blocks and 3.3 three-pointers and the Lakers play four games in each of the next two weeks. What a time to be alive, as well as to be one of LeBron's fantasy managers. The man simply hasn't shown his age - yet.
