Fantasy NBA Daily Notes: Cavaliers backcourt growing in value
The performance marked the first game in Garland’s career with at least 25 points and 10 assists. The big line against Orlando pushed Garland’s post-All-Star averages to 19.8 points, 6.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.3 3-pointers. Compare that to his rookie season when he averaged just 12.3 points and 3.9 assists. Note that Sexton’s significant jump in production midway through his second professional campaign saw him contribute 24.1 points and 4.2 assists per game over his final 24 games.
Sexton has sustained and even improved as a dynamic scorer this season. While there haven’t been many exciting stories to emerge from Cleveland this season, Garland’s leap as a scorer and playmaker appears to be real. Hopefully, he’ll follow Sexton’s path and continue to improve from this point forward. It will quite interesting to see how closely Sexton and Garland are taken in fantasy drafts next fall.
Highlights
Lonzo Ball, New Orleans Pelicans: 16 points (6-14 FG), 12 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks
Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs: 22 points (8-17 FG), 10 rebounds, 11 assists
Lowlights
Robert Covington, Portland Trail Blazers: 0 points (0-6 FG), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks
Danilo Gallinari, Atlanta Hawks: 4 points (1-9 FG), 5 rebounds, 1 assist
Not only would adding Denver’s Facundo Campazzo to your fantasy team help you pace your league in awesome names, you’d also be getting yourself a productive passing guard. Campazzo has thrived in recent games as a secondary playmaker to Nikola Jokic, averaging 10.3 points and 10 assists over the last three games. Yet, Campazzo is currently rostered in just 7.8% of ESPN leagues.
Orlando’s Gary Harris has quietly been putting together some solid lines for the Magic. Just last night, Harris had 19 points and 13 combined rebounds and assists in a win over the Cavaliers. With 14-plus points in five of his last seven games and the freedom to find his shot with Orlando, Harris could be a worthy waiver target for the final weeks of the season. Redshirt rookie Chuma Okeke was also impressive for Orlando, as he scored 18 points for the second straight game.
Just in case you needed a reminder, make sure you stream and start any relevant players against the Kings. Even a depleted Jazz roster set franchise records for points in a game (154) and margin of victory (+49) last night. The Kings are on pace to finish the season with the worst defensive rating in NBA history.
Washington’s Russell Westbrook is quickly approaching Oscar Robertson’s career triple-double mark — what was once thought of as an unreachable record. Westbrook, after yet another statistical opus last night, now has 176 triple-doubles in his career, leaving him just six shy of passing “The Big O” for the most in NBA history. What makes Westbrook’s pursuit of history so impressive is that he only had eight triple-doubles after his first six NBA seasons. For comparison, Robertson had 148 through his first six seasons. Westbrook has gone to another level in April, recording 13 triple-doubles just this month — the most in any one calendar month in NBA history.
Chris Boucher and Gary Trent Jr. have both been ruled out of Toronto’s meeting with the Nuggets tonight.
Golden State’s Kelly Oubre Jr. is listed as doubtful to play due to a left wrist injury.
The Detroit Pistons have ruled out Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee, and Cory Joseph for tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. With this collection of players off the floor this season, rookie guard Killian Hayes has seen the largest leap in fantasy output — a sizable 11.7 more DraftKings points (per 36 minutes). Josh Jackson also becomes a marquee scorer without this collection of veteran teammates, scoring 24.7 points (per 36) in these games. My top fantasy target for Detroit, however, is Isaiah Stewart. The rookie center has been a force whenever Plumlee sits, averaging 13.6 points, 13.3 rebounds, and a ridiculous 4.2 combined steals and blocks (per 36).
With Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner both ruled out for the Indiana Pacers’ matchup against the Nets, rising big man Oshae Brissett likely gets another start and a robust workload. If you missed out on adding Stewart ahead of what should be a big game, Brissett is a fine alternative from the waiver wire.