Fantasy 30: More assists, fewer points for LeBron

ByJOE KAISER
December 6, 2016, 8:11 PM

— -- Injuries are still a problem for several teams around the NBA, but thankfully other stories are the focus for many teams over the last seven days.

Here's a list of the most fantasy-relevant news and notes for all 30 teams around the league heading into the seventh week of the season:

Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap is a game-time decision for Monday's game against Oklahoma City after missing the last three games due to a left hip injury. "We'll see how today goes," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I do think he's making progress." Mike Muscala has filled in as the starting power forward in Millsap's absence, but the Hawks have lost six games in a row and clearly aren't the same without Millsap.

Boston Celtics: A great stat courtesy of NBA on ESPN over the weekend. Isaiah Thomas, the last pick of the 2011 NBA draft, now has scored more points in his NBA career than the combined total of every other player picked last since 1989.

Brooklyn Nets: Trevor Booker missed his first game of the season on Saturday against Milwaukee due to an illness, but he took part in shootaround Monday and is expected to be available without restrictions for the game against Washington. Booker's return will move Anthony Bennett back to the bench after the former No. 1 overall pick went for seven points and 14 rebounds in a spot start against the Bucks.

Charlotte Hornets: Only once in Nicolas Batum's career has he finished a season shooting under 42.3 percent from the field. That came in 2014-15, when he shot 40 percent in an injury-riddled season. Why do we bring this up? Because the veteran swingman enters play on Monday shooting just 38.2 percent on the season.

Chicago Bulls: The Bulls will be without starting point guard Rajon Rondo on Monday against Portland. Rondo was suspended for reportedly getting into a heated exchanged with a Bulls assistant coach. Jerian Grant, who scored 18 points and added three rebounds, two assists and five steals the last time he started a game against Portland this season, has been named Rondo's replacement in the starting lineup.

Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James' 23.3 PPG is the lowest mark since his rookie season of 2003-04, when he averaged 20.9, but before you get too down on King James, you have to consider the fact that his 9.4 APG would be a career-high. The only other time he averaged at least eight assists in a game came in 2009-10 when he put up 8.6.

Dallas Mavericks: Deron Williams has been cleared to play more than 30 minutes, which makes him more of a fantasy option in season-long and daily leagues as long as he can hold up in the months ahead. Williams had been playing only around 25 minutes a game prior to the last two games against Charlotte and Chicago, when he averaged 30.5 minutes, 11.5 points and 11.5 assists.

Denver Nuggets: Nikola Jokic has been sidelined the last two games with a wrist injury sustained last week against Miami, and he has already been ruled out for the next two games as well. If you're thinking that Jusuf Nurkic will be the beneficiary of more playing time in Jokic's absence, think again; Nurkic played only 20 minutes against Houston on Friday and saw his minutes fall to 13 in the loss to Utah a day later.

Detroit Pistons: Reggie Jackson's long-awaited return to the lineup on Sunday means good things for the Pistons, but not if you're an Ish Smith fantasy owner. Smith came off the bench and played 25 minutes in the loss to Orlando, but that came in a game when Jackson played only 23 minutes in his season debut. Once Jackson starts playing closer to the amount of minutes he played last season (30.7 minutes per game), there's a good chance Smith's playing time will dwindle even more.

Golden State Warriors: It's a good week to have a couple Warriors on your fantasy teams. Golden State plays a league-high five games this week and enters as the league's most efficient offense, scoring 114.8 points per 100 possessions.

Houston Rockets: It's safe to say that Ryan Anderson is out of his early-season shooting slump. The veteran stretch-4 has shot 50 percent or better in four consecutive games and gone 14-for-26 from 3-point range in that span.

Indiana Pacers: The Pacers are being outrebounded by an average of 4.8 per game, the worst rebound differential in the NBA. Several factors go into this, and Paul George being out for six games didn't help, but one of the issues might be the size of Myles Turner. At 6-foot-11, 243 pounds, he's undersized by NBA center standards, and he's averaging only 7.5 rebounds per game.

Los Angeles Clippers: DeAndre Jordan has five straight games with at least 13 rebounds and enters the week ranked slightly behind Andre Drummond (13 RPG) for third in the league with 12.9. Hassan Whiteside leads the way with 14.9 RPG.

Los Angeles Lakers: The absence of D'Angelo Russell and Nick Young means many things to the Lakers' lineup, and one of those things is more playing time for the likes of Jordan Clarkson and Louis Williams. Clarkson has averaged 30.8 minutes over the last five games, while Williams erupted for a season-high 40 points last game and has averaged 26.8 minutes in his last five contests.

Memphis Grizzlies: As had been rumored for days, veteran Toney Douglas has signed on with the Grizzlies, and his presence in the backcourt will likely cut into the playing time of young guards Andrew Harrison and Wade Baldwin IV. Harrison has averaged 28.6 minutes in the last five games, while the rookie Baldwin has logged at least 18 minutes in each of the last three games. In other news, the team has announced that James Ennis (calf) and Chandler Parsons (knee) will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.

Miami Heat: James Johnson (rotator cuff), Dion Waiters (groin) and Justise Winslow (wrist) have all been ruled out for Tuesday's game against New York. Unless Josh Richardson (ankle) returns from a three-game absence, the Heat will likely roll out a starting five of Goran Dragic, Wayne Ellington, Rodney McGruder, Josh McRoberts and Hassan Whiteside again on Tuesday.

Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 24.3 PPG, 10 RPG, 6.3 APG and a league-best 3.7 steals per game in three games. Right now the 3-pointer is the only glaring omission from the Greek Freak's well-rounded game, but he went 4-of-12 from long range last week, and that's encouraging both in terms of 3-pointers made and 3s attempted.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Minnesota has a top-10 offense with a bright young nucleus and a defensive-minded coach in Tom Thibodeau, but its defense is a big problem right now. The Timberwolves rank 22nd in the league on that side of the ball, allowing 106.5 points per 100 possessions, and their starting five of Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns is allowing 110.3 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com/Stats.

New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Davis enters the seventh week of the NBA season leading the league in scoring (31.8), blocks (2.75), minutes (37.5) and Player Efficiency Rating (31.87). He is also seventh in rebounding (11.2) and eighth in usage rate (31.3). Now, if he can just stay healthy.

New York Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis ended last week in a small shooting slump, following a 2-of-12 performance against Minnesota with a 6-of-18 outing against Sacramento. Even still, Porzingis is shooting 47 percent from the field on the season, a huge improvement from his rookie season (42.1 percent).

Oklahoma City Thunder: How impressive is the fact that Russell Westbrook already has 10 triple-doubles in 21 games this season? Consider this: the rest of the players in the league have combined for 11 triple-doubles, with James Harden (four) and LeBron James (three) being the only others with more than one.

Orlando Magic: Jodie Meeks made his season debut for Orlando on Friday and averaged 16.5 minutes and 8.5 points in games against Philadelphia and Detroit. He provides the Magic with some much-needed perimeter shooting, but he's a 3-point specialist who isn't worth consideration in fantasy leagues with 14 teams or less.

Philadelphia 76ers: Nerlens Noel remains without a target date to return to the 76ers, but Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports it won't happen in the 76ers' next two road games, Tuesday against Memphis and Thursday against New Orleans. Once Noel returns, Jahlil Okafor is the player who's most likely to have his playing time impacted.

Phoenix Suns: Eric Bledsoe made a career-high five 3-pointers in the loss to Golden State on Saturday, but that is not indicative of the type of season the veteran point guard is having from long range. Bledsoe is shooting just 31.8 from beyond the arc this season, which would be his lowest percentage since his second season (2011-12) when he shot 20 percent while with the Clippers.

Portland Trail Blazers: Al-Farouq Aminu has been upgraded to probable for Monday's game against Chicago. Aminu has missed the last 13 games due to a strained left calf and immediately upgrades a Portland defense that ranks worst in the league (109.6 points allowed per 100 possessions). Aminu should also help the Blazers on the offensive end, but in order to do so, he'll have to show improvement from his slow start; the veteran forward was shooting 27.4 percent in eight games prior to the injury.

Sacramento Kings: Rudy Gay's scoring numbers are down a bit in recent weeks, as he has averaged 17.4 PPG in his last 10 games, but the veteran's assist numbers are higher than they've been in years. In fact, if the season ended today, his 3.1 APG would be the second-highest mark in his 11-year NBA career.

San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs have four losses this season, and surprisingly, all of them have come in front of the home crowd. They'll be tested this week as they begin a three-game road trip against Milwaukee before heading to Minnesota and Chicago.

Toronto Raptors: The Warriors may lead the league in offensive efficiency, but few realize that the Raptors are right behind them with 113.8 points scored per 100 possessions. Next closest on the list is Houston (110.5), while Philadelphia ranks last (96.5).

Utah Jazz: To say that the scoring has picked up recently for Gordon Hayward would be an understatement. He has scored 24 or more points in each of the last five games and gone for at least 31 in each of the last three (against Houston, Miami and Denver). The seven-year veteran had never averaged more than 20 points in a season entering this campaign, but that will likely change this season; he is at 22.8 PPG right now and has averaged 28.6 PPG in the last five games.

Washington Wizards: John Wall turned it over 11 times last Monday against Sacramento and is averaging 4.5 turnovers per game this season. This is a disturbing trend for the Wizards point guard, especially when you consider that his 4.1 turnovers per game last season was a career-high.