Well, instead of booing the National Anthem, Canadian Jamal Murray ended up dropping 55 points with 4 assists and 4 rebounds on 20-36 FG and 7-13 from three against the Trail Blazers. True, Portland is not the best litmus, and this may have nothing to do with the tariffs at all (ya think?) or terrible puns, but it’s reassuring to see that Murray isn’t actually dead and can still put up numbers. Career high in points type of numbers, mind you.
And it hasn’t just been last night, Murray has provided 26 PPG along with 6.5 assists on 62% TS over the last 10 games, which includes an 8-game Nuggets win streak. To be fair, since I mentioned the Blazers, that same stretch has been the Pelicans twice, Blazers twice, and the Suns (KD-less), Magic, Sixers (lol) and Hornets, so gauge that how you will. Worst contract in the league? Maybe? Worst fantasy value? Meh, I’m definitely not there yet at 21/4/6…
One more Nugget (amazing, right?): Christian Braun update, he is currently at 15/5/2 with 58/37/83, which seems very Christian Braun.
And talking about questionable contracts, Lauri Markkanen went 32/5 with a +35 against the Lakers and LeLuka (Luka checked out with 16/4/4 on -19). The Lakers are interesting since the Williams trade fell through, in that you’ll get a piece like this (lol) that states the Lakers have the second-best chance to make it to the Finals. Sure, the team has LeBron and Doncic, no doubt, but is Alex Len the answer at Center? Do they have a functioning front court? Where’s the defense? I think it’s a good team, but they’re not going anywhere in the playoffs until next year. I might be wrong, but that’s the better take than calling them them essentially the second best team in the league.
Anyways, since it’s an emerging theme, let’s talk about another questionable contract player…
Now, I’ve been a real grow-up in not dunking super hard on Paul George (same can’t be said about the Sixers), but I think anyone who was paying attention knew that there was definitely going to be a rough year, especially coming out of the gate with an injury earlier in the year. But last night’s 2 points on 1/7 FG in a loss against the Nets just solidifies the fact that the Sixers season is over. All they needed was Tobias Harris-plus, but they got a worse player AND a worse contract.
Recently named All-Star Trae Young put up 38 points and 19 assists in a loss against his favorite team, the Knicks, but it wasn’t enough as Karl Anthony Towns (another All-Star) put up 44 points and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors had been on a mini-two-game win streak after acquiring emo Jimmy Butler (I am happy to carry on the tradition on addressing Butler with his official title), but Dallas, reeling in their own emotional turmoil (we all know why) came out with a much needed win on Kyrie Irving‘s 42 points and 7 rebounds.
Kawhi Leonard is moving slowly, but assuredly towards his true self, putting up 25 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 34 minutes. It wasn’t that long ago that he was just limited to 24 minutes, so it looks like post All-Star is when the zero minutes restrictions goes into effect. Yes, I have my antacids and alcohol ready for this…
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
Please pick top tow off this list that you would roster for the stretch run:
Grimes, Simmons, Keyshawn, Dinwiddie, Strus, Barnes, Kispert, Dunn
Simmons, Kispert and maybe Grimes? I know Simmons seems like a homer pick, but Clippers really plan on giving him serious minutes when cleared (no b2b obviously) and give him tons of shooters to play with. I think his numbers tick up if 7/8/8ish has value.