When I heard that Joel Embiid was suspended two games, I knew that my Sixers would need someone to step up if they wanted to win a tough contest against Portland. Al Horford was too obvious. The rest of the starters would fulfill their roles as usual. No… the Sixers needed to unveil a secret weapon. Furkan Korkmaz didn’t do much with the Sixers after they drafted him at 27th overall in 2016. In fact, he was such a non-factor that the team decided to declined his option heading into the 2019-2020 season. Korkmaz was going back home to play for Fenerbahce in the Turkish league.
That didn’t last long.
And, at least for one game, the Sixers are glad to have him around. Seriously, on a team with Tobias Harris, Al Horford, Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson and a few trusty bench weapons, who else but Furkan Korkmaz gets tasked with making the game-winning three pointer with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Basketball is magical sometimes. And for anyone who drafted Korkmaz for their daily fantasy roster after some telepathic sensation advised them to take the 22-year old guard, kudos to you.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3-6 | 4-9 | 0-0 |
With stats like these, it may seem like Korkmaz has some fantasy value, but he doesn’t… don’t be fooled by this strong showing. Let’s instead give one more nod of recognition to Korky, and then dive into some relevant fantasy performers from Saturday night’s action.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0-0 | 7-16 | 4-5 |
You gotta give credit where credit is due. Aside from playing an outstanding game and stuffing the stat sheet as usual, Simmons hit two huge free throws to put the Sixers up by two with 10 seconds left. Not gonna lie, I had no faith he was going to hit them, but Ben continues to mature, and he looks more comfortable out there this season than last year, when he would occasionally get flustered and have mental lapses.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 25 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1-4 | 12-24 | 0-0 |
Drafting Al Horford this year was a heady move. Joel Embiid’s lengthy injury history (and tendency to get in fights, it turns out) means that there will be a fair amount of off-days for JoJo, and Big Al gets to reap the benefits. When Horford is the lone big in the starting five, he’ll put up numbers like these. 24 shot attempts won’t be the norm, but it will happen every so often.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1-4 | 1-5 | 0-0 |
The new candidate for “most likable player” recognition has struggled mightily on the offensive end this season, but it’s hard to look past his defensive stats. He swipes the ball nearly three times per game and chips in one or two blocks per contest as well. It would just be nice if he could, you know, not shoot 23% from the floor.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1-6 | 7-15 | 2-2 |
The Sixers would love to see more games like this from Richardson. Though the turnovers are fairly high, it’s not so bad when you consider the role they want him to play in: a supplementary point guard that can shoot as well as pass alongside Simmons. He’s barely cracking the top-100 right now, but expect that to rise over the course of the season with more familiarity in the system.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 33 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 8-11 | 11-16 | 3-3 |
Dame shot the lights out in this one, dropping dimes – and turnovers – like he does diss tracks. I’d love to see the resulting explosion of social media interactions and rap albums and god knows what else if him and Embiid ever got into an altercation.
Rodney Hood
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 25 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4-6 | 9-11 | 3-4 |
Rodney Hood did what he does – score – and is currently the No. 54 player in fantasy basketball. I’m not biting on this one yet, but he’s No. 54 while putting up a stat line of 14.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.5 apg, 1.2 spg, and 0.7 bpg. Honestly, that doesn’t seem like a stat line that will be too hard for him to maintain… so maybe I should be buying in? He’s not highly owned at all, so he might be worth a look. The only damper is that he injured his thigh against the Sixers and may miss a small amount of time.
Mario Hezonja
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2-4 | 4-10 | 1-2 |
Nice outing, but leave him on the waivers until he gets called upon more often.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 1-4 |
Ingram was playing a good game as usual until he suffered a head injury and was unable to return. It’s a shame that he may be concussed after such a promising start in his new home, and coaches, fans, and fantasy players will all anxiously await the news regarding the severity of the injury. Someone will be getting an uptick in minutes if he’s out…
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-0 |
And methinks it’s going to be this guy, as he started in place of Ingram after the half. Still, he hasn’t produced major numbers in around 20 minutes of playing time, and the more likely stat-boost beneficiary is…
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2-4 | 5-11 | 0-0 |
Hart is already producing at a high rate this season but could become an even larger part of the team’s offense depending upon Ingram’s injury. That said, he is the No. 39 player in all of fantasy basketball at this point, and will continue to play a lot of minutes. Just be wary of the return of Zion and Ingram and how this will affect Hart.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 10 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2-5 | 4-11 | 0-2 |
Ball is doing a little bit of everything out there, including missing free throws where he currently sits at 60%. The Pelicans’ system allows him to unleash his potential out there, and he’s outplaying his draft value.
Jahlil Okafor
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0-0 | 7-14 | 1-3 |
Okafor is putting up good numbers after someone did him a Favor and got injured, but once Favors returns, Okafor will head back to the bench and get his 18-20 minutes per game.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3-5 | 8-14 | 4-5 |
A star in the making, Shai has done exactly what the Thunder expected him to do and has stepped up to fill a big void in the offense. His usage is very high and his rebounding numbers are nice for a shooting guard.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0-4 | 7-17 | 3-5 |
It’s always hard to predict what Schroder will do. He lacks consistency but can also go off for numbers like these. He’s hot right now, but can easily put up duds like he did to start the year. Worth an add if you need scoring and rebounding, with additional contributions in assists and steals, from the guard position.
Danilo Gallinari
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4-6 | 5-9 | 2-2 |
I heard there’s an extra verse of That’s Amore where Dean Martin sings about the Italian’s three-point stroke. That’s amore.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 25 | 20 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0-1 | 10-16 | 5-6 |
The only thing I understand less than Drummond’s ability to constantly go for 20-20 with such little star recognition is how he dated the girl from the Nickelodeon show. 
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 24 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3-7 | 8-19 | 5-5 |
A 90% free throw percentage and three threes per game (there has to be a better way of saying three threes per game) mark a strong season for Kennard. He’ll hoist up a lot of shots, so if you need scoring you should scoop him up now while his ownership is still below 50%.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 22 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0-4 | 8-20 | 6-8 |
With a bevy of Pistons sidelined, Brown made the most of his opportunity and could see a temporary uptick in minutes (and perhaps permanent if he plays well) while Reggie Jackson and co. are injured.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0-6 | 8-21 | 4-4 |
A night after a strong team victory over the impressive Houston Rockets, the Nets lost a disappointing game to an injury-marred Detroit Pistons team. It wasn’t Kyrie’s fault, though, as he played an excellent game. Just couldn’t get his threes to fall.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 10 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0-0 | 5-8 | 0-0 |
Low-scoring double-doubles could occur frequently this season for Jordan, who got the start over Jarrett Allen. Not sure if this is a temporary move or not, but Jordan played 30 minutes, while his co-big man took a hit.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 | 3-7 | 1-2 |
I’m not sure why Allen took a backseat in this one, but he only logged 18 minutes and that’s concerning after he started out the season with several high-20 and low-30 minute outings. He got benched earlier in the season and responded tremendously to immediately earn the starting role back, but we’ll see what happens going forward.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5-8 | 7-12 | 1-2 |
Another strong performance from Prince who has become a fixture in the lineup. He logged 33 minutes and is great for three-point production: he currently sits 10th with 3.3 made threes per game.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3-7 | 7-14 | 3-4 |
Offense was surprisingly hard to come by in this one. When the above is a somewhat disappointing stat line, that’s not a bad thing.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 22 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2-3 | 7-15 | 6-6 |
A pretty typical Murray stat line. This is exactly what you drafted him for: scoring, threes, and a frustrating lack of assists.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 13 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1-4 | 5-10 | 2-4 |
He’s a little boring, but he’s good for nights like these all season long when he’s a reliable source of double digit scoring and some good numbers across the board.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 24 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1-4 | 10-16 | 3-3 |
I wonder if Vucevic would have acquired the same nickname as Nick Foles had he stayed in Philly… ANYway, a good night for Vuc and he continues to be the team’s biggest scoring threat.
Markelle Fultz
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0-1 | 4-7 | 1-1 |
He continues to be worth the gamble, but 25 minutes would ideally yield better statistics than what Fultz showed on Saturday night. Three steals is nice, though.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-4 | 9-15 | 2-5 |
There it is. He nearly doubled his scoring average in this one and the nine rebounds were a pleasant sight. Unfortunately, this was kind of what I considered to be a normal game for Gordon heading into the season, whereas it appears this is one of his better games. We’ll see if he can keep the momentum going.
Jarrett Culver
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 4-9 | 8-17 | 0-2 |
The other team suffering from their star’s suspension, Minnesota too had a bench player step up, albeit a more expected one than Korkmaz in Philly. Culver had his first good NBA game, though it wasn’t without it’s bad moments. He’s also 1-7 from the charity stripe this year. Should he see a gradual increase in minutes, though, he’s a good scorer and can chip in rebounds and defense.
Jeff Teague
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2-5 | 6-12 | 1-1 |
Teague put up a vintage stat line. Smart and consistent, he keeps this Minnesota team under control and led to a good win without Towns.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4-9 | 7-16 | 3-4 |
It’s always nice when Wiggins doesn’t completely derail the T-Wolves’ chances of winning like he did earlier in the season, and this was a really nice line tonight. The assists are an anomaly, but the scoring and threes are fairly consistent.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-2 | 2-11 | 0-0 |
Blech. A game after a really good night resulted in a horrible night for the rook. It’s good to see that his usage is still high, though, as he hoisted up 11 shots in just 22 minutes of play. This whole game was a bad one for Washington, and these nights happen for players on bad teams.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3-8 | 8-19 | 11-13 |
Omer Asik would rebound without scoring at all, which seemed impossible in some of his box scores. Beal pulled off the rare reverse Asik night, where he scored and literally did nothing else. If he is going to be the leader that the Wizards paid him to be, he’ll need to be better in the other aspects of the game, but this game just seems like a weird outlier.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 3 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0-2 | 1-6 | 1-2 |
See above on this game being an outlier.
Isaiah Thomas
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2-6 | 6-14 | 2-2 |
He’s better on offense than Ish Smith is by a pretty good margin, and he continues to put up the numbers in only 18-22 minutes per game. But his defense is just so bad that the Wizards can’t afford to play him more than they do now.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3-3 | 8-13 | 2-2 |
The Suns keep on winning… weird. And this time it came without one of Booker’s better games. He was really efficient but didn’t do much outside of scoring.
Ricky Rubio
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1-4 | 4-12 | 2-3 |
Rubio had a similar stat line to what his season averages are, and he’s embracing his role in Phoenix. It’s been a pretty seamless transition so far, and his rebounding numbers are a pleasant surprise after averaging just 3.6 per game last year.
Aron Baynes
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4-7 | 6-10 | 4-5 |
Four threes is a massive contribution from the big man, who is currently a top-50 fantasy player and needs to be added for the time being until Ayton comes back from suspension.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 24 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2-3 | 9-16 | 4-4 |
They may not be very good, but at least they’re fun to watch. Ja is the main reason for that, and it’s cool seeing him lead a team at the ripe old age of 20 years old. He’ll be a great player for years.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1-1 | 7-9 | 1-2 |
Joining Baynes in the top-50 is Brandon Clarke, who continues to impress after high expectations coming into the season. Another piece of the young Memphis core that is providing really great value in limited time. He did all that in just 22 minutes. Jaren Jackson injured his knee, so we’ll see if Clarke gets an uptick in minutes, but he has his own health issues to deal with.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 36 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5-9 | 11-18 | 9-9 |
2019-2010 looks to be a career year for Lowry who stayed hot and dropped a scorching 36 on the Bucks. The Raptors look ready to make another playoff run, and the guards are largely responsible. Lowry’s contributions were obviously expected, but he’s exceeding his draft value by a large margin.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2-5 | 2-10 | 6-6 |
Shots weren’t falling on a quieter night for VanVleet, but he’s still one of the league’s brightest developments so far this season.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2-6 | 7-19 | 0-0 |
The scorching start to the season cooled off significantly in this one as he scored 12 points under his average. However, performances like this will be few and far between for the dangerous forward.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 36 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1-2 | 14-20 | 7-10 |
Yea. It was one of those nights.
Eric Bledsoe
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1-5 | 5-12 | 3-3 |
Nine rebounds is always a pleasant surprise. No one on the Bucks needed to do much in an individual effort when Giannis played like he did, so Bledsoe played a solid game.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0-4 | 4-12 | 3-4 |
An off night shooting the ball, but he made up for by dishing the ball to his freak of a teammate.
Dwayne Bacon
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 25 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0-2 | 10-21 | 5-5 |
Go off, young fella! Anything is possible when you play the Warriors. He’ll have occasional 20-point efforts like this one, but there’s a reason he’s only owned by 12% of the league. His FG% is usually wayyyy down there and he doesn’t rebound enough to make him too useful.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0-4 | 8-17 | 4-8 |
It was a pretty inefficient night for Rozier and his supporting cast… they only shot 17% from deep. But again, anything is possible against the Warriors right now.
The Warriors
There isn’t much to say about Golden State last night. The fact that they only lost by six without Steph, Klay, Draymond, and Russell is wild. Eric Paschall and Ky Bowman (yea… exactly) led the charge with 25 and 16 points, respectively.
