Despite having lost Wendell Carter Jr. to a left hand injury in early November, the Orlando Magic have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season. One reason why their play hasn’t dropped off, in addition to what the team’s healthy stars have done, has been the play of Carter’s replacements. Goga Bitadze (35% rostered, Yahoo) has performed well as his replacement in the starting lineup, and Moritz Wagner (25%) shouldn’t be overlooked, either.
In the 11 games Orlando played since Carter’s injury, Wagner averaged 14.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.7 3-pointers in 20.6 minutes, shooting 62.1% from the field and 85.3% from the foul line. According to Basketball Monster, that production has been good for 11th-round per-game value in 8- and 9-cat formats. Due to his defensive production, Bitadze has been even more valuable during this 11-game run, ranking just outside the top 60 in 8- and 9-cat formats.
It was Wagner who stole the show on Friday, as he scored a season-high 27 points with three rebounds and one 3-pointer in 24 minutes. As for Bitadze, he recorded a full stat line of six points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one blocked shot in 19 minutes. Orlando’s given the Celtics trouble in recent meetings, and it didn’t help Boston that Jrue Holiday (ankle) didn’t play and Kristaps Porzingis (calf) had to exit prematurely. But this Magic team is one that’s on the rise, and the team’s backup bigs have helped sustain the early momentum in the aftermath of Carter’s injury.
Let’s take a look at a few other top pickups from Friday.
Corey Kispert (6%)
Kispert hasn’t been a great fantasy option this season, as he hasn’t even cracked the top 200 in 9-cat per-game value. But Bilal Coulibaly (left knee contusion) being ruled out of Friday’s game against the Bucks freed up minutes for Kispert, and he took advantage of the opportunity. Playing 33 minutes, Kispert finished the 131-128 loss to Milwaukee with 20 points, five rebounds, one assist, and six 3-pointers. Fantasy managers in extremely deep leagues that streamed him reaped the rewards, and the Wizards being back in action on Saturday (vs. Atlanta) gives the holdouts another opportunity to add Kispert, but only if Coulibaly remains sidelined.
Josh Richardson (7%) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (33%)
While the Heat did welcome back Bam Adebayo for Friday’s game against the Knicks, they were without Duncan Robinson, who joined the team’s lengthy injury list with a sprained right thumb. As a result, Richardson entered the starting lineup and finished with 15 points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two 3-pointers in 34 minutes. Also of note here was Jaquez’s night, as he also scored 15 points while tallying five rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one 3-pointer in 35 minutes off the bench.
Jaquez and Richardson are playing credible rotation minutes, and Friday’s loss to the Knicks was the first game of a back-to-back for Miami. They visit the Nets on Saturday, and Jimmy Butler, who sat out one leg of the team’s first two back-to-backs, tweaked his right ankle during the second quarter. Add in Adebayo only being one game removed from sitting due to a hip contusion, and it isn’t difficult to envision Richardson and Jaquez being more valuable to fantasy managers on Saturday than they were on Friday.
Dario Saric (29%)
Was this Saric’s last hurrah as a streaming option? If so, he went out with a bang on Friday. Playing 26 minutes off the bench, Saric shot 7-of-11 from the field and finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, and four 3-pointers in the Warriors’ win over San Antonio. Providing 10th-round value for the season, he’s ranked just outside the top 75 in 9-cat formats over the last two weeks, according to Basketball Monster. The issue moving forward was that the Warriors don’t play again in Week 5, and Draymond Green returns from his five-game suspension Tuesday night in Sacramento. Saric will certainly be in the rotation, but he may not get the same opportunities that he did while Green was suspended.
Norman Powell (36%)
Powell’s case as a fantasy pickup is an interesting one. Initially questionable for Friday’s loss to the Pelicans with a sore groin, he played 28 minutes off the bench, including the entire fourth quarter, dropping 20 points with one rebound, three steals, and three 3-pointers. However, with Clippers coach Tyronn Lue saying beforehand that they would have to monitor Powell’s minutes, and this being the first of five games in seven days, is this the right spot for managers to add him if they didn’t do so before Friday? The Clippers host the Mavericks on Saturday, so we’ll see what kind of minutes Powell plays (or if he plays at all). One thing we can take away from Friday’s rotation is that it’s time for managers to move on from Russell Westbrook.
Harrison Barnes (38%)
At this stage in his career, we know what Barnes is going to provide when on the court. He’ll be a solid fantasy option but not a league winner by any stretch of the imagination. That said, Keegan Murray being out with a sore lower back has boosted Barnes’ standing. He scored 18 points in Friday’s win over the Timberwolves, accounting for four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two 3-pointers in 33 minutes. Murray’s replacement in the starting lineup, Chris Duarte, isn’t a shooter on par with the second-year forward, and those shots have to come from someone. Barnes is capable of being that guy, even if his fantasy value doesn’t stand to increase very much.
Luke Kornet (<1%)
Kornet isn’t someone fantasy managers would have entertained the possibility of adding before Friday’s games. But that may have changed during the Celtics’ loss to Orlando, as Kristaps Porzingis exited during the third quarter after tweaking his calf. With Al Horford already in the starting lineup (Jrue Holiday was out with an ankle injury), Kornet and Sam Hauser (18%) could move up in the pecking order for Sunday’s game against the Hawks. Both scored in double figures in the 113-96 defeat, with Kornet (12/6/1/2/2) recording a full stat line and Hauser (10 points, two rebounds, and two 3-pointers) offering points and triples.
