The last main slate before this season's All-Star break is finally here. Three teams will hit the hardwood on Thursday and tip-off between 7:30 and 10 p.m. ET. While there's plenty to get excited about this weekend and, there's also a lot to catch up on following Wednesday's 10-game slate. Mikal Bridges stole the show by scoring a career-high 45 points, but he hasn't the only player lighting it up. We'll go over who's hot, who's not, and a Thursday DFS play here.
Who's hot
Ball's third triple-double of the season narrowly eluded him a twice last week, but he got the job done on Wednesday with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists. The third year Charlotte Hornets guard had more responsibility than usual with the piping hot Terry Rozier (hand) out and put on a show against the visiting San Antonio Spurs. Ball's having his best month of the season and will look to keep it up after the All-Star break.
DeMar Derozan missed his second game of the month on Wednesday and LaVine took advantage of his absence by putting together one of his best performances of the year. The Chicago Bulls wing tallied 35 points to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists. He's averaged 28.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game since opening February with a 10-point dud against the Charlotte Hornets.
Brunson was one of this year's biggest All-Star snubs, but he hasn't let that slow down his career year ahead of the weekend. The New York Knicks point guard has eclipsed his 2022-23 scoring average in five consecutive contests and posted 28 points with nine rebounds and five assists against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. He's tallied a monstrous 31.9 points per game on 59.7 percent shooting in February.
Who's not
This season's frontrunner for Rookie of the Year appears to have finally hit a bit of a wall. The Orlando Magic's Banchero tallied 13 points on 13 shots against the Toronto Raptors his last time out and is easily having the worst month of his inaugural pro basketball campaign. He's scored less than 17 points in six of his eight February contests while shooting an abysmal 34.4 percent from the field. A break could do the Duke product a lot of good.
DFS play
Holiday was a top-three fantasy performer in Tuesday's main slate and will benefit from some key Milwaukee Bucks players being ruled out for Thursday's matchup against the Bulls. Pat Connaughton (calf) and Khris Middleton (knee) won't suit up, so Antetokounmpo and Holiday will need to step it up on both ends. Holiday's defense will be crucial to slowing down LaVine and he can build on his latest 40-point outburst without three of his team's top seven scorers on a per-game basis.
Still deciding who to lock in for your DFS roster? We've identified a player worth locking in and one to avoid ahead of tip-off below, but you can get my full selection of stud and value plays at each position by heading over to SportsLine.
