Theo Maledon Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Hornets will start Maledon, McGowens, Mykhailiuk, Thor, and Richards on Tuesday.

Hornets will start Maledon, McGowens, Mykhailiuk, Washington, and Williams on Friday.

James Bouknight and Theo Maledon available to play Friday.

Hornets will start Maledon, Oubre, McDaniels, Washington, and Plumlee on Monday.

Theo Maledon will start in place of Terry Rozier on Monday.

Maledon and Poku were both upgraded from questionable to available, and will play against the Sacramento Kings. Both players will start, as the Thunder will be without Lu Dort and Ty Jerome once again. Poku should be a good play as his salary has gone down across the industry and will have increased responsibility with no Dort.

The Thunder will be without a few key contributors as they prepare to play the Sacramento Kings. Dort and Jerome were both ruled out, while Pokusevski and Maledon were listed as questionable. Poku has missed the last three games for the Thunder, so being listed as questionable is an upgrade for him. Maledon has played every game for over two months, so his minutes would be tougher to fill, particularly with no Dort and Jerome. Svi Mykhailiuk and Charlie Brown would have to help fill in at guard, while Kenrich Williams also will have to chip in if Maledon sits, as the dearth of ballhandlers will make Williams valuable. With no Dort, Darius Bazley and Poku (assuming he plays) will help lead the team in usage.

On the second game of a back-to-back, the Thunder will get their star guard back but will be missing a a few key pieces as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies. Gilgeous-Alexander will play and should be in for heavy usage without the rest of the usual Thunder starting lineup. Dort and Maledon both played yesterday, but picked up toe and ankle injuries respectively and won't be available. Bazley missed the last game with a shoulder injury and remains out, while Horford will sit for rest as he has on back-to-backs all year. The Thunder traded for Svi Mykhailiuk, but he won't be available to make his team debut either. This leaves the Thunder with only nine available bodies, one of whom is Darius Miller who hasn't played in over a month and hasn't played more than 14 minutes all year. Isaiah Roby and Aleksej Pokusevski should stay in the starting lineup, while Ty Jerome and Kenrich Williams should take fill in at the wings. Moses Brown is back from the G-League, and should play big minutes as the backup center; he played 27 minutes against the Knicks yesterday. With so few bodies, there should be plenty of value for the Thunder cheap players as well as SGA, who is projected to have a huge usage rate.

Despite originally being listed out on the Thunder's injury report, Maledon will now be available to play in Tuesday's matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing five of the last six games due to the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. The Thunder are still extremely shorthanded and will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a fourth straight game, so it's certainly possible Maledon takes over the starting point guard duties if he isn't subject to any kind of minute restriction in tonight's contest. Head coach Mark Daigneault has used seven different starting lineups over the previous eight games, so it remains to be seen if Hamidou Diallo continues to come off the bench to lead the second unit since he only logged 26 minutes in Sunday's loss.

Maledon is a late addition to the Thunder's injury report and won't be eligible to play in Friday's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves as he's entered the NBA's health and safety protocols and may be required to self-isolate for a currently undetermined period of time. This will leave Oklahoma City with eight available players for tonight's contest, so they will all be in consideration to some extent on a nine-game slate at their price tags across the daily fantasy industry. With no true point guards left on the active roster, look for Kenrich Williams and Hamidou Diallo to handle a majority, if not all of the playmaking responsibilities for the Thunder this evening.