January is always a weird time in the NBA: the NBA Cup is over, the trade deadline has yet to happen, and teams tend to be cautious with their star players. That’s what the Minnesota Timberwolves have done, sitting Anthony Edwards ($9,300) in three of the last seven games as he manages a toe infection that has bugged him all season. However, despite the Timberwolves being on the front end of a back-to-back in tonight’s 8:30 p.m. ET game against the Dallas Mavericks, Edwards will be available.
With Edwards having had two days off to recover, it’s likely that he won’t be under any minutes restriction, as he played 37.0 minutes per game across his most recent four-game stretch. He should be fairly effective: in that four-game stretch, he averaged 36.3 points per game on extremely efficient shooting splits, including a career-high 55 in a loss against the San Antonio Spurs on January 17. With Edwards back, Bones Hyland ($4,100) would probably lose some of his minutes, so fantasy players shouldn’t expect him to score 17 points, grab seven rebounds, and dish out five assists (38.2 FPTS) like he did on Monday with Edwards absent. Julius Randle ($8,600) could also see a small dip in usage.
Edwards is always worth starting in fantasy, but he should be especially so tonight against Dallas, which has allowed the ninth-most FPTS per game to opposing shooting guards. To be fair, the Mavericks have had a solid defense in January, ranking seventh in defensive rating so far this month, but they play at a fast pace (the fourth-fastest in the league so far this month) and don’t have the sorts of guard stoppers necessary to slow down Edwards. Max Christie ($5,300), who’s most likely to draw the primary Edwards assignment tonight, grades out as a negative defender overall, and Edwards made his only shot and dished out two assists to one turnover in the 16.6 partial possessions that Christie guarded him for in the teams’ first matchup.
Minnesota is a 7.5-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook (-290 on the Moneyline), with the point total set to 228.5. Dallas is +235 on the Moneyline.
