Evan Mobley has surpassed the 60-FPT threshold four times this season.
The final sprint of the regular season is upon us. Entering the post All-Star break, the title push begins for favorites and hopefuls alike, and a lot could change in the fantasy landscape.
NBA Fantasy Salary Game players will need a keen, critical eye to make the most of available points as time winds down toward the postseason.
Here are all the need-to-knows during Week 18:
Games to watch
Grizzlies (36-18) vs. Pacers (30-23): Thursday (7 p.m. ET, League Pass)
Both squads are rounding into form at just the right time. Memphis has won 11 of its last 14 dating back to Jan. 15, while Indiana has been markedly better in the new year, now 14-5 in 2025 after ending 2024 at 16-18.
Things are looking up for the often-injured Ja Morant with 37-plus fantasy points in four consecutive contests between Feb. 3 and 11, marking a first this campaign. Tyrese Haliburton leads all Pacers with 2023 total fantasy points (TFP), but Pascal Siakam’s 35-plus fantasy points in eight of the last nine games are fueling the engine.
Knicks (36-18) vs. Cavaliers (44-10): Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The Knicks are within striking distance of the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, sitting just 2.5 games back of the Boston Celtics (39-16), and haven’t seen the Cavaliers since Oct. 28. They’ll have three shots at the top dog in the east down the stretch starting with Friday’s battle.
Karl-Anthony Towns steamrolled his way into the All-Star break with 128.4 combined fantasy points in his previous two outings, as he dropped 40-plus points consecutively for the first time all season. Over in Cleveland, Evan Mobley has been worth watching, surpassing the 60-fantasy-point threshold for the third and fourth times this campaign on Feb. 5 and 10.
Lakers (32-21) vs. Nuggets (36-19): Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The league’s hottest streak belongs to the Nuggets, entering the home stretch with eight wins in a row. That pedigree will be tested by a Lakers squad that has won 10 of its last 13, but which just suffered back-to-back losses to the Utah Jazz (13-41) and Charlotte Hornets (14-39).
Exemplary basketball was played by Austin Reaves from Feb. 1 to 10 – scoring 40-plus fantasy points in all five games during that span – but his role has scaled back a bit with Luka Dončić entering the equation. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. rank second and third among all Nuggets with 1861.5 and 1666.5 TFP, respectively, but both are on Thursday’s injury report.
Wednesday’s finest
Shining in defeat was LeBron James via his game-high 57.9 fantasy points as the Lakers fell 100-97 to the Hornets in commencing the season’s final stretch. He’s now topped 50 in four of his last six appearances en route to 21 times overall.
Miles Bridges led the way in Wednesday’s cross-conference upset, racking up 52.2 for one of his biggest nights all year. He had only reached the 50-point plateau three times before, and has now done so on four occasions since Week 10.
But Charlotte has LaMelo Ball to thank above all – his late bucket and pair of free throws built its decisive three-point advantage, and capped what would go into the books as 42.0 fantasy points. He’s now scored 40 or more in 76.4% of his outings this season.
Transaction tips
There’s no one team playing multiple games more than the others in Week 18, so your focus should be on acquiring top value for weeks to come. Consider Quentin Grimes on your shortlist – someone who’s finding his way rather quickly in a new home.
The fourth-year guard improved his fantasy output from 21.4 to 27.9 to 33.4 to 53.8 across his first four games with the Philadelphia 76ers (20-34), and his 30 points scored last time out on Feb. 12 were a season high. Fantasy general managers can add him for just $5.1M.
Karlo Matković – twice placing in the top four of GameDay top-value scorers during Week 17 – is another recent riser. He had just 67.5 TFP to his name across the New Orleans Pelicans’ (13-42) first 48 games, but has now produced 25 or more in four of the last seven.
His bargain-bin salary of $4.3M won’t require you to move much money around, and he could be a quality mid-to-low bench option if you’re searching for a little extra points boost.
