Each Thursday this season, we ask a series of questions to our ESPN NBA reporters to give you their inside takes on key fantasy subjects.
This week's topics:
Is Isaiah Thomas healthy enough to shoulder a bigger load?
When will Jabari Parker get up to full speed?
Has Jahlil Okafor secured a steady role?
When will Lonzo Ball return, and will he be eased back in?
Will Carmelo Anthony's minutes be scaled back?
This week's contributors are: Dave McMenamin, Nick Friedell, Ian Begley, Ohm Youngmisuk and Royce Young.
Is Isaiah Thomas healthy enough at this point to take on a significantly larger role on offense for the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially with Kevin Love sidelined.
Dave McMenamin:
Just this week, Thomas said he was only at 75-80 percent capacity. And on Jan. 5, he said he was at 80 percent. In other words, he hasn't improved enough to shoulder that load, and even if he had, doing so would potentially not go over well on a Cavs team that needs to share the ball more to get everyone involved.
Is there a maximum minutes per game we should expect Jabari Parker to play this season, as he works his way back from his latest ACL surgery?
Nick Friedell: Parker told reporters in Milwaukee earlier this week that he'd start at about 15 minutes and go from there. Interim coach Joe Prunty noted that there were segments to Parker's rehab. Once Parker shows that he can get through 15 minutes, 20-minute segments would be the next likely segment in his progression.
The Bucks could use Parker's length on the floor and his scoring prowess, so the hope is that he continues to improve heading into a possible postseason push. Prunty and his staff will be watching closely to see that Parker's body can handle the incremental increases.
Are Jahlil Okafor's suddenly increased minutes and shots a sign that he is settling into a reliable role in the Brooklyn Nets' rotation?
Ian Begley: That seems to be the case. Based on Brooklyn's recent games, Okafor and rookie Jarrett Allen will play bigger roles in the near future.
On Tuesday, against the Knicks, Allen started in place of Tyler Zeller, who had been in the starting lineup for 33 straight games in Brooklyn. Okafor came off the bench and played 25 minutes. It was his fourth game of more than 25 minutes this season, a number that could increase if Zeller is indeed out of the rotation. (Though it's unclear how the return of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson would impact Okafor.)
Giving Okafor the opportunity to play more in the final six weeks of a lost season makes some sense for Brooklyn. The Nets need to make a decision on Okafor this summer when he becomes a free agent, so giving him more minutes now gives the franchise a chance to further evaluate the 22-year-old.
When should we expect Lonzo Ball to return to action? Will he be eased in?
Ohm Youngmisuk: The Lakers said last weekend that Ball had a sprained MCL in his left knee, which usually comes with a recovery timetable of one to three weeks. This Saturday will be three weeks since Ball first injured his knee, and the rookie, as of Wednesday, hadn't ramped up his activity to full speed or contact.
Head coach Luke Walton wants to see Ball practice first and then how the knee responds the next day before playing him. The Lakers, who will play it safely with the No. 2 overall pick, will hold Ball out for the remainder of this five-game road trip, which ends in OKC on Sunday.
Once Ball is back, Walton could monitor the rookie's minutes and conditioning initially, but it may not take him long to be playing his normal minutes again. It's just a matter of when he feels he has full lateral movement again.
What is the likelihood that the Oklahoma City Thunder scale back the 33-year-old Carmelo Anthony's workload/minutes or give him games off to rest after the All-Star break to keep him fresh for the postseason?
Royce Young: It seems pretty likely. The Thunder have already made an adjustment to their in-season routine, calling off a few shootarounds and practices, trying to ease the workload of some of their veteran players.
That's a rare thing for OKC, too, as they've been pretty rigid with their game-day routine for the last 10 years. With Anthony, the Thunder could certainly rest him in back-to-backs down the stretch, especially if they get a bit more secure in their seed in the West.