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San Antonio Spurs forward Boris Diaw‘s numbers on Tuesday night against the Denver Nuggets don’t particularly stand out, as he scored nine points (4-for-10 from the floor; 1-for-3 on three-pointers) with eight rebounds, one blocked shot, one assist and one steal in the game. But it is notable that he scored 14 points in each of the season’s first three games prior to that, and played 26 minutes against the Nuggets even with Tim Duncan playing and presumably close to full strength after missing a game with a chest injury.
Does Diaw now deserve the attention of fantasy basketball owners?
Diaw averaged 5.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his first full season with the Spurs last year, over 75 games (20 starts) and just under 23 minutes per game. He has resumed his role as Duncan’s primary backup this season, and is in line to get an occasional start when Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich chooses to rest his veterans or Duncan is dealing with some sort of injury that necessitates a game off, like last Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs don’t have a lot of front court depth right now, and Matt Bonner leaving Tuesday night’s game with a left calf injury could thin things even further if he misses multiple games, so Diaw may see time at all three spots off the bench and be able to carve out significant playing time based on that alone.
Diaw’s production is likely to be fairly inconsistent going forward, and even in a best-case scenario he is not a primary offensive option for San Antonio. If Duncan were to ever be sidelined by a significant injury Diaw’s fantasy value would rise, but for now he is simply a name to watch and not much more outside of very deep leagues.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
