Portland Trail Blazers DVOA, Stats, & NBA Rankings

Portland Trail Blazers guard/forward Matisse Thybulle (ankle) will remain sidelined for Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks. He has yet to feature this season due to a right ankle injury, and it remains unclear when Thybulle will be ready to hit the court. The two-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team member would give a boost to Portland's struggling defense, but Thybulle is not a good fantasy asset. The 27-year-old has averaged 4.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals for his NBA career.

Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (knee) is questionable for Tuesday's matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. The former No. 1 pick has been sidelined for three games with a knee sprain. Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III have shared the center duties with Ayton unavailable. Clingan has been the preferred option in the starting lineup, but Williams III outplayed him in Sunday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The former Celtic has recorded double-digit rebounds in back-to-back outings. Clingan entered Sunday with a four-game run of double-digit rebounds but grabbed just six boards against the Thunder and finished scoreless.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons (back) will be active for Friday's game against the Charlotte Hornets. He has been upgraded from probable to available despite dealing with back soreness. Simons is aiming for his third consecutive game with 20-plus points. He has broken out of a slump in impressive fashion, making nine three-pointers over the past two games. Charlotte allows the seventh-most three-point attempts in the league, giving Simons a good opportunity to keep building momentum.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons (back) is considered probable for Friday's game against the Charlotte Hornets despite being listed with back soreness. The seventh-year combo guard is in the middle of a down year compared to the last couple of seasons, but he's been healthier so far. In 40 appearances, he averaged 18.3 points, 4.9 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 3.0 threes per game which makes him a solid late-draft type of value across all fantasy formats. Most of the backcourt is healthy for this game, so Simons might not see as many opportunities which explains the small dip in usage rate compared to the last two seasons.

Portland Trail Blazers center Robert Williams III (hand) has been ruled out of Friday's game against the Charlotte Hornets with a sore hand. He seemingly has some sort of quota where he plays a few games every couple of weeks, and then reverts back to the bench. The Blazers are likely playing it on the safe side to use him as a trade piece at some point, but that frees up some more playing time for Donovan Clingan (ankle), Toumani Camara (illness), Jabari Walker, and Duop Reath. Clingan would fit the best for streaming big man stats while Camara seems to be a solid asset with or without Williams in the lineup. Clingan has posted at least 10 boards and one block in each of his last three games.