Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers are re-signing veteran F Carmelo Anthony. (Source: Shams Charania on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Anthony played a crucial role in a very shallow Trail Blazers rotation that was decimated by injuries down the stretch last season. He averaged 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 58 games played. He still averaged over 30 minutes per game in his 17th NBA season.

The Portland Trail Blazers have re-signed F Rodney Hood to a two-year contract worth $21M. The second year of the deal is non-guaranteed. (Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Hood was a fixture of the Portland frontcourt before going down with a brutal achillies injury last year. He'll face competition with F Robert Covington and F Carmelo Anthony still around, but he can also play the SG position. The Blazers continue to make moves in free agency, and locking up Hood for another year shows they are committed to winning now.

The Trail Blazers traded Trevor Ariza, 2020 first-round pick and 2021 protected first-round pick to the Rockets in exchange for Robert Covington. (Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Ariza rejoins the Rockets after previously playing in Houston from 2014-17. He will provide frontcourt depth and backup Eric Gordon. The 35-year-old forward averaged 8.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 triples across 28.2 minutes over 53 game for the Kings/Trail Blazers last season. Ariza will provide a veteran presence for the Rockets, but only has fantasy value in deep-league formats.

F Mario Hezonja has decided to exercise his $1.98 million player option for the 2020-21 season. (Source: Mike Scotto on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Hezonja will remain in Portland for the 2020-21 campaign after exercising his player option on Monday. He is buried on the Trail Blazers' depth chart and will compete for a end-of-rotation spot. Hezonja averaged 4.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.7 blocks over 53 games for the Trail Blazers last season.

Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard was re-evaluated by trainers over the weekend and revealed only a mild knee sprain for the Bubble MVP. He’s expected to make a full recovery ahead of the start of the 2020-2021 season (Source: Stadium on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: There is no concern of any long term effects of the knee injury Lillard sustained in the first round of the NBA playoffs, and fantasy players should expect Lillard to be a top-12 pick in next season's draft.

CJ McCollum became the focal point of the Trail Blazers offense on Saturday, scoring 36 points (13-25 FG, 3-7 3PT, 7-8 FT), distributing a team-high seven assists, while adding six rebounds, one steal, and six turnovers across 46 minutes in a 131-122 loss to the Lakers in Game 5.

Fantasy Impact: McCollum was effective sans Damian Lillard - scoring and facilitating the offense while filling the void left by the All-Star guard, who remains out with a sprained knee. With this loss, the Trail Blazers' season is over, and McCollum will likely take the off-season to repair the fracture in his vertebrae and get ready to fight again next season. He ends the first-round series against the Lakers with 23.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in five games played.

The Trail Blazers will start Gary Trent Jr. in place of Damian Lillard in Game 6 Saturday. (Source: Anne Peterson on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Trent Jr. should play over 30 minutes in this one and will likely put up a lot of three pointers in an effort to keep up with the Lakers. Anfernee Simons should also see an uptick in minutes off the bench for Portland.

Jusuf Nurkic scored just 10 points and had seven rebounds during the Trailblazer's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday. Nurkic also had three assists in the game.

Fantasy Impact: Nurkic is a talented offensive player, but has now struggled in back to back games against the Lakers. Nurkic has a very tough matchup against Anthony Davis and did get in to foul trouble with five in the game 3 loss. Nurkic may continue to struggle in this series as Davis just looks like too much for him to handle.

Hassan Whiteside scored eight points and added eight rebounds during Portland's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday. Whiteside was 3-of-5 shooting and had one block.

Fantasy Impact: Whiteside had an opportunity to make a big impact during game 3, but had a fairly mediocre stat line. Despite starting, Whiteside only played 26 minutes, which was by far the lowest out of any starter. Whiteside is a talented player, but doesn't seem to fit the game plan that the Trailblazers want to follow. Whiteside is a player to avoid in all fantasy formats as he is just too inconsistent in his playing time and opportunity.

Trail Blazers F/C Zach Collins will undergo season-ending ankle surgery. (Source: Adrian Wojnarowksi on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Tough break for a Trail Blazers squad that is severely undersized against a much bigger Lakers squad. Wenyen Gabriel should continue to start, while Gary Trent Jr. and Hassan Whiteside continue to pick up more minutes off the bench. Jusuf Nurkic will play all the minutes he can handle for the remainder of the series. Collins will now look ahead to the 2020-21 season which is scheduled to start in December.

Nassir Little (dehydration) will not suit up for Game 2 against the Lakers on Thursday.

Fantasy Impact: Little has yet to play in the Bubble and is still out battling dehydration. There is no timetable for his return.

According to Trail Blazers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Neil Olshey, Caleb Swanigan will not join Portland when the NBA restarts in Orlando later this month. (Source: Jamie Hudson on Twitter)

Fantasy Impact: Swanigan appeared in 20 games for the Trail Blazers this season, after being dealt from the Sacramento Kings earlier this year. A three-year veteran, Swanigan provided depth in the frontcourt for the Blazers while Zach Collins recovered from shoulder surgery and contributed 3.0 points, 4.7 rebounds,1.5 assists in 13.3 minutes per game. With Swanigan deciding to opt-out of the NBA restart, the Blazers will be allowed to sign another player as a replacement for his spot on the roster.

Wenyen Gabriel scored eight points on 3-for-5 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and one three-pointer over 15 minutes as the Blazers lost to the Kings.

Fantasy Impact: Since being acquired by the Blazers in January the rookie forward is averaging 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds over 16 games. Gabriel is not seeing enough playing time to be worth owning in fantasy.

Anfernee Simons scored six points on 3-for-8 shooting with two rebounds, one assist and one steal over 19 minutes as the Blazers lost to the Kings on Saturday night.

Fantasy Impact: Simons continues to play a bench role for the Blazers and over nine games since the All-Star break is averaging 7.2 points and 1.3 assists over 18 minutes. Simons can be left on the waiver wire.