MEM 124, DAL 105: Prosper, Spencer Both Feast for MEM
Jake Morrison
Computer Science Student ยท Dallas Mavericks fan
Memphis Ran The Mavs Off Their Own Court, And Fantasy Managers Need To Adjust
124-105. That's not a close game. That's a statement. And if you had money on Dallas tonight, well, welcome to the Bad Beat club. We're meeting in my kitchen next to the kitchen whiteboard that definitely doesn't have a angry marker X through the Mavs.
Look, I'm a ride-or-die Mavs fan, so this stings. But let's be real about what happened: Memphis came in hungry, got contributions from literally everywhere on their roster, and Dallas got absolutely cooked on both ends. The Grizzlies bench unit was putting on a clinic while our guys looked lost. This is the kind of game that gets you thinking about roster moves, and trust me, there are some.
Top Performers
| Player | ESPN FP | Yahoo FP | Tonight | Season Avg | +/- Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olivier-Maxence Prosper | 48.0 | 40.5 | 16/10/1 | 7.4/3.1/0.8 | +8.6 |
| Cam Spencer | 43.0 | 34.9 | 25/2/3 | 11.4/2.6/5.5 | +13.6 |
| Scotty Pippen Jr. | 38.0 | 31.9 | 15/2/3 | 11.3/1.9/4.9 | +3.7 |
| Brandon Williams | 25.0 | 29.6 | 16/8/4 | 13.0/2.9/3.9 | +3.0 |
| Taylor Hendricks | 31.0 | 27.6 | 11/8/2 | 5.9/3.5/0.9 | +5.1 |
| Jaylen Wells | 29.0 | 27.3 | 12/4/3 | 12.3/3.4/1.7 | -0.3 |
| Dwight Powell | 24.0 | 25.7 | 13/11/1 | 3.0/3.7/0.9 | +10.0 |
| Javon Small | 26.0 | 25.3 | 9/4/5 | 7.6/2.6/3.5 | +1.4 |
| Miles Kelly | 23.0 | 25.0 | 9/5/4 | 3.1/1.7/0.9 | +5.9 |
| Daniel Gafford | 28.0 | 24.0 | 14/5/0 | 8.2/6.4/0.9 | +5.8 |
The Memphis Takeover: Depth Wins Championships
Cam Spencer was absolutely unhinged tonight. 25 points on 9-16 shooting with four threes. That's +13.6 vs his season average. Here's the thing though, this feels like a one-off. Spencer's been averaging 11.4 PPG all year, and while he clearly has nights where he can go off, don't be the guy trading draft capital for him based on one performance. But if he's on your wire in 12-team or deeper formats, add him. The Grizzlies clearly trust him in big moments.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper is the more concerning name for fantasy purposes. The dude put up 40.5 Yahoo points (16/10/1 with three steals) while also shooting 70% from the field. His season average is 7.4/3.1. That's not a +8.6 in points and +6.9 in boards for no reason. This suggests increased usage or opportunities. Not sure if Zach Edey is hurt (he didn't play), but if that's the case, Prosper could have actual value going forward. Watch the injury report.
Scotty Pippen Jr. also went up to 31.9 Yahoo FP with solid efficiency. These three Memphis guards were a different breed tonight.
The Dallas Disaster: Role Players Carried The Load
Here's what actually happened to the Mavs. The star names? Completely absent. We're talking the kind of absence that makes you wonder if somebody's hurt. Check the injury report aggressively over the next 24 hours because this roster has major names who didn't log a single minute.
But the role players who DID get minutes? They actually played fine. Dwight Powell went absolutely nuclear with 13/11/1 on 75% shooting. That's +10.0 vs his season average of 3.0 PPG. Normally Powell is a 3-4 point guy, so this is a major outlier. He got 22 minutes and looked like prime lob-threat Powell. If he's on your bench and Powell stays healthy, he's a solid fill-in on nights like this.
Daniel Gafford (14/5/0 on 88% shooting, +5.8 vs avg) also showed up. Brandon Williams went 16/8/4 and hit some clutch FTs. Miles Kelly got 30 minutes and turned it into 9/5/4 with decent efficiency. These guys didn't lose this game, but they also didn't carry hard enough when the stars went missing.
The issue? When your main scoring threats disappear, your role players are literally just trying to survive possession to possession. That's not a winning formula, and it's not sustainable fantasy value either.
The Waiver Wire Angle
Dwight Powell is probably getting picked up in some leagues after this, especially deeper formats. If he's available and you're hurting for bench depth, take the flier. But understand this is likely a ceiling game for him.
Miles Kelly played heavy minutes and didn't embarrass himself (3-11 FG but still 25 Yahoo FP). If Dallas has rotational minutes to give out due to injuries or load management, Kelly could be a sneaky add in 14-team leagues.
Marvin Bagley III continues to get dropped (down -1.3% ownership to 11.1%), and honestly, if he's sitting in free agency and you need depth, the price is right. But this game didn't tell us much about him since he didn't play.
The Bad Beat
Me. I'm the bad beat. All of us Mavs fans are sitting here wondering what the hell happened. This is the kind of game that either means something serious happened to the roster (injuries, urgency issues, coaching adjustments) or it's just a bad night that we'll move past. Either way, if you had your eggs in the Dallas basket, you got cooked worse than the team did.
Action item: Don't panic trade your Mavs yet, but definitely flag this game and watch the next 48 hours of injury reports and beat reporting. Something doesn't add up with that many names not seeing the floor.