Day 40: Kobe's back... and, what does that mean exactly?

(The Black Mamba. Illustration courtesy of YihTak Wong)

At long last, Kobe Bryant is set to make his season debut for the Lakers, which is great if you're a fan of the team. If you actually own a non-Kobe-named Laker in fantasy basketball, on the other hand, this probably isn't such a momentous occasion. In fact, this could possibly be the day you've been dreading all year long. In Kobe's absence, a slew of random players -- from Xavier Henry to Jordan Farmar to Wesley Johnson -- have been useful in fantasy basketball. Even Robert Sacre (who???) was a trending waiver pickup the other day. But now that the Black Mamba is back, the entire makeup of the Lakers is going to change radically, and that means that some guys are going to have to be abandoned in fantasy leagues. But which ones?

Well, to help figure that out, I've assessed each semi-notable Laker, based on their ownability. Commence listing!

• Xavier Henry: can be safely abandoned now.
• Chris Kaman: just can't get the run to justify being owned.
• Wesley Johnson: has deep league value if he can stick around in the starting small forward spot. Otherwise, ditch him.
• Jodie Meeks: now useful only to those desperate for three-pointers.
• Shawne Williams: not worth owning.
• Jordan Farmar: he's out for a month anyway, but even if he wasn't, there are too many guards around now for him to really be useful again.
• Jordan Hill: mostly unaffected by Kobe's return. He's still ownable, though he's nowhere near as valuable as he was when he was starting.
• Robert Sacre: a pretty reliable source of blocks, but that's it. I wouldn't reach for him.
• Nick Young: can still pop up with a random good game once in a while, but is otherwise droppable.
• Steve Blake: his assists may go down, just because he won't get the ball as much. But he should still be a pretty serviceable fantasy point guard... if Nash doesn't interfere.
• Steve Nash: just impossible to trust. Supposedly coming back soon, but isn't worth the trouble.
• Pau Gasol: he's probably the only Laker who'll benefit from Kobe's arrival, sort of how Serge Ibaka didn't start to play well until Russell Westbrook came back. Gasol's numbers are mostly fine, but his shooting is way, way off this year. However, with Kobe around, he won't be getting double-teamed as much and is likely to perform much better the rest of the way. (Health permitting)

And as for Kobe himself, I don't quite see him matching the 27-6-and-6 he put up last year. As ageless as he is, he's in his 18th yearand is coming off an injury that could've zapped some of his athleticism from him. Still, this is Kobe Bryant we're talking about, so elite shooting guard numbers are still totally in order. My brave prediction (again, health permitting) is that he'll average 25-5-and-5 this season, which wouldn't be bad at all for the 35-year-old.

So with that bit of purple-and-goldage out of the way, what do you say we dive into some other fantasy blurbs? (That's a rhetorical question, of course. Because even if you're not into reading any more fantasy updates, I'm going to do it in anyway. So ha!)

• With Ty Lawson sitting out with an injury, Andre Miller got the start at point guard for Denver and only managed 8 points and 7 assists against the Sixers. Miller, at age 37, is having easily the worst season of his NBA career. Considering this was the best he could do in a limited opportunity to showcase himself, there's no point paying attention to Miller this season, even if Lawson were to somehow go down with a catastrophic injury. The primary benefactor of such an ailment would likely be Nate Robinson, who had 20 points and 3 assists yesterday.
• Tony Wroten was awesome once again for the Sixers, scoring 20 points on 10-20 shooting and adding 5 rebounds. Michael Carter-Williams is dealing with a rather unusual skin infection, and while that doesn't sound like the sort of thing that should keep him out of action for long, he was taken to the hospital the other day and he has missed six of the team's first 21 games. It's worth monitoring MCW's status right now, because Wroten is a dynamite fantasy option when he gets to start in his place.
• All three of the Cavaliers' bigmen were productive on Saturday, with Anderson Varejao going for 6-and-17, Tristan Thompson going for 20-and-13, and Andrew Bynum going for 18-and-6. The big news, of course, is Bynum, who has rapidly rounded into form over the last few weeks. It's still hard to trust him, just because of his scary injury history, but for now he's looking more and more like an awesome fantasy play at center.
• Dion Waiters came back to Earth yesterday, posting a weak 3 points on 1-10 shooting. He's a much better player than this, but such outings are to be expected once in a while from bench players like himself.
• Rodney Stuckey played 10 minutes and scored just 2 points before leaving the game with a knee injury. Hopefully it's nothing serious, because he's not worth holding on to if he has to miss any notable length of time. He has been playing terrific lately, though. The Pistons, by the way, are now 10-10; I can't envision them missing the playoffs this season.
• Brook Lopez was terrific last night, scoring 32 points on 11-13 shooting, going 10-11 from the foul line, and chipping in with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. He's the most reliable player on the Nets by a country mile (when he's healthy, that is), but he's still an unacceptably poor rebounder for an NBA center; he's averaging just 6.2 per game and has yet to pull down more than 9 in a game this season.
• Danny Green was lame on Saturday, playing just 17 minutes and scoring only 2 points. Green -- who for a brief second could have been the 2013 Finals MVP -- has been an unmitigated disaster since Game 5 of that series and isn't to be trusted in fantasy leagues. Yes, he's capable of adding a few steals and blocks while he's hoisting up three's, and yes, he could be usable at some point this year. But he's just a role player, and isn't a dependable one. I wouldn't think twice about ditching him right now.
• DeMarcus Cousins was solid for the Kings, putting up 28 points to go with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Cousins is as erratic a superstar as there is in the league; in fact, it's pretty remarkable Cousins was even able to do this much, considering he only played 27 minutes yesterday. He's volatile, he's a foul machine, and his coach is underplaying him. But he's as talented as any center in the league, which translates into fantasy gold more often than not.
• Jose Calderon had a nice night for the Mavs, scoring 15 points and adding 7 assists and 2 steals in 32 minutes. Calderon is having a disappointing season by his standards, and his assist totals are undeniably way down from what they'd ordinarily be. (Thanks a lot Monta Ellis, who by the way hit a game-winning shot yesterday.) But he's still a pretty damn solid roto play, as his percentages are all excellent and he hardly ever turns the ball over. He's not quite the assist machine I'd like him to be, but he's still worth keeping around on your fantasy team.