Portland’s second round pick in 2022, Walker is starting to see more PT over the last couple of months and showing his potential (last week recording a double-double with two blocks and a steal). His touches are up the last few weeks, and he’s already nearly matched the number of appearances he had in his entire rookie campaign last season. Yes, Walker endured a couple of injuries this season, but they were both minor and he’s proving to be an asset worth considering in deeper formats.

Unfortunately, Dosunmu never really topped his October performance despite seeing some substantial PT. All told, it was a decent sophomore effort as he saw more action and improved his work at the line, but failed to sink as many hoops. This season, he’s been improving each month to the point that he’s playing at a top 45 level in the last week and has rhymed off nine straight double-digit scoring efforts with solid secondary numbers. Dosunmu’s bucket count is rising, he’s shooting brilliantly and is becoming a more efficient player. Better yet, he’s recently taken over as the starting PG, and we see no reason that won’t continue for the foreseeable future.

Kennard is shooting better lately and even if he’s still not playing as much as he did last season, that’s trending the other way now with 29 or more minutes in four straight games. We love his ability to be efficient, too; how about 18 points on Thursday despite taking just nine shots? The way things are going, don’t be shocked if a contender tries to pry Kennard from Memphis at the trade deadline.

Has the next great Italian player emerged in Fontecchio? Before a poor shooting effort on Friday, he had scored at least 12 points with two steals in three straight games, flirting with a double-double in each contest while seeing his PT consistently rise as the season has progressed. Fontecchio, who has been getting more starts lately, is doing a better job of getting to the line as a sophomore, and if he can regularly attempt six freebies like he did last Saturday, his offense will really take off.