Javonte Green

Desperate times call for desperate measures, which applies to a Pelicans team decimated by injuries. Payton, who was in training camp with the team, was signed Wednesday afternoon and will play heavy minutes. Boston, Green, and Missi are the players who fantasy managers should focus on, with Payton and Robinson-Earl being riskier streaming options.

Ingram and Murphy III will join seven other players on New Orleans' injury report. New Orleans deployed a skeleton crew in Tuesday's 41-point bludgeoning from Dallas, but Wednesday's lineup will be even more bare-bones. Expect Javonte Green and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to see extended run as the Pels travel to Cleveland to face one of the NBA's best teams.

Murphy is back after sitting out Saturday's loss to the Lakers for injury management reasons. As a result, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl heads back to the bench. JRE didn't offer much fantasy value as a starter, so he should already be on the waiver wire of most leagues.

McCollum fully participated in practice on Monday, while Hawkins was only able to participate in certain parts. Both are still listed out for Tuesday's game against the Mavs, but it appears that they're both close to returning. When that happens, Brandon Boston Jr., Javonte Green and Jaylen Nowell will all lose minutes and value.

It has been two weeks since the initial reports that McCollum would miss 2-3 weeks. He's getting very close to returning and would be a big addition to the Pelicans' rotation due to the plethora of other injuries they have been managing. Javonte Green replaced the injured Jose Alvarado in their last game, but he would return to a bench role when McCollum is available to make his return.