Nick Van Exel

Van Exel missed time last season with a knee injury that required offseason surgery. He’s been rehabbing the knee in training camp, but is expected to be ready to begin the season healthy. Coach Maurice Cheeks will limit his minutes to protect the knee, but Van Exel will be an important part of the team’s guard rotation. He is capable of playing both the point and shooting guard, and proved two years ago with Dallas (12.5 ppg, 4.3 apg, 37.8 % 3pt, 27.8 mpg) that he can be of value coming off the bench. As always, Van Exel will be a good source of 3-pointers (35% 3pt, 5.1 3PA/game in career).

Van Exel will come off the bench for Dallas, but will likely be the shooting guard for most of the game. Van Exel's minutes per game fell to below 30 per game after his trade to Dallas, so be careful of his fantasy value. He won't get the playing time he did in Denver with a deep Dallas team.