What It Means:

Head coach Rick Carlisle said that Dirk isn’t playing in back-to-back sets "right now," so he could also sit during Dallas’ upcoming back-to-back set later this week with games Friday versus the San Antonio Spurs and Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies. Charlie Villanueva will likely return to the starting lineup, with a trio of Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons all doing a bit more on offense. Expect Dirk to return to the starting lineup Monday in a tip with the Atlanta Hawks.

Nowitzki is sitting on a 5.5 nERD for the year, ranking him 33rd. Despite struggling from the field in January to the tune of a 40.7 percent shooting average, but he will finish with solid per-game pars of 18.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.0 3-pointers for the month. Our models project him to average 20.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 3-pointers per game over the remainder of the season while averaging 46.7 percent from the field.