Fantasy Basketball: What To Do With Al Jefferson

Fantasy Basketball: What To Do With Al Jefferson

Al Jefferson has been out of action since basically the beginning of December with the exception of two games right after Christmas where he had around 16-18 minutes a piece. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee right around five weeks ago so he is on a normal timetable to return.

Jefferson has been a shell of his former self even in a contract year and it is likely that he was dropped in your re-draft leagues. Before you go rushing out to pick him up I want to make sure that you are not cutting anyone who is producing at all. I am not expecting Jefferson to do much for at least the first few weeks and he could remain in a timeshare with Cody Zeller and Frank Kaminsky rendering all three of them somewhat useless.

If you are in a large league you could find value in adding Jefferson, but you may find that his owner there simply chose to place him on his injured reserve and hope for the best. I do not suggest trying to buy him low at all and if you have Jefferson on your roster your best bet would be just to sit tight and hope maybe he has a few big games if and when he gets back on the court and take whatever you can get for him.

He has played in 19 games and is averaging around 25 minutes per game which is simply not enough to do anything with in a standard sized league. He will have a slim handful of big games, but is unlikely to be worth a roster spot. If I had him on a roster in a standard sized league, I might try to sell him based on name value and the hype of him returning. Most likely, however, I think that you may be best served to simply cut him for the next hot free agent to come along. You could also refer to our latest Waiver Wire article for a few guys that I would prefer to have on my roster over Jefferson.

More fansided.com: Fantasy Basketball: Waiver Wire Week 16

Whatever you do, you are going to want to make sure that you don’t cut a guy that is producing or trade for Jefferson with the mindset that he is going to produce like he did way back in the day. So often I see fantasy players that are living in the past and thinking that a guy is going to be able to shake off problems that they have had all season. Jefferson was not hampered by this injury all season that we can tell and I just can’t believe that he is going to come back and be the Al Jefferson that we all remember.

Next: Fantasy Football: What To Do With C.J. Anderson

As always we wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions feel free to connect with us on Twitter on the links above.