NBA Trade Fantasy Outlook: DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans
NBA Trade Fantasy Outlook: Sacramento Kings ship DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans
Just moments after the All-Star game ended on Sunday Night, the news broke that DeMarcus Cousins had been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Details are still emerging but Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that New Orleans will receive Cousins and Omri Casspi for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway (to be waived) and two future draft picks.
Deal with the Pels includes guard Buddy Hield, and a 2017 first-round pick to the Kings for Cousins, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 20, 2017
Sources: New Orleans is also sending the Kings a 2017 second-round pick (via Philadelphia) and Tyreke Evans in deal, league sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 20, 2017
From a fantasy basketball perspective, this trade has massive implications both from a traditional fantasy league standpoint and as we fire up Daily Fantasy Basketball when it returns on Thursday. Let’s take a look at the players that are impacted the most and how you should react from a fantasy perspective!
DeMarcus Cousins/Anthony Davis: From a pure fan perspective, I cannot wait to see how Boogie and Brow co-exist on the basketball court as they should form a 1-2 punch that will be nearly impossible to stop on a nightly basis. From a fantasy perspective both players are clearly still elite plays but the reality is, we have two players who dominated usage on their respective teams and will now be forced to share the basketball which initially should be a slight downgrade to each player.
Anthony Davis has a 35% usage rate on the season while Cousins has put up a 41% usage rate this year with Rudy Gay off the floor. I would expect at least initially that both players will stymie the fantasy output of the other player as they rotate who has the bigger night and from a DFS perspective, I think it makes sense to take a wait and see approach as both players are priced for their old situations and now step into “time-share” roles like the Kyrie/LeBron or the Big 4 in Golden State!
NBA Trade: Who Stands to Benefit in Sacramento?
From a New Orleans perspective, we can essentially look to avoid the remaining players outside of Boogie/Brow as Jrue Holiday should see a further drop in usage and Terrence Jones will essentially have no role left with Boogie taking up the space next to AD so is Sacramento where we need to look for the winners in this deal?
With Cousins 41% usage rate off the floor, you could argue that every single player on Sacramento has the opportunity for increased fantasy value and there are three specific players I am looking to target both in DFS and in season-long leagues.
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Darren Collison: With Gay/Cousins off the floor this season, no remaining player on Sacramento has a higher usage rate than Collison who leads the team with 28.8% usage rate which is nearly 8% higher than his season average. I would temper my expectations a bit as teams will be able to key in on Collison more and more but we only need to look back a few games to see the kind of lines that Collison can put up without DeMarcus Cousins.
Just two weeks ago, with Cousins suspended, Collison put up 26 points on 12 for 21 shooting, along with 5 assists and 4 steals while logging a team high 37 minutes. On Thursday night, the Kings take on the Denver Nuggets and Collison should be an on your DFS radar as he gets an elite match-up against one of the worst back-court defenses in the NBA!
Tyreke Evans: In my mind, the biggest winner in this trade is Tyreke Evans and I would make sure he is not floating around your waiver wire with the news of this trade now looking to be close to final! Evans is a multi-category monster with fantasy point per minute upside when given the run and on a depleted Kings team, he has massive upside for the rest of the season!
As a starter last season, Evans averaged 30 minutes a game, 15 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest. It is that multi-category upside that makes Evans so appealing and the fact he had a near 30% usage rate when on the court with Anthony Davis this year just shows how much of the offense he is capable of commanding. Other than Darren Collison, I would expect the Evans to be the focal point of this Kings offensive attack and he would be my top target as a result of this trade.
Willie Cauley-Stein: The last piece of this deal that has some intrigue from a fantasy perspective is Cauley-Stein who should slot into the Kings front-court now with Cousins out of the picture. In his brief career, WCS has averaged 7 points, 6 rebounds and 24 minutes of action as a starter and should be a nightly double-double threat as one of the few interior options on the Kings.
Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR as we head into the second half of the NBA season and get you ready for all your fantasy basketball analysis!