With a wave of injuries sweeping across the NBA landscape, fantasy basketball owners must reassess their rosters to deal with the fallout.
Paul Millsap, D’Angelo Russell, Mike Conley and Patrick Beverley are each likely to be sidelined for an extended period of time (if not the rest of the season), which will cause some of their teammates’ fantasy stocks to soar. The likes of Will Barton, Allen Crabbe, Mario Chalmers and Austin Rivers are each far more appealing than they were two weeks ago, as they’ll be sliding into more substantial roles with their respective teammates out.
Who else is jumping up the fantasy leaderboard? Here, we’ll present rest-of-season rankings tailed for nine-category head-to-head leagues (factoring in the ability to punt certain categories, such as free-throw percentage). Below the rankings, read up on some of the notable risers and fallers from the past week.
2017 Fantasy Basketball Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ – Expert Consensus Rankings
Tim Hardaway Jr., SG/SF, New York Knicks: The Knicks were a punchline for handing Hardaway Jr. a four-year, $71 million contract this offseason, but who’s laughing now? After a slow start to the season, THJ has taken off in recent weeks, which he punctuated with a season-high 38 points on 13-of-27 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds and four 3-pointers in a come-from-behind victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Hardaway is now averaging 18.4 points on 42.3 percent shooting, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.5 triples and 1.2 steals in 33.7 minutes, putting him as the 51st-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues. Kudos to those who took our early advice and hung tight with him throughout his disappointing first few games, as he’s looking like an easy top-75 rest-of-season value.
Darren Collison, PG, Indiana Pacers: Collison took off running in his first few games as a Pacer, putting up 15.6 points on 52.8 percent shooting, 8.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 triples and 1.4 steals in 33.0 minutes across his first five outings, but he’s been running much more hot and cold since. Over his past 13 games, the 30-year-old’s averages plunged to 11.4 points on 44.5 percent shooting, 6.2 assists, 2.6 rebounds, 1.0 treys and 1.0 steals in 31.4 minutes, far more in line with his typical career production. With Victor Oladipo firmly in the midst of a breakout campaign and Myles Turner, Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic providing consistent complementary offense, the Pacers don’t need Collison to take over single-handedly. As such, he’s looking less like a top-50 lock and more like a fringe top-75 option moving forward.
Jeremy Lamb, SG, Charlotte Hornets: Nicolas Batum left Wednesday’s game against the Washington Wizards with an injury to the same elbow that knocked him out for the first few weeks of the season. He doesn’t feel as though this injury is as bad as that one, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, but it’s currently unclear how long (if at all) he’ll be sidelined. Regardless, Lamb is looking like a must-own player for the time being, particularly until Batum can chain together a few games without getting hurt. Lamb took advantage of Batum’s early departure against Washington, as he erupted for 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, three 3-pointers and three blocks in Charlotte’s overtime victory. Regardless of Batum’s status moving forward, Lamb deserves to be considered a top-100 rest-of-season value.
Jrue Holiday, PG/SG, New Orleans Pelicans: Since Rajon Rondo made his Pelicans debut on Nov. 13, Holiday’s assist totals have taken a turn for the worse. Whereas he averaged 6.6 helpers over his first 13 outings, the 27-year-old is down to 4.0 assists over his past five. Since he isn’t likely to erupt for huge scoring totals alongside Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins, Holiday’s best path to fantasy relevance is racking up dimes, 3-pointers or steals. At the moment, though, he’s shooting a career-worst 22.5 percent from deep, averaging a six-year low 5.9 assists and has only 20 steals in 18 games, putting him on pace for his worst average in that department since his rookie year. Unless Rondo goes down again or Davis and Cousins begin ceding more touches to him, it’ll be a struggle for Holiday to leave up to his mid-sixth-round average draft position. He’s more of a fringe top-75 option for the time being.
Ben Simmons, PG/PF, Philadelphia 76ers: Even as a card-carrying member of the Cult of Hinkie, I didn’t foresee Simmons getting off to this kind of start. The 2016 No. 1 overall pick is averaging 18.5 points on 51.3 percent shooting, 9.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.8 blocks in 35.1 minutes over his first 17 games, putting him 52nd on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues. While he figured to emerge as a walking triple-double courtesy of his rebounding and passing ability, his defensive acumen has come as a pleasant surprise. What scouts once held against him during his LSU days has turned into a major plus, much to the delight of fantasy owners. Though Simmons is 0-of-7 from 3-point range to date, his complete lack of long-range shooting is a non-issue so long as he keeps stuffing the stat sheet elsewhere. Consider him a top-50 rest-of-season lock if he stays healthy.
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Ricky Rubio, PG, Utah Jazz: We all knew it was coming eventually, right? Rubio got off to a scorching scoring start this season, pouring in 17.5 points on 43.7 percent shooting (and 37.2 percent from deep!) over his first eight games, but regression to the mean has started to settle in. The Spanish floor general has yet to top 13 points in each of his past 10 games, and he’s averaging just 9.5 points on 31.6 percent shooting, 3.7 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 25.7 minutes over that span. The most alarming thing for fantasy owners is Rubio’s lack of assists; after entering the year with at least seven helpers in each of his first six seasons, he’s averaging only 4.9 this year. Until Rubio picks up his playmaking duties, it’s difficult to envision him finishing as a top-75 option.
All ownership percentages via ESPN.com. All average draft position info via FantasyPros. All rankings via Basketball Monster are based on nine-category leagues and are current heading into Friday, Nov. 24.