Is Willy Hernangomez finally going to help your 2018 fantasy team?

Is Willy Hernangomez finally going to help your 2018 fantasy team?

The New York Knicks honored the trade request of Willy Hernangomez by sending him to the Charlotte Hornets. This came the day after the Knicks lost Kristaps Porzingis for the rest of the season with an ACL tear. Here is the deal:

Perhaps the surprising news is that the Knicks have no intention of retaining Johnny O’Bryant. With Joakim Noah in exile, Porzingis out, and Enes Kanter out for the immediate future, the Knicks could certainly use him for at least one game.

Yes, but will this finally get Willy Hernangomez on the court? The 23 year old averaged 8.2 points, 7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, a half a steal, and a half a block per game in just 18.4 minutes last season. Optimism was high coming into this season, but after the offseason signing of Enes Kanter, Hernangomez has averaged just nine minutes per game in 26 games.

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This significant drop in minutes led to frustration for Hernangomez and fantasy owners alike. However, the situation that he is going into isn’t a whole lot better. Charlotte has an incumbent in Dwight Howard that has played like an All-Star since the calendar hit 2018. Cody Zeller is also firmly entrenched as the backup. So what impact does this actually have on the fantasy value of Hernangomez?

Unfortunately for those of us that have hung on to him in deeper leagues, this is not an immediate improvement. However, Charlotte isn’t just giving away picks here. They saw the same promise that everyone but the Knicks did from his 2016-17 season. I would expect that Charlotte will ease Hernangomez into the system, meaning that his immediate fantasy value is practically what it was before.

I would expect that once he gets familiar with the system that Hernangomez will get more and more minutes. He poses more of an inside presence than the current backup. That means Hernangomez will likely be given every opportunity to carve out a solid backup role here.

This is all speculation, but I would think that the starting power forward job currently held down by Marvin Williams could be earned with great bench performances by Hernangomez. This is likely at least a month off,  but if you have an open bench slot in a deeper league, Hernangomez is worth adding if you have the faith that he can recapture the magic from last season.

This is a low-risk proposition for the Hornets. Second round picks that become all stars are pretty rare. In fact, only Manu Ginobili has been an all star selected after the 48th pick in the draft since 1980.

Next: Will Mirotic be more valuable in fantasy with Pelicans?

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