Now that the NBA In-Season Tournament is in the books the NBA season is about to kick into another gear. There are a bunch of games on the schedule today with lots of potential in fantasy.
There were 26 teams filled with the most competitive players in the world all watching basketball over the weekend. Chomping at the bit to get on the court. Get your rosters set. Check the waivers. It is time for a monster week in fantasy hoops.
As with every week this season, these are all players that are rostered on less than 50% of Yahoo Fantasy Hoops Leagues at the moment. There are a lot of fun, intriguing options across the board this week that could be a one-game streamer to a full-week keeper.
Make sure you get on the waiver wire before your opponents and the games get started today.
Guards
Collin Sexton – Utah Jazz (41% Rostered)
Four Games: @ Oklahoma City (Monday), New York Knicks (Wednesday), @ Portland Trail Blazers (Thursday) and @ Sacramento Kings (Saturday)
Sexton is the perfect streamer as a guard right now. He is filling up the stat sheet and scoring double-figures virtually every game for Utah. Over the past six games, he has 79 points, 20 assists and 16 rebounds while shooting 44-31-92 splits.
Dante Exum – Dallas Mavericks (17% Rostered)
Four Games: @ Memphis Grizzlies (Monday), Los Angeles Lakers (Tuesday), Minnesota Timberwolves (Thursday) and @ Portland Trail Blazers (Saturday)
While it was just one game, Exum is coming off a 23-point, seven-assist and six-rebound game in a win over Portland. Kyrie Irving is listed as out today and Grant Williams is dealing with nagging injuries setting up Exum as potentially the team’s number two playmaker to start the week.
Matisse Thybulle – Portland Trail Blazers (15% Rostered)
Four Games: @ Los Angeles Clippers (Monday), Utah Jazz (Thursday), Dallas Mavericks (Saturday) and Golden State Warriors (Sunday)
Thybulle has quietly put together a season where he has averaged at least 1.6 three-pointers per game for four straight weeks. He has been trending up making 2.0 three-pointers per game two weeks ago and 3.0 three-pointers per game last week.
He is beginning to look like a reliable shooter while filling it up on the defensive end still with nine steals, five blocks and 15 rebounds over his last five games.
Forwards
Jonathan Kuminga – Golden State Warriors (17% Rostered)
Three Games: @ Phoenix Suns (Tuesday), @ Los Angeles Clippers (Thursday) and Brooklyn Nets (Saturday)
This season Kuminga has been a bit of a wildcard, which is not fun for a fantasy manager to try and predict when he is going to be great. Over his last four games, Kuminga has 60 points and 21 rebounds with one double-double and three games scoring in double-figures. At the very least Kuminga is becoming consistent as a scorer off the bench.
Torrey Craig – Chicago Bulls (3% Rostered)
Four Games: @ Milwaukee Bucks (Monday), Denver Nuggets (Tuesday) and @ Miami Heat (Thursday and Saturday)
Craig has quietly been a perfect streamer over the past four games. During this stretch he has scored in double-figures three times (47 points), collected 26 rebounds and made at least two three-pointers per game (12 total).
Troy Brown Jr. – Minnesota Timberwolves (2% Rostered)
Three Games: @ New Orleans Pelicans (Monday), @ Dallas Mavericks (Thursday) and Indiana Pacers (Saturday)
If your team is light on three-point shooting this week Brown Jr. could be a good option as a deep utility or forward streamer. He has six straight games with two-plus made three-pointers. He is not bringing much more to the table, but if he continues to knock down shots for a contending Minnesota team the minutes will be there for him to add more to the stat sheet.
Centers
Orlando Robinson – Miami Heat (22% Rostered)
Four Games: Charlotte Hornets (Monday road, Wednesday home) and Chicago Bulls (twice)
It looks like All-Star Bam Adebayo is going to miss at least another week (if not two) opening the door for Robinson to continue contributing. Over his last three games Robinson has totaled 36 points, 25 rebounds, three steals and two blocks on 7-12 shooting. He also has four threes over the past two games combined.
Nick Richards – Charlotte Hornets (14% Rostered)
Four Games: Miami Heat (Monday home, Wednesday road), New Orleans Pelicans (Friday) and Philadelphia 76ers (Saturday)
Richards has found a groove over his last two games with 21 points and 19 rebounds. He picked up three blocks in one game as well but hasn’t had back-to-back games with more than one block in over a month. Miami is thin in the paint right now setting up these first two games for Richards as solid tests for if he is going to be worth keeping for the week.
Isaiah Hartenstein – New York Knicks (11% Rostered)
Four Games: Toronto Raptors (Monday), @ Utah Jazz (Wednesday), @ Phoenix Suns (Friday) and @ Los Angeles Clippers (Sunday)
This week Hartenstein has the potential to have a big rebounding week against four teams that are between average and below average on the glass. He has three straight games of seven-plus rebounds and back-to-back weeks averaging 8.0 and 11.5 rebounds per game.
The bonus with Hartenstein comes from his shooting (56.3% for the season), shot blocking (2.0 last week) and collecting assists through the offense (4.5 assists per game last week).
Specialists
Tre Jones – San Antonio Spurs (49% Rostered)
Four Games: @ Houston Rockets (Monday), Los Angeles Lakers (twice) and New Orleans Pelicans (Sunday)
Jones had his best overall week in fantasy last season averaging 11.0 points, 6.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. He has a synergy with rookie Victor Wembanaya that has led to the backup point guard dishing out the most assists on the team by far. Plus, over the past three weeks Jones has trended up statistically in every other category. He might be a streamer this week and a keeper going forward.
THREE-POINTERS Sam Hauser – Boston Celtics (15% Rostered)
Three Games: Cleveland Cavaliers (twice) and Orlando Magic
Despite coming off his first game since the season-opener without a made three-pointer, Hauser is one of the best options for a deep bench specialist. He has averaged at least 1.8 three-pointers per game all season and took that up a notch to 2.5 over the last four weeks. Hauser could get a lot of looks this week against tough defenses that will try and slow down the stars of Boston.
STEALS Josh Okogie – Phoenix Suns (5% Rostered)
Three Games: Golden State Warriors (Tuesday), Brooklyn Nets (Wednesday) and New York Knicks (Friday)
Okogie is a risk because he might have zeros in all the other categories, but he has averaged at least 1.5 steals and a block per game for two straight weeks. Golden State is a high-volume turnover team, which could be a good test game for adding Okogie this week.
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