Welcome back to Weekly Yinteresting Thoughts 16. This week’s segment will be a short dive into the reemergence of Kawhi Leonard, who’s really started picking things up over this past month. Leonard was drafted in the late second or third round of most leagues. As a notoriously injury prone superstar, many harbored doubts as to whether he would return value on his expensive price tag. The ultimate high risk, high reward player.
Leonard is ranked 20th on the season, 2nd over the past month, and 1st over the past two weeks in standard 9-cat leagues. The Klaw has demonstrated that he still belongs in that upper echelon of both fantasy and real life basketball superstars, but how will his health hold up? His injury concerns were baked into his ADP, but what about his playoff schedule? Leonard will sit all back-to-back sets this season and probably beyond. This year in Weeks 21 through 23, Leonard will presumably play two games (one B2B), three games, and three games.
Low-volume weeks during fantasy playoffs coupled with high injury risk are pushing many managers, including myself, to consider selling Leonard for a more reliable asset with lower upside but higher availability. I’ve since changed my mind on this; why not take the roll? Leonard is a monster and his team is in contention to fight for a top four seed in the West. His averages over this past month are 28-6-4 with 1.9 steals on massive efficiency in both %’s. After all, if you were confident enough to draft him, why deal him away for 75 cents on the dollar? He could continue to drop massive lines for the rest of the season when he plays.
And who really has the ability to accurately predict injuries? Leonard’s degenerative knee condition will always be a worry, but he doesn’t exactly look lethargic out there while he’s dropping 27 a night.
None of his numbers are too far off from career averages, and when healthy, he’s an absolute force and an all time player. If someone wants to overpay for Leonard then it’s probably wise to deal him, but realistically you shouldn’t feel too bad about holding and enjoying the ride.
Board man gets paid.
