A few weeks ago, I took the time to write that it made a lot of sense to make a buy-low offer for Trae Young in fantasy basketball – as he was on the verge of returning from an injury and is typically among the very best stat producers in the sport. (Say what you will about Trae Young the real-life NBA player, but Trae Young the fantasy basketball player is certifiably elite when he’s healthy.) But a lot has changed since then. Not only has Trae gotten hurt again, he’s been traded to the Wizards, and while that would seem to be the perfect possible landing spot for him on paper, there’s now the very real chance he won’t be useful at all towards the end of the year.
The silver lining for Trae owners is that the change of scenery should be great for him when he’s actually playing, especially because he really does have the chance to be a scoring machine in Washington. But that’s the rub. How much is he capable of playing, considering that he’s only played five games since the October and hasn’t even played 35 minutes in a game yet this year? How likely is it that he’d play in back-to-backs? And even if he wants to play a lot the rest of the way, the Wizards – who will lose their top-eight-protected first round pick if they win too many games – would have all the incentive in the world in to rest him even under normal circumstances, but that’s especially true given the rash of injuries Trae has dealt with that could reasonably require resting.
When you do the math, the only scenario in which Trae is likely to be a huge help for fantasy owners is if he and the Wizards do so amazingly well together from the moment he debuts with them that the team decides to go “hey, let’s forget about tanking.” But that’s… not a likely scenario at all, not to mention an illogical one. The Wizards’ season is already doomed and Trae’s presence could only serve to worsen their draft stock or threaten his health more. That doesn’t mean it’s automatic that Trae won’t play in March or April, but it would certainly be an upset if he was playing every night by then and it definitely wouldn’t be unusual if he was shut down entirely at some point.
What’s extra unfortunate is that it’s not like he’s an easy player to move in fantasy basketball, given how little he’s played this year. And even if you could deal him, you’re definitely not going to get the late-first-round value back for him that he was going for in drafts before the season. Still, it’s worth at least exploring what you could get for him because on the off chance you have him and your team is competitive despite him being almost entirely worthless this year, you can’t exactly count him to be useful in March and April when he can’t even be counted on in January.
Other notes:
Goga Bitadze got a start with Wendell Carter Jr. out and put up 14 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He’s not fantasy relevant under normal circumstances (especially with Mo Wagner making his season debut on Sunday) but he can be pretty useful as a streamer when he makes it into the starting lineup.
Cam Spencer collected 12 points, 13 assists and 4 rebounds against the Nets on Sunday. That makes back-to-back games for Spencer with double-digit assists, and given the seemingly-inevitability of Ja Morant being traded, Spencer looks like a must-own player right now in 12-team leagues.
Egor Demin had his worst game in a while with 7 points against the Grizzlies on Sunday. He’d been playing pretty well lately though and makes for a savvy add with the trade deadline approaching and the Nets poised to be sellers.
Cedric Coward had 21-and-8 against Brooklyn. He’s had an up-and-down year, but the rookie has been a steady rebounder and scorer lately and his stock is definitely trending up with Ja going out the door. He could be a fantasy difference-maker towards the end of the year.
Collin Murray-Boyles put up 17 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals in a whopping 42 minutes against the Sixers. His stats have been all over the place since entering the starting lineup due to Jakob Poeltl’s injury, but Poeltl keeps missing games and CMB has shown flashes of excellence on occasion. He’s worth rostering until Poeltl returns.
Jrue Holiday played for the first time in two months on Sunday and notched 8 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds. He should return to be a rock solid fantasy producer once he gets fully ramped up.
Peyton Watson continued his incredible run on Sunday, producing 19 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 4 threes in 39 minutes. He’s been simply unbelievable in Nikola Jokic’s absence and is averaging 23.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks over his last six games. Obviously this level of production isn’t sustainable once the Nuggets get healthier, but so what? He’s someone who needs to be rostered in every league imaginable the rest of the way, especially with Christian Braun and Cam Johnson having down years even before getting hurt.
Zeke Nnaji put up 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 28 minutes on Sunday. He’s still been coming off the bench with Jokic out, but he’s been a reliable source of blocks in his absence.
Daniel Gafford played 25 minutes on Saturday and put up a mere 6 points and 7 rebounds. It’s a double-edged sword with Gafford, because on the one hand, Anthony Davis could very well be out for months with a hand injury – which would seemingly secure Gafford’s place in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, Gafford has been rather mediocre this year and hasn’t done much even when getting elevated to the starting lineup. Expectations should be tempered the rest of the way, but he’s still a solid add so long as AD is out.
Jalen Smith returned after being out for a week with a concussion and put up 7 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in 16 minutes. If he can work himself into the starting lineup again, he’d be worth rostering.
