Jae Crowder has scored more than 20 points in three of his last five games

While the trading block has been relatively quiet so far in the NBA, successful fantasy owners realize that now is never a bad time to test the waters and see where possible improvements can be made. As we touched on a bit last week, less can be more when it comes to trading at this point in the season. Unless your team is in need of some big changes to turn things around, now is the time to focus on weeding out those inconsistent players capable of valuable production but incapable of sustaining it to the point of reliability.

Those kinds of players may have helped you put together a team capable of staying in the hunt, but they aren’t usually enough to see you through to the finals. Now is the time to be sure in your trades and leave the uncertainties to the waiver wire, where you can limit risk by dumping your least productive players for those with immediate value or late-season potential. So, without further ado, we bring you Week 13’s buy, sell and hold picks.

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BUY

Will Barton – SG/SF – Denver Nuggets
Other than what may have been the best fist bump ever, Barton has had a relatively slow January. So far this month, he’s scored in double-digits just three times and averaged just 12.5 points on 35.4 percent shooting from the field. Compare those numbers to his 20.8 points per game while shooting over 47 percent from the floor during the month of December, and it’s obvious the five-year pro is in the middle of a slump.

He’s also seen minor reductions in his three-point production, assists and steals (but a small rise in rebounding, however), much of which is probably due to playing about 3.5 fewer minutes per game this month compared to last. Some might say, however, that he’s on his way out of said slump, as Barton’s now averaging 17 points while shooting 47 percent from the floor to go along with 2.7 assists, 6.7 rebounds and two three-pointers over his last three games.

That could very well be the case since his recent reduction in playing time hasn’t been drastic enough to warrant any real concerns and also hasn’t been the result of any lasting lineup changes. You may be looking at your last few days to try and buy low-ish on Barton because he’s yet to string together more than one strong scoring performance this month, but the good games are certainly starting to become more frequent as January comes to a close.

Klay Thompson – SG/SF – Golden State Warriors
As one of the most underrated, or at least overlooked, players in the NBA, Klay Thompson simply doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the kind of season he’s had so far. Thanks to the almost superhuman numbers Stephen Curry seems to put up day in and day out, it’s just too easy to forget that he has one of the league’s best shooting guards always within reach. Thompson’s always been a great shooter, but 2015-16 is turning out to be one of his best seasons so far.

He’s currently averaging 20.8 points (46.4 percent FG, 81.8 percent FT, 43.1 percent 3PT), 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.7 blocks, 0.5 steals and 3.2 threes over 33.1 minutes this year. Except the steals and assists, the rest of those stats are all above his career averages, and he’s doing it while playing for the best team in the NBA. In other words, the fact that the Warriors quite often blow their opponents out of the water (second-highest point differential in the league at +11.2) has barely affected his playing time.

Recently, however, Thompson’s numbers have been more modest than usual, as he’s averaged 17.5 points over his last four games (not including his most recent contest at Cleveland). For just about anyone else, that level of production would be welcomed, but for Thompson, it is a bit of a drop-off — albeit one that won’t last for much longer.

Normally, a sample size that small wouldn’t be enough to lower one’s fantasy stock, but because of his constant place in Curry’s shadow, many owners may not feel as good about Thompson as they should. By offering players who seem to spend more time in the spotlight but aren’t as likely to remain as consistent from here on out, you may be able to get Thompson for a bit of a steal.

HOLD

Jae Crowder – SF – Boston Celtics
Back in Week 8, Crowder found himself as one of our “hold” candidates, and here he is again, five weeks later. The reason for his first time making our list was simply because few could believe he’d be capable of maintaining such surprisingly strong numbers across the board, but as we suggested, there was a good chance that this season was going to be anything but a flash in the pan. Well, here we are in week 13, and Crowder is still managing to contradict the naysayers.

In fact, he’s still improving, as Crowder is averaging 18.8 points on nearly 50 percent shooting from the field over his last nine games. That’s a few percentage points higher and 4.2 points more than his current season averages – a season that’s seen Crowder go from undrafted in most leagues with a projected fantasy ranking of 180 to owned in over 83 percent of leagues with a consistent top-50, nine-category player rating. The uptick in scoring is the reason we once again list Crowder as a good “hold” candidate, as many seem to think he’s currently a great sell-high player.

To be fair, it’s not exactly an awful idea to see where his value lies in your respective league, but there’s no reason to force a trade just because you think he’s currently scoring points at a pace that’s unlikely to continue. Crowder has managed to put up useful to great numbers in just about every category except for blocks, and that kind of across the board production is simply too rare to abandon unless you’re getting a definite stud in return. Unfortunately, Crowder comes with the baggage of playing for the Celtics and coach Brad Stevens, who has the early reputation of constantly shifting lineups.

It’s simple to feel uneasy about any player in Boston, and for good reason, but Crowder has now solidified himself as one of the few pillars of that team. Barring any unforeseen injuries or trades, he should continue to hold a value that will be difficult to improve upon in a trade and is, therefore, worth holding on to.

Zach Randolph – PF – Memphis Grizzlies
Unlike Crowder, Zach Randolph has been anything but exceptional this year. With a preseason ECR of 76, Randolph has failed to live up to expectations that were never all that high to begin with. No one is going to expect all-star numbers out of a 17-year veteran, but the fact that head coach Dave Joerger has flip-flopped between big and small ball focused lineups for most of the season has cut Randolph’s playing time to a greater extent than many predicted.

Now 13 weeks into the season, however, the Grizzlies aren’t quite playing at the level Joerger wishes, and part of that is due to their offensive troubles stemming from a desire to make smaller lineups work. In late December, he was quoted as saying, “We have no offensive identity without playing the two bigs…We try to go to it (the big lineup) a lot. We’re still an inside-out team,” which didn’t exactly help to instill much faith in the fantasy value of Memphis players like Randolph. So far this month, Randolph is averaging 28.9 minutes, 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, which are some of the best numbers he’s put up this season, and there’s a chance they could hold steady for a while longer.

If Joerger decides to go with a bigger lineup for the rest of the season or even just a little while longer, Randolph will certainly see a boost to his current value. Because of his lackluster season thus far, that value is still rather low — low enough to not bother selling unless as a part of a two-for-one deal or something similar.

Therefore, it’s best to hold onto the big man for the time being because his potential upside, while not likely to last for long if reached, probably outweighs the floor he’s been playing so close to this season. In other words, if you’ve made it this far with Z-Bo on your roster, there’s no reason not to wait a bit longer to see if that patience is finally rewarded.

SELL

Bradley Beal – SG – Washington Wizards
Beal is back, and we’re already suggesting you sell. If it were any other player coming back from injury, now would be a bit premature to make any moves, but Beal has returned with a somewhat somber outlook on his future in the NBA. He is dealing with a stress reaction in his lower left leg his entire career.

Beal said of the injury, “It doesn’t want to listen to me so I got to as much as I can take care of it, be smart about it moving forward through the rest of my career that’s probably something that’s going to happen every year.” The “rest of my career” bit is definitely concerning and means that he’ll almost certainly continue to see limited playing time for the rest of the season. There’s a good chance, however, that those who don’t currently own Beal aren’t aware of the bad news.

Because of how well he played towards the end of last season (averaged 20 points in April and 23.4 points in the playoffs), many could see his return as perfect timing for a repeat, late-season performance. That’s unlikely to occur, so it’s a good time to see if you can dump him off to an unsuspecting owner before it’s too late (especially in keeper/dynasty leagues) and they become wise to the situation at hand.

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George Haw is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from George, check out his archive and follow him @georgeWarfieldH.