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Fantasy Basketball Buy & Sell: Week 5

Fantasy Basketball Buy & Sell: Week 5

The NBA season is chock-full of storylines at this moment. Jimmy Butler was traded to Philadelphia, LeBron passed Wilt Chamberlain for fifth on the All-time Scoring list, Caris LeVert had a scary leg injury, Rajon Rondo broke his hand, and Draymond Green got suspended for fighting with teammate Kevin Durant. Some of those tales have a lot more fantasy implications than others do, but it is definitely a fantastic time to be a basketball fan.

The last of those headlines may bring about the top fantasy buying opportunity, though. Draymond Green has been frustrating managers this season. He is averaging 7.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.9 steals, 0.8 blocks, and 3.2 turnovers per game in 31 minutes through 12 games.

Green is also only averaging 0.5 three-pointers made per game. He is taking 2.1 three-point attempts or his lowest amount in the last five years as well. Green is connecting on a poor 24.0 percent. There is some worry that the Warriors are phasing out his threes after two straight seasons of below 31 percent shooting, but vaulting back in the one make per game range seems likely given his history.

Examining his numbers closer, Green is playing almost two fewer minutes per game and taking over two less field goal attempts in the early season. The drop of 3.5 points and 0.5 blocks per game have fantasy players panicked about the man they drafted early (ADP of 30). Throw in his recent suspension and managers may be looking for a way to sell Green at a discounted rate.

Now is exactly the time you should invest. Green is not known for being an asset in points (averaged 11.8 per game over the last four seasons), but there is no reason to think he won’t end the season averaging around that 11 per game mark. The blocks should come back too. Green is already producing the rebounds, assists, and steals fantasy player’s desire. If this 12-game stretch happened in the middle of January nobody would even notice, so buy Draymond with confidence and enjoy his top-30 production for the remainder of your fantasy campaign.

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Buy

Here are two additional players to buy given their unexpected production through four weeks of the season.

Mike Conley (MEM)
Conley was limited to 12 games last year with heel and Achilles injuries which saw his ADP fall to 43 this season. The Grizzlies point guard has long been a staple at the top of fantasy rankings, but the worry is setting in early on.

Conley is shooting 38.3 percent from the field through 12 games. That is after hitting just 38.1 percent in his abbreviated last season. The three-point percentage has been similarly bad at 30.7 percent.

Those numbers are not going to stick, though. NBA Stats provides some telling numbers on Conley. Looking at his shots considered wide open, he is shooting just 30.6 percent overall and 29.4 percent from three. That is Conley’s worst percentage on the easiest shots to make. For reference, in his last healthy season, Conley shot 48.3 percent from the field and 43.6 percent on three-pointers classified as wide open.

Throw in an uptick in percentages and watch Conley’s numbers skyrocket. He is taking a career-high in field goal attempts, and on this Grizzlies team with two non-shooters (Kyle Anderson and Garrett Temple) in the starting five that is likely to stick. That means Conley likely scores in the neighborhood of 20 points per game with six assists, 1.2 steals, 0.3 blocks, over three rebounds, and 2.0 three-pointers made. Sign me up for that production.

Ricky Rubio (UTH)
Rubio is struggling shooting the ball early this season but is a massive buy low. Fans will remember Rubio from his Minnesota days as an assists monster that produced elite steals and rebounds for a point guard but struggled in scoring and field goal percentage. Last season for the Jazz, Rubio averaged 13.1 points per game, but the assists fell to 5.3. It was an unexpected trade-off that impacted plenty of fantasy teams.

This could be the best of both worlds season for Rubio. He is averaging 7.5 assists through 13 games, but the points have fallen to 10.6. The field goal attempts from last season are there, though. Rubio is just missing his shots (shooting 33.3 percent from the field early on). He will have some positive regression to around 40 percent, and when he does that means elite assists and steals with 13 points a game pushing Rubio well inside the top-50.

Sell

Here are two players fantasy managers should sell because they are playing unsustainably well through the season’s first four weeks.

Jrue Holiday (NOR)
Holiday had the best fantasy year of his career last season. He averaged career highs in points, blocks, rebounds, three-pointers made, and field goal percentage. Fantasy owners took notice and bumped his ADP to 26 this season.

Holiday is producing well beyond that so far. He upped his points to 19.5 with a massive 9.2 assists (1.2 more per game than his career-high). The other career-bests have mostly stuck for the 28-year-old as well. Holiday also continues to play over 36 minutes per game.

He is performing fantastically after an amazing season last year so why sell?  His value will never be higher than it is right now. Taking Holiday and turning him into a top-tier talent is the play to make given his unsustainable production and injury history. The Pelican have played over 70 games once in the last five years. Target a Paul George-type and be happy you made the swap.

De’Aaron Fox (SAC)
The Kings second-year point guard is having a massive season of his own. Fox is averaging 18.7 points, 7.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 3-pointers made, 1.3 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 3.2 turnovers per game in 32.7 a night after 14 contests. He is shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 67.8 percent on free throws.

The unsustainable factors are plentiful here. Fox was never known as a shooter but is hitting 44.2 percent from three this season over 73 attempts. For context, last season he shot 30.7 percent over 281 tries. The point guard was also more of a score-first player but is now averaging over seven assists per game. He averaged 5.7 per 36 as a rookie. Fox is also blocking shots at an unsustainable rate.

Play the second-year breakout angle when trading away Fox. He had an ADP of 84, but given his scorching hot start managers can likely net a top-50 player for him. If looking for a point guard upgrade target Eric Bledsoe, Jeff Teague, or Rubio.

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Tyler Watts is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Tyler, follow him @tylerpwatts

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