There are plenty of talking points in both real-life NBA and fantasy basketball right now. Players who signed contracts this offseason can be traded beginning December 15, and that means a plethora of new offers are about to be on the negotiating table. Fans have heard about moves for players like Trevor Ariza and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. There are no guaranteed deals, but it is worth monitoring.
For fantasy managers, those trades could mean shifts in value for players. Be swift to react on your waiver wire to grab players who value skyrockets. Staying alert and plugged into the newswire is critical between now and the February trade deadline.
The headline in the fantasy basketball world was the return of Victor Oladipo. The Pacers guard had a breakout season last year that vaulted him near the top of fantasy rankings. He settled in with an ADP of 15 this year. Oladipo missed 11 games with a knee injury, but finally returned to the court on Wednesday evening.
Now is the time to sell the Pacers star, though. He is coming off a career year and one where he averaged 2.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Those numbers are difficult for any player to repeat. If another manager is valuing Oladipo as a top-15 player, now may be the time to strike and extract his maximum trade value.
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Buy
Here are two players that fantasy managers should be looking to buy in a trade to help improve their position in the standings.
Kris Dunn (PG/SG – CHI)
Dunn also just returned. He injured his knee on Oct. 22 and Monday evening was his return to action. It was a long spell on the sidelines for Dunn.
The Bulls point guard was underrated during draft season. He had an ADP of 92 after finishing last year just outside the top 50. Dunn gets knocked because he is not a superb shooter. He only averaged 0.8 3-pointers made per game last season.
Dunn does produce enticing defensive stats, though. He averaged 2.0 steals and 0.5 blocks last year in 29.3 minutes a night. That is elite production in both categories for his position.
Dunn should also have the path to increased minutes this season. The Bulls were playing Ryan Arcidiacono, and Cameron Payne with Dunn sidelined. The path is there to play 32-plus minutes a night and produce top-50 value, so trade for him now while managers are still viewing him at his draft day price.
Nikola Mirotic (SF/PF – NO)
Mirotic is battling an ankle injury at the moment that caused to miss a few games. It does not appear to be a long-term issue, though.
There is some risk here because the injury could turn into something more severe, but Mirotic is on pace to produce the best statistical season of his career. He is playing over 30 minutes a night for the first time, and the production should only improve from what managers have seen so far once Mirotic is healthy.
Mirotic’s final line in 30.0 minutes per game should read something like 17.5 points, 2.7 3-pointers made, 8.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.0 block on solid percentages. That likely pushes him into the top 50. When managers consider his current injury plus his ADP of 85, that makes Mirotic a fantastic target.
Sell
Here are two players fantasy managers should attempt to move off their roster because their value should never be higher.
Klay Thompson (SG/SF – GS)
Thompson’s season stat line has been impacted by the absences of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. He is averaging a career-high 19.6 field goal attempts per game. That number is not likely to stick because of the talent on this Warriors roster.
Thompson is also producing defensive stats that managers have not seen from him in the last three seasons. His 4.0 rebounds per game is a career-high. Thompson has not averaged 1.0 steal or 0.7 blocks since 2015, either.
Add it all up and Thompson’s value will never be higher. Now that Curry has played a few games and Draymond is back, managers in your league quickly forget they were out of action. Now is the time to trade away Thompson for any player inside the top 40 and enjoy the fact that you maximized his value.
Derrick Rose (PG – MIN)
Rose nearly dropped off the NBA map last season. He played just 27 games between stints with the Cavaliers and Timberwolves and neither the minutes or production stood out. That saw his ADP fall to 174 or virtually undrafted.
He is reunited with Coach Thibodeau, and Rose is having a fantastic season. His 18.5 points per game are the most since 2012. There are reasons to sell him far and wide, though.
First, Rose still ranks outside the top 75 on the season. Managers get hyped on his name value and perceive him significantly higher. He is also playing under 30 minutes per game and produces less than one per game if you combined his steals and blocks.
Rose is shooting unsustainable percentages too. He is a career 30.8 percent three-point shooter. This season, D-Rose is hitting on 47.7 percent from downtown. That would mean he vaulted from a well-below league average marksman to now one of the top-10 shooters in the league. His 49.2 percent from the field is not sustainable either.
A correction in percentages is also going to drop his point total. That likely pushes Rose outside the top 100 and into the streamer class in most standard leagues. If you own Rose, test out the trade market. See if you can acquire a more valuable season-long asset for him. Making a Rose for Dunn-type swap would be an ideal move at this moment.
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Tyler Watts is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Tyler, follow him @tylerpwatts.