The NBA trade deadline is February 9, which means there’s less than a month left for rumors of the deal to heat up and key fantasy players to change teams.
Which players will be affected the most — for good or for bad — if they are dealt with?
Here are André Snellings, Eric Karabell, Eric Moody, Steve Alexander and John Cregan with some of the top names on their minds.
Russell WestbrookPG, Los Angeles Lakers: It’s probably hard to tell if Westbrook is actually banned from trading, but we should assume he’ll start and play more minutes if he gets dealt. Based on the numbers we saw from the bench, Westbrook is still in the form of a valid statistic. By the way, he averaged 15.1 PPG (a career low), but 6.4 RPG and 7.9 APG. I’m sure Westbrook wants to start, and he will at most other teams. I may not be the most imaginative fan of Westbrook, as his poor shooting can be a drag, but very few players deliver the nightly flirtation with a triple double. The next few weeks could be a wise time to try to get Westbrook in the fantasy. — Karabell
Fred VanVleetPG/SG, Toronto Raptors: VanVleet’s value can drop quickly if he is traded away from the Raptors. VanVleet played great minutes and got the green light consistently with the Raptors; over the past three seasons, he averaged 37.2 MPG and 16.6 FGA. This has allowed him to produce a high number of goals (19.7 PPG during that period) despite only shooting from 39.3%. VanVleet is an underrated first-scorer and has a player option this season, so if a team trades for him, it could be a championship contender looking. a veteran scorer from the bench to help them take the lead. This could help VanVleet compete for the ring this season, but if it causes his minutes to drop, he won’t have the effectiveness or all-around play to maintain his current fantasy value. at his own. — Snellings
Nikola VucevicC, Chicago bulls: Chicago has put Vucevic on a trading ban list, according to various reports. Vucevic has scored 16.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.9 interceptions and 1.7 3-pointers with the Bulls so far. A move to any other team in the league could really hurt or help him, depending on where that is. If he joins a team like the Suns, who has Deandre Ayton locked and loaded with an average of 17.5 points, 9.8 bounces, and 0.7 blocks, Vucevic is clearly going to succeed. But if he goes to a Dallas Mavericks the team starts Dwight Powell in the center, he can really see a big push going along with Luka Doncic and christian wood. Powell has only averaged 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Mavs this season, and while Vucevic will have to compete with Wood on big man stats, the door is wide open for Vucevic to have a big role to play. big in Dallas. — Alexander
Caris LeVertSG/SF, Cleveland Cavaliers: LeVert has been the subject of commercial rumors lately. On the Cavaliers list, he is the top commercial property. He took the back seat this season to Donovan Mitchell (31.8%) and Darius wreath (28.7%), people with high usage rates. LeVert is averaging 16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per 40 minutes this season and with his contract expiring, the 28-year-old could thrive at a new team. LeVert was only included in the list in 46.8% of ESPN’s tournaments. — sad
Kyle KuzmaSF/PF, Washington shaman: I wrote about this recently, but in terms of credible rumours, Kuzma will likely suffer the biggest drop in value if/when Washington moves him. With Bradley Beal dealing with hamstring problems, Kuzma’s usage rate continued to spike, even breaking the 30.0 usage barrier in the past week. Aside from the increase in usage, Kuzma is playing pretty well this campaign, which is pushing his assists per game to a career high of 3.8 per game. No competitor can give Kuzma the level of use and role he is maximizing in DC. — Cregan
