The Cut List - Who To Drop for Fantasy Basketball Week 1

October 28, 2023

Alex's fantasy basketball players to drop when making waiver wire moves in Week 1 (2023-24). He helps fantasy NBA managers decide on who to cut from rosters.

Welcome, Rotoballers, we're officially nearing the end of the first week of the NBA season! Lineups and rotations are finally showing data that either proves or disproves some of the reports we all were hearing in the offseason. Coaches just love hyping up some of the role players who don't even get the minutes that everyone expects.

The aim of this weekly piece is to give a list of players that fantasy managers can safely drop and not have to worry about at all or at least until a later date. There are always a couple of players that we get attached to because we thought we were going to get one-up on everyone. What I'm here to do is let you know that it's time to just cut ties and let these players be someone else's headache!

With that being said, let's get into the first week of the drop list and talk about some players who don't seem to be living up to the preseason hype. We're going to go over four players in the first week and expand out to five as we get some bigger sample sizes.

Players to Consider Dropping or Replacing

Paul Reed (PF/C, PHI) - 31% rostered

"B-Ball Paul" Reed was the offseason and preseason darling for fantasy basketball managers everywhere. The 76ers signed Mo Bamba, Montrezl Harrell got hurt and then waived, and new head coach Nick Nurse praised him in every way possible. There was also the quote about using Reed like Pascal Siakam.

All of that amounted to just 12 minutes in the team's season-opener against the Milwaukee Bucks. None of those minutes were alongside Joel Embiid which makes matters even worse. We were promised Siakam-like potential!

In deeper leagues, such as 14-team or more leagues, Reed can probably be a hold right now. For everyone else, go ahead and grab someone along the lines of Dereck Lively II or Jeremy Sochan who are both available in around 50% of leagues.

Jaden Ivey (PG/SG, DET) - 48% rostered

If anyone had Jaden Ivey losing his starting spot to Killian Hayes on their 2023 bingo card after last season, then they need to play the lottery immediately! Ivey showed some great promise at points in his rookie year while he led the backcourt with Cade Cunningham out of the picture. The issue is that he was inefficient and made some wild plays that turned into pretty bad turnovers.

Here we are a year later, Cunningham is back in the fold, Hayes is starting at shooting guard, Alec Burks is still getting minutes, and Marcus Sasser even got some playing time. Oh, that's not to mention Monte Morris waiting in the wings to get back from an injury. There's not much playing time to go around unless there's a lot of garbage time in every game.

Good to see Jaden Ivey scores some points #Detroitbasketball

pic.twitter.com/ccOi5KklAl

— Pistons Talk (@Pistons__Talk) October 26, 2023

Ivey played 17 minutes in the team's first game and shot 1-for-7 while posting four points, three assists, two rebounds, and three turnovers. If he can't even shoot 40% while maintaining at least a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, then Monty Williams may continue to decrease his opportunities.

Collin Sexton (PG/SG, UTA) - 57% rostered

Collin Sexton has now appeared on this list two seasons in a row, that might not be a record, but he's surely getting close to most appearances on the cut list! Is that someone that you want to attach your fantasy fortunes to? My guess is probably not.

Sexton played 20 minutes off of the bench in their opening game against the Sacramento Kings and he put together a hefty stat line of nine points, three rebounds, and three turnovers while shooting 2-for-9 from the floor. His one saving grace was the fact that he got to the line and knocked down five of his seven free throws. That doesn't exactly make him exempt from the drop list though.

Just like Ivey, Sexton has a lot of competition in the backcourt. Jordan Clarkson and Talen Horton-Tucker both started while Kris Dunn, Ochai Agbaji, and Keyonte George all saw minutes off of the bench. The only one of them to get more than 22 minutes was Clarkson. The rest of them seem primed for a committee like they're an NFL team with too many running backs.

Hanging on to him is the same as betting on him to prove that he's better than the rest of the guards on the team. If last season is any indicator, that's not a great bet to place.

Rui Hachimura (SF/PF, LAL) - 20% rostered

After last year's postseason, Rui Hachimura looked like a surefire candidate to get a lot more playing time this season either in a reserve role or maybe even a starting spot. We know he's not starting, but he's not even getting more than 15 minutes so far. Even with Jarred Vanderbilt out the first few weeks, Hachimura can't see the floor that often.

Drew Eubanks SLAMS it over Rui Hachimura 📸pic.twitter.com/HY0ANICeCO

— Suns Nation (@SunsNationCP) October 20, 2023

Across the Lakers' first two games, Hachimura has played 12 and 15 minutes respectively while posting no more than seven points. He's also collected just three rebounds, one block, one steal, and one turnover combined. Even in the deeper leagues, the 25-year-old isn't worth a roster spot at this moment in time.

His teammate Taurean Prince, who's available in 22% of leagues, has been a bit better value-wise. There are plenty of others, however, that are already delivering much more value and are only rostered in 20-30% of leagues. Names such as Cole Anthony, Naz Reid, Josh Okogie, and Jalen Johnson are all better options.

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