Fantasy Basketball Night In Review: Wednesday, April 14

Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight a few key fantasy basketball takeaways from the games played during last night's slate. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making based on trends and statistical nuggets from around the Association.

Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, every time I mention Fantasy Points in these articles I will be using DraftKings' scoring system, which goes as follows: 1*PTS, 0.5*3PM, 1.25*RBD, 1.5*AST, 2*STL, 2*BLK, -0.5*TO. On top of that, bonus points are awarded for Double-Doubles (+1.5) and Triple-Doubles (+3), only one per player at a time.

Without further ado, let's get right into the latest slate of games from the 2021 season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.

Wednesday, April 14

Stephen Curry keeps making Golden State a tough play-in foe while Nikola Jokic and Micahel Porter Jr. make us wonder if Denver is not entirely out of the picture

With Jamal Murray out for the remainder of the season--and most probably the entirety of the 2022 year too--odds are Denver will sooner or later surrender in the playoffs, falling short of making it to the WCF for the second consecutive season, let alone reaching the Finals. Are we sure that will be the case, though? Jokic put on another show yesterday with his nth triple-double of the season by the way of a 17-10-11 with a steal and two blocks, and MPJ leveled up to finish with a stuffed 25-10-3 dub-dub himself while hitting 71% of his 14 FGA. It's going to be an uphill battle for the Nugs, but they sure have enough firepower to stay in the picture.

Speaking of firepower... what about Stephen Curry's absolutely ridiculous year with the depleted Warriors? Curry dropped 42 pops on Oklahoma City on Wednesday and he did so in just under 30 minutes of playing time. His 67 FP on the night were second only to Russell Westbrook's 69, but Curry's 2.23 FP/min mark was by far the most efficient league-wide. Oh, and do you know who had the second most efficient outing? Curry's teammate Draymond Green with a 12-10-16-3-2 triple-double. Same as with Denver, it's going to be hard for GSW to make it deep into the playoffs, but I wouldn't like to cross paths with Golden State come play-in time.

• I mentioned Russ above. He made it to the top of the fantasy leaderboard thanks to another triple-double against Sacramento in which he put up a 25-15-11-4 line. It was Russ' 24th trip-dub this season in 47 games played so far for the Wiz. He clearly leads the triple-double leaderboard, with Jokic second having only 15 such games.
• Wendel Carter Jr. was fantastic for his new team (Orlando) facing his former squad (Chicago) while starting at the C spot. Carter had a 47-FP performance in just 31 minutes finishing with a 19-12-4-2-1 stuffed contribution in a game the Bulls managed to lose against the fourth-worst team in the L. It looked like Chicago was about to become a serious playoff threat after the deadline moves, but the Bulls are 3-7 in the last 10 games and still the no. 10 seed in the East, only one game above no. 11 Toronto.

• Taurean Prince hadn't made it to the headlines during his first few weeks in Cleveland following the James Harden/four-team blockbuster trade, but he's getting it right of late.  Coming off the pine in every game he's been part of in the past month and a half, Prince had his best outing yesterday with a 25-4-3-1-1 outing hitting 6 treys and scoring on 69% of his 13 shots from the floor. Taurean logged the most FP of every reserve playing on Wednesday, has turned into a great off-the-pine contributor and is still available in 93% of Yahoo leagues.
• The Sacramento Kings held onto Hassan Whiteside through the trade deadline and didn't buy him out even though he's on an expiring deal ending this summer. He's been an afterthought, which is a little bit disappointing, but he had a great game yesterday with a 12-9-2-1-4 all-across-the-board contribution in just 23 minutes of playing time. You can find Whiteside in the WW of 50% of Yahoo leagues these days and he's a solid deep-league player to have around--keep in mind his minutes are down to 15 MPG this year, though.

• In a game in which Luka Doncic crowned himself as the Buzzer-Beater King by defeating Memphis on a last-shot heave from beyond the three-point line, Kristaps Porzingis put up a dud: 21-6-1 was the line and 30 FP the fantasy points. That was on a 32-minute effort that fell kinda sort of expectations, even more against a middle-of-the-pack, not-so-threatening Griz. Good for Mavs' shareholders--specifically those rostering Jalen Brunson--both Brunson and Dwight Powell were über-efficient off the bench with 8-8-9 and 12-8 lines respectively in just 28 and 15 minutes of playing time. You can pass on Powell (2%), but make sure to check your WW to see if Brunson (27%) is still available for free. There are not many players out there with his upside and such a low rostership these days.
• If you're managing in a deep league and are hurting for guards, check both Elfrid Payton and former Knick/new Nugget Austin Rivers. Payton (27% rostership) keeps starting games nightly (he's started all 47 games he's played) while contributing around 25 FPG, and Rivers (2%) will most probably be an off-the-pine option for the Nuggets but he's a good spot shooter who can contribute almost a couple of three-pointers per game with some low-to-mid rebounds/assists/steals upside.

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