Fantasy Basketball Week 2 Risers and Fallers

Welcome to the fantasy basketball risers and fallers column, a weekly look at some players who are playing well and some players who aren't. What do these things mean in the larger scale of the NBA season? That's what we're trying to find out here.

Who's exceeding expectations? Who's falling short of expectations? Let's take a look at some trends after Week 2 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

Follow me on Twitter @juscarts if you'd like to have your fantasy basketball questions answered.

Fantasy Basketball Risers

Desmond Bane - G, Memphis Grizzlies

Bane struggled with his efficiency to start the year, shooting under 40% from the field in each of the first three games. But then the Nets game happened.

In the 10-point win over Brooklyn, Bane went 14-for-21 from the field and 8-for-11 from three for 38 points and also added seven assists. He was a plus-18 in the win.

And just to show that wasn't a fluke, Bane followed it up with 31 points on 11-for-18 shooting in Thursday's win over the Kings, with Bane also adding six rebounds and four assists.

Last season, Bane took a big step forward as a scorer, going from 9.2 points per game as a rookie to 18.2 points per game. This season, he's taking another step. Bane's never shot below 43% from three in a season, despite the fact that he's scaled his volume from deep up every season.

Lauri Markkanen - F, Utah Jazz

I had no idea what to expect from the Utah Jazz this season since they'd moved on from Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. But one thing I definitely didn't expect was for Lauri Markkanen to be averaging 22.0 points per game after the first five contests.

But that's where we are. Markkanen leads the Jazz in scoring, while he's also second on the team to Jarred Vanderbilt in rebounds. The Jazz are playing a lot of Kelly Olynyk at the five, and when the two share the floor, Markkanen has been commanding a higher percentage of the team's rebounds.

I'm not sure how likely it is that Markkanen continues to lead the scoring like this, but if you look at the makeup of this team, is there really anyone besides Jordan Clarkson who can score like Markkanen? Mike Conley's lost a lot of his efficiency. Malik Beasley's not quite there yet. Markkanen should continue to see high usage.

Ivica Zubac - C, Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are a fascinating team, in the sense that they have a lot of rotational guys who they have to find room for, especially in the backcourt and on the wing, where guys like Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington are averaging under 20 minutes per game.

But they don't have that same issue in the frontcourt, which is why Ivica Zubac currently sits second on the Clippers in minutes per game, averaging 30.0 per night, behind only Paul George.

Over the last two games, Zubac is averaging a double-double with 11.0 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. He also had seven blocks in one of those. The fact that both were against the Thunder could have contributed to those big numbers, but as long as the Clippers are playing Zubac heavily, he's someone I want on my fantasy team, even if the recent numbers had some Oklahoma inflation.

Gary Trent Jr. - G, Toronto Raptors

The Raptors have been heavily relying on four players, with Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr. and OG Anunoby all averaging over 36 minutes per game. Of those players, Trent is second in scoring, averaging 20.2 points per contest. Only Siakam bests him with 25.2 PPG.

Trent's volume is a big part of his numbers. He's shot under 40% from the floor in three of his five games so far, but he's made up for that efficiency concern by taking at least 16 field goals in four of five games, and because most of those attempts are threes, his ceiling expands.

Over the last three games, Trent is averaging 11.3 attempts game from deep, making 41.2% of them for 4.7 threes per game. His efficiency inside the arc hasn't been great, but he's connecting on his long-range shots.

Fantasy Basketball Fallers

Kevin Huerter - G/F, Sacramento Kings

Well, here's my first miss of the season. I spent last week hyping up Huerter, whose shooting ability seemed like a crucial addition to this Kings team, but just a couple of games later and I'm ready to send Huerter back down to the waiver wire.

In the first two games of the season, Huerter averaged 20.5 points per game with 5.5 threes per contest. In the last two games, he's shooting 16.7% from three, which has equated to one three-pointer made per game and 8.0 points per contest. And against the Grizzlies, we saw Huerter play just 19 minutes. The Kings have been playing Malik Monk more over the last couple of games, which corresponds with this downturn in Huerter's numbers. And, well...neither Monk nor Huerter are stars in this league, so the Kings will likely continue to ride the hot hand when it comes to who'll be getting minutes at the two.

Robert Covington - F, Los Angeles Clippers

I think we're approaching the point where the years of aggressive play and do-it-all attitude starts to catch up with Robert Covington. He's averaging just 17.4 minutes per game this season, his lowest mark since his rookie season, and he's struggling from deep, connecting on 30.8% of his looks from beyond the arc.

More of an issue, though, is the stocks. Steals and blocks are a key part of Covington's fantasy value, but he's averaging a combined 1.6 stocks per game right. Last year, he was at 2.8. In fact, Covington's average stocks have been over 2.0 every season since 2014-14. He's been one of the top three-and-D players in the league for years, which is why it's an issue when his numbers are down in those specific areas.

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