RADIO
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 1 of the 2022-23 NBA season.
Follow me on Twitter @juscarts if you'd like to have your fantasy basketball questions answered.
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Fantasy Basketball Risers
DeMar DeRozan - F, Chicago Bulls
Look, by writing this article this early in the season, we're depending a lot on very, very small sample sizes. Like...one game sample sizes. I probably could have skipped this week, but I like overreacting to small samples.
DeRozan looked like an MVP candidate at times last season, as he averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game and also had the best three-point percentage he's ever had. And in the season opener, DeRozan continued that upward trajectory.
The 33-year-old scored 37 points against the Heat, going 14-for-22 from the floor and 2-for-3 from deep. He also added six rebounds, nine assists, two steals and one block. The Bulls are currently without Lonzo Ball and also didn't have Zach LaVine for this one, which led to the high usage for DeRozan. His numbers will dip when they return, but at least in the first game of the season, DeRozan was on fire.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - G, Oklahoma City Thunder
There was concern that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn't be ready for the start of the regular season. But he was ready, and he showed up. Playing on a Thunder team that's really a disaster outside of SGA, the guard put up big numbers in the season opener.
Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't even on a minutes restriction in the opener, as he played 37 minutes. In that time, he was 12-for-23 from the floor for 32 points, going 2-for-6 from three with sic rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Just a complete filling up of the stat sheet.
SGA was the only Thunder played with more than 14 points. His assists and steals led the team, and he tied Josh Giddey for the team lead in blocks. Gilgeous-Alexander is just a few tiers above the rest of the players on this roster, and we'll see that consistently play out with his usage this year.
Paolo Banchero - F, Orlando Magic
The No. 1 overall pick had a really good NBA debut, scoring 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting and adding nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Perhaps more impressive is he posted those numbers without even attempting a three-pointer. Considering he attempted 130 of them in his lone season at Duke, there's room for Banchero to improve on this showing.
The Magic are a fascinating team that I'll be going back to in the "fallers" section. They have some talented offensive players, as evidenced by the fact that every starter finished in double digits and Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs both scored over 20 points.
But depth is already a concern. Only one reserve, Bol Bol, scored in double figures. The other four players off the bench combined for seven points. If the Magic end up being this reliant on their starting five all season, Banchero is going to post some huge numbers.
Kevin Huerter - G/F, Sacramento Kings
The Kings traded for Huerter this offseason to help shore up the wing, which had become really important to do after they traded Tyrese Haliburton for Domanata Sabonis and then drafted a big in Keegan Murray.
It's only been one game, but Huerter is already making an impact. The Kings lost by seven to the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, but Huerter was 8-for-12 from the floor and 6-for-9 from deep for 23 points. He was a plus-16 when he was on the court, and his six threes were as many as all of the other players on the team combined, minus De'Aaron Fox.
The Kings have a clear need for shooting. Huerter has already shown that he can give them that shooting. Expect to see a lot of him this season for Sacramento.
Fantasy Basketball Fallers
Robert Covington - F, Los Angeles Clippers
RoCo is someone that I viewed as a pretty solid fantasy sleeper this offseason, but if his first game is any indication, Covington might be heading back to the waiver wire soon.
He played 14 minutes in the opener against the Lakers, going 0-for-3 from the floor with two points from the free throw line. He added four rebounds, two assists and two blocks, but the block number isn't enough to make up for the black hole that was his shooting on Thursday.
Of course, more worrisome than the 0-for-3 is the minutes. Eight Clippers played more than him, which includes Kawhi Leonard, who only played 21 minutes as the team eased him back in. When this Clippers team is fully healthy, I'm legitimately worried that Covington won't even be in the rotation.
Mo Bamba - C, Orlando Magic
I mentioned the Orlando bench woes above. Let's dive a little deeper into one of those players: center Mo Bamba.
Before the season, I wrote about Bamba as a good pick late in drafts, because I expected him to provide solid numbers for this Magic team. But one game in and I'm already questioning my decision to write that.
Bamba was invisible in the opener, playing 12 minutes and going 0-for-5 with zero points. Four of his attempts were from three, which is...definitely one way you can use Mo Bamba, I guess. He also had two rebounds and an assist.
It's pretty clear from the minutes breakdown that most frontcourt minutes will go to Wendell Carter Jr. and Paolo Banchero, and it's also bad for Bamba that he was outplayed by Bol Bol, who had 10 points and six boards.
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