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Welcome back, Rotoballers and dynasty managers! Did anyone else see those fights during the in-season tournament? Maybe this whole experiment will work out and give everyone more important hoops in the early goings of the regular season. Who doesn't love some juicy sports drama?
Speaking of drama, sometimes when fantasy basketball managers step into a dynasty league, they have to wade through all the drama to see which players are gaining or losing value. Did that one bad game mean player x is ready to slide for the rest of the season or can it be written off as a rare occurrence? That's what we're here to help with especially when it comes to teams that don't even know what they're doing like the Washington Wizards.
What we're aiming to do each week is show which players are losing value and those that are gaining value. Hopefully, this will help some of you buy low, sell high, or brag to your league mates that you chose the right players from day one. Without further ado, let's check in on some of the risers and fallers through Week 4 of NBA action!
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Risers For Dynasty Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Ausar Thompson (PG/SG/SF, DET)
As the fifth-overall pick in this year's draft, the expectations are already high for Ausar Thompson and many people expected him to be a very good player right away. With that being said, he's still rising in dynasty value and exceeding a lot of expectations on the way! Three-point shooting was always a concern, but the rest of his game has been electric.
So far, throughout the first 12 games of his career, he's averaging 12.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.9 blocks, and 2.2 turnovers per game while posting shooting splits of .432/.148/.722. As we mentioned before, the three-point shooting is a known issue and that's something he'll need to work on throughout his career, but the rest of these stats are a pleasant outcome. 3.2 combined steals and blocks per contest as a rookie is already outstanding and then combine that with the fact he also averages a double-double.
Thompson is entering himself into the top three of the Rookie of the Year conversation with the likes of Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren which is something that wasn't expected with names like Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller, and Amen Thompson all in the mix. We're riding the Ausar Thompson train to the moon!
Cam Reddish (SF/PF, LAL)
Did anyone actually think we'd be talking about Cam Reddish improving his dynasty value in 2023?! I'll be the first to admit that this didn't seem possible after three different teams gave up on him after not even giving him that many opportunities. He had his best chance to prove himself with Atlanta until now apparently. LeBron James has trusted Reddish with game-winning shots multiple times and he's even seen the starting lineup five times so far.
One could say that the reason he's starting to play a little better is the fact that he's seeing more minutes due to injuries to a big portion of the roster in Los Angeles. That could be the case for a lot of players that came onto the scene though. In his five games as a starter, Reddish has averaged 11.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 2.0 threes per game with an offensive rating of 127 while registering a minuscule 13.3 usage percentage.
Just a word for the wise, this doesn't mean his value has skyrocketed just yet. His value has increased and it can continue to increase if he continues to see this added playing time over a longer period of time. Right now, however, he could be a solid trade-high candidate as his value has improved from what felt like nothing.
Bilal Coulibaly (SF/PF, WAS)
Finally, Wes Unseld Jr. and the Washington Wizards have started giving Bilal Coulibaly more minutes on the court! Dynasty managers can rejoice after spending a late first-round or early second-round pick on the Frenchman, at least for a week or two until he inevitably is left on the bench for no reason. If there was one team that's just as confused as their fans with the direction of the franchise, it would be the Wizards.
The seventh-overall pick has played two games in which he saw 30 or more minutes and he posted an average of 10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.5 steals, and 2.5 threes per game while shooting 63.2% from the floor. That lines up exactly with his projections as a long-term project player who has great length, athleticism, and a knack for the defensive side of the ball. He just hasn't gotten to stay on the floor that long because the Wizards would rather lose every game with veterans on the floor instead.
Coulibaly flashing his potential is what made his value rise and if Unseld and company can continue giving him more minutes and allow him to develop, his value will continue to go up. Let him cook!
Fallers For Dynasty Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Bennedict Mathurin (PG/SG/SF, IND)
Has anyone else heard that one saying about saving money that has something to do with money losing value if it's not gaining value? Well, that's what's going on with Bennedict Mathurin right now. He's not necessarily losing tons of value, but his value is close to staying the exact same which means everyone else is gaining value and growing past him.
Mathurin is averaging a lot of the same stats that he posted in his rookie year except with fewer points, a worse efficiency, and fewer minutes per game. The good thing is that he's remained in the starting lineup, but outside of two big games, he's lackluster from a fantasy standpoint. If we remove his two 20-point outbursts, he's averaged 10.4 points per contest while adding 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per contest. While he's not contributing much in field goal or free throw percentage, it ends up turning into a net negative despite some big performances here and there.
The 21-year-old shouldn't be dropped by any means, but he seems to be more of a matchup play rather than an everyday starter at this moment. The silver lining is that he has time to grow within a great team that has put up some huge numbers on the scoreboard.
Jonathan Kuminga (SF/PF/C, GSW)
There are two main reasons that Jonathan Kuminga makes the list of fallers in dynasty leagues. First, the lack of playing time. Second, the inconsistency in almost every facet of his game. If that doesn't scream falling dynasty value then I'm not sure what exactly would.
Now in his third season in the league after being selected seventh overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Kuminga continues to see barely more than 20 minutes per game. He has started in 28 games total and has yet to get a start this season despite the team missing some players already in a handful of games. On top of that, despite hitting a career-high in points, he's only averaging 2.9 rebounds per contest and doesn't have one or more in any other stat category except for turnovers and fouls.
To make matters even worse, he's dragging down fantasy team field goal percentages by shooting 39.6% from the floor on 9.6 attempts a night. Head coach Steve Kerr saw Brandin Podziemski play the other night, put together a great performance, and said he's going to be playing more even though he's never said the same about Kuminga. Everything combined is extremely worrisome.
Jordan Poole (PG/SG, WAS)
I'm not sure there has been anyone else in the league who has gone from one of the best situations in the league to the absolute worst situation in just one trade. Jordan Poole seemed very confident moving to the nation's capitol after he said that he doesn't need to do anything else to cement his basketball legacy. Now that the team is 2-8 and looks like the most dysfunctional franchise in the NBA, his mind may be changing.
Do you know what else is changing? The minds of dynasty managers everywhere were excited to see Poole lead his own team without having to be the little brother to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The stat categories that are either at a career-worst or close to it are as follows, rebounds, turnovers, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free throw percentage, free throw attempts, and minutes. In other words, it's all bad!
Kyle Kuzma currently looks like the best Wizard while Daniel Gafford is probably the next best. Meanwhile, Poole isn't paying attention during timeouts and not even playing 30 or more minutes per night as a starter. Unless he re-focuses and matures in a leadership role, Poole's dynasty value could fall off a cliff.
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