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Howdy RotoBallers! Welcome back to yet another edition of my weekly fantasy basketball risers and fallers!
This was a wild week, as many "contending" teams have started off poorly, and as always we saw players who exceeded expectations and others who fell short.
With that being said, let's look at the fantasy basketball risers and fallers from Week 4 of the NBA season. I'll be doing three risers and three fallers for each week from now on.
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Fantasy Basketball Risers: Week 4
Jordan Clarkson - G, Utah Jazz
The streaky scorer is now on a hot streak, and anyone who has seen Clarkson play knows that when he gets going, he REALLY gets going. But the opposite is also true, as Clarkson started the season by averaging just 13.3 points per game while shooting 35.4% from the field and 27.3% from three over his first eight games as the Jazz limped to a 2-6 start.
Jordan Clarkson was on FIRE tonight
30 PTS
3 AST
2 STL
13/19 FG
4/9 3PMHe's averaging 29.7 PPG over the last 3 games pic.twitter.com/U8Uhd4Fsx0
— Jazz Lead (@JazzLead) November 15, 2023
His start was so bad that he had the second-worst true shooting percentage (44%) among players who took at least 80 shots up to that point, only behind his former Lakers teammate Julius Randle. But since then, Clarkson has been on fire, averaging 29.7 points and 1.7 steals a night while shooting 55.7% from the field and 41.2% from three and going 14-14 from the free throw line. He actually finished with the 11th most PPG in the NBA in this seven-day span and led the Jazz to two important wins to keep their season alive.
Jerami Grant - F, Portland Trail Blazers
Get him now before his production dips. We covered Julius Randle and Pascal Siakam in last week's article, talking about how they usually start off seasons slowly. Jerami Grant is the exact opposite. Ever since arriving in Detroit and getting a big role in the offense, Grant has started off seasons on fire before slowly falling back down to earth.
Grant's annual dip usually happens during or after the third month of the season, which means that we can expect Grant's numbers to go down in late December. Grant averaged 29 points a night last week, and he shot 50.8% from the field and 55% from three. As soon as Anfernee Simons and Scoot Henderson come back, Grant's opportunities as the leading scorer of this team will go away, and things will get even worse when Scoot learns how to actually play in an NBA offense as the season progresses.
Keyonte George - G, Utah Jazz
Remember when no one could shut up about Talen Horton-Tucker during the 2020-21 NBA offseason after the Lakers won the championship? Lakers fans tried desperately to convince other NBA fans that Horton-Tucker would be the next big thing, and many fans actually believed it. Fast forward to today and now Austin Reaves has essentially replaced his role in LA, and now THT got benched by the Jazz for rookie Keyonte George.
Utah Jazz rookie Keyonte George tonight #TakeNote
— 15 PTS
— 4 REB
— 7 AST
— 1 STL
— 4/9 FG
— 2/7 3P
— 5/5 FT
— 26 MIN pic.twitter.com/esVyOeZ47v— No Ceilings (@NoCeilingsNBA) November 15, 2023
George only averaged 2.8 assists in his lone college season at Baylor, so seeing his assist numbers skyrocket this season has been pretty surprising. George has averaged nine assists a night ever since being named the starter last week, but the main concern with him has been his shooting splits. He is pretty reminiscent of Mike Conley with the Jazz last year, both didn't have the best shooting splits but they just made the team work with their assists and low turnover numbers. His shooting numbers will probably be below average for the rest of the season, but his high number of assists combined with low TOs certainly make him an intriguing option.
Fantasy Basketball Fallers: Week 4
Buddy Hield - G, Indiana Pacers
Buddy Hield's heart just isn't in Indiana anymore. After the sharpshooter was subject to trade rumors throughout the 2022-23 season, he requested a trade from the team as contract extension talks stalled. However, he still didn't get traded and remained in Indiana. He's no longer a starter, having lost his spot to Bruce Brown.
Brown had a pretty rough week, so Hield had a golden opportunity to get his starting spot back. Instead, he responded by shooting the ball terribly last week. He shot 30.6% from the floor and a putrid 23.5% from deep, which caused him to have the second-worst true shooting percentage in the NBA last week behind Andrew Wiggins. It's clear that until he gets his wish of being traded, he won't be as good as he used to be for the Pacers.
Jonathan Kuminga - F, Golden State Warriors
This one hurts. Not just as a Warriors fan, but as a fan of Kuminga who truly believed that this would be his breakout year. Instead, Kuminga has fallen off after a solid start to the season and looked like one of the worst players in the entire NBA last week. He averaged his usual 9.3 points per game while shooting 30.3% from the field and going 0-6 from deep.
He has actually gone 1-15 from three in his last seven games, which is inexcusable for a player who has been known for his efficiency. With other inefficient players like Wiggins, Chris Paul, and Klay Thompson, the Warriors have now lost four in a row and it wouldn't be shocking to expect Kuminga to get traded, just like James Wiseman last year.
Cole Anthony - G, Orlando Magic
We ended the last article by talking about Markelle Fultz's knee issues and how his playing time might be hindered by the good play of Cole Anthony, but Fultz has had a huge sigh of relief due to Anthony's play over the past week. Anthony was averaging 15.9 points a night on 48.1% shooting from the field and 42.9% from three, but his numbers have gone down significantly since then.
Cole Anthony needs to take care of the basketball.
— The Future Magic GM (@FutureMagicGM) November 15, 2023
He has averaged just seven points over his last three games, and he did that while going 3-20 from the field and 2-13 from three. Yes, he had a field goal percentage of 15%. He also averaged 3.3 turnovers compared to 2.3 assists. The former number-one overall pick Fultz is still being bothered by that injury, so the Magic better hope that Anthony turns things around.
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