Fantasy Basketball Buy Low & Sell High Trade Targets: Week Two - Easy Profit!

October 30, 2026

Dan Besbris identifies four "buy-lows" and four "sell-highs" for fantasy basketball leagues. Take advantage of other managers who might read too much into one good or bad performance early in the season.

The first week brought us exclusively panic and overreaction-names on the Buy-Sell List, and might be the most difficult time to pull off a trade. Week two, however, is when managers see a five-game sample size, and both hot and cold runs start to feel like they might last forever.

This is when trading becomes much easier. Our job is to find spots where a player's rank (or value) does not properly line up with their opportunity and squeeze a winning trade out of that misalignment. Do not try to get greedy, though. This will turn off potential trade partners, and you'll be left staring at an inbox stuffed with rejection notices.

Together, using the eight (plus one) names below, we will aim for small wins across the board. Hard work and patience; that's how we will get ahead in the trade market.

Buy Low Targets

These players not only had a bad first game, but managers may be inclined to give up on future production due to an array of factors.

LaMelo Ball, PG - Minnesota Timberwolves

I've made no secret of it over the years: I love watching LaMelo Ball play, but I do not enjoy having him on my fantasy team. He has long had issues with health, on top of an ultra-high turnover rate and awful FG%. This season, I loudly faded Ball on draft night, believing he was being overdrafted despite moving from the alpha in Charlotte to Anthony Edwards's sidekick in Minnesota.

So far, I have been right.

Ball is ranked #164 in 9-category leagues, and climbs up to #87 for teams that can ignore his FG% and TO warts. Neither of those rankings is even remotely close to his draft-day ADP near 25.

And yet, here he sits on my Buy Low board; even though I wanted nothing to do with Ball nine days ago, he has now become a bargain. Anthony Edwards is out two months after knee surgery, so LaMelo is prime to go on a Charlotte-era run that should put his 9-category numbers in line with those near the top-50. His punt-build rank could climb into the 2nd or 3rd round!

Try offering a player drafted in the 60-80 range performing in line with expectations. Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and Immanuel Quickley are guards that might just be enough to get the swap done.

James Harden, PG - Cleveland Cavaliers

Trading for James Harden is one of my favorite calls on the board right now. He is sitting on almost the same current rank as LaMelo Ball, but he is significantly older, so public trust erodes far quicker. For instance, when I suggested buying low on Harden in a social media post, one of the first replies asked me if I thought maybe he was just old and washed.

The beauty of buying on Harden is that he is shooting a miserable 32.7% from the field. Obviously, he is not going to be a help in the field goal percentage category, but a 9-10%  back toward his (very long) career mark would be enough on its own to move Harden from outside the top-125 all the way up near the top-50. In 8-category leagues, he has a great chance to zoom even higher.

To be clear, James Harden isn't about to set any personal bests. That follower on social media is correct that Harden is, indeed, quite old. But we have a fantastic opportunity to capitalize on a short cold shooting spell by offering a similar player to the ones listed above (Castle, Harper, Quickley) into one that most likely beats them by multiple rounds at season's end.

Donovan Clingan, C - Portland Trail Blazers

This Buy Low list has a splendid variety of names, not just in fantasy types, but also in why they make the list. LaMelo Ball landed in this article due to a slow adjustment to a new role (and key injury on his team); James Harden showed up due to an ice-cold shooting run; and Donovan Clingan gets his name on the board because of artificially low playing time.

The Blazers have had a particularly light schedule to this point with only three games. Managers generally fail to notice this little sample size anomaly, but it also means that even one weird performance can gum up a player's overall numbers. Interestingly, with Clingan, the "weird" has happened twice!

In game one, Portland smoked the Phoenix Suns and Clingan only had to play 21 minutes. In game two, Donovan had a touch of foul trouble and played just 21 minutes again, though his fantasy line was fairly solid. In game three, Clingan spent most of the night dealing with Luka Doncic and Walker Kessler: his minutes were higher, but it didn't translate into more production due to the opponent.

This is the perfect time to buy. I expect Clingan will start getting 26-to-30 minutes more consistently like last year, and his value will climb from #127 back inside the top-50. That doesn't mean you should offer your opponent someone also ranked near #125. Rather, pick a reliable producer anywhere between #50 and #125 and get a couple rounds of profit.

Damian Lillard, PG - Portland Trail Blazers

I am really excited about throwing Dame on this list even though he is already outperforming his ADP! Lillard is the ultra-rare Buy-Already-High. I may need to work on that label.

It's incredibly rare when a player is exceeding value and still makes the Buy List, but Dame is perfect for this discussion because everything about his season suggests his rank should actually be higher.

The reasoning is simple, too: Lillard is currently shooting a league-average 79% from the free-throw line on over six attempts per game with a 9-category ranking of #41. That's it. That's the whole discussion. When that free-throw number climbs back up above 90% like it always has, Lillard will rocket up the board.

WHOLE WEST COAST HEARD THIS ONE https://t.co/YwEmDXUGGo

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 28, 2026

In the 2024-25 season, Lillard was the #8 player in fantasy on averages of 24.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 3.4 three-pointers and 1.2 steals per game. This year, his counting stats sit at 21.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 4 three-pointers per game. The assist game is notable, but everything else is almost directly in line with a first-round season. Everything, that is, except the 13% gap in free-throw percentage.

I would happily try to acquire Lillard for any player ranked outside the top-40, as I believe he is a few big foul-line games away from being a 2nd-round pick, or better, once again.

Editor's Note: Ja Morant exited last night's game with a hamstring injury that could cost him some time, which could increase Lillard's value even more in the short term.

Sell High Targets

Domantas Sabonis, C - Sacramento Kings

I admit, I was too low on Sabonis coming into this season. This isn't about that. I thought he would be more of a 3rd-round value that paired better with specific builds. Sabonis has stuck it in my face so far, posting 1st-round numbers through his first five games.

DOMANTAS SABONIS TONIGHT:

27 POINTS
19 REBOUNDS
10 ASSISTS
10/13 FGM
39 MINUTES

CRAZY NUMBERS. 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/6BOrIThBmf

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 24, 2026

This Sell High recommendation is mostly focused on Domantas's rebounds and both percentages, which currently sit at the unsustainably high marks of 16.2 boards per game, 70% from the field, and what would be far and away a career best 82.4% at the free-throw line.

Even in a great season, all three of those will come down, and when they do, Sabonis will likely fall toward the middle-to-later parts of the 2nd round. This is still a terrific season in every respect, but right now he has been so overwhelmingly impressive that a fantasy manager might be able to snag a top-15 draft pick in a trade.

If you have Sabonis, try offering him for Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant, or Scottie Barnes and see what happens.

Wendell Carter Jr., C - Orlando Magic

Wendell Carter Jr. is the perfect example of a situation where a ton of historical data will make it difficult to cash in more than a small amount of profit. That's okay! We have all seen Carter end up as the #115 player in fantasy basketball seemingly every year for half a decade, and that much consistency is hard to forget.

Carter's top-40 start to the 2026-27 season, built on the shoulders of a ridiculous shooting heater (69%), might just be enough to convince another manager that he might be just a tiny bit better. I get it: no one is going to believe that WCJ has magically turned into an early-round pick. All we need is for any other manager in your league to believe that he can be better than he was the year before.

Aim for a reliable top-75 player in your return, or even better, a player who feels like they should be ranked much lower than they are. Alex Sarr is the perfect match.

Toumani Camara, SF - Portland Trail Blazers

If you thought Wendell Carter Jr.'s shooting was absurd, I raise you a Toumani Camara. I have a soft spot for Camara, but this is still clearly the right time to sell. Toumani is currently knocking down over four three-pointers per game on nearly 65% shooting from the field overall.

Similar to Carter, though, it's hard to envision most managers fully buying into Camara's lava-hot start. The vast majority of fantasy hoops players remember Camara unable to toss a pebble in the ocean the first half of last year, even if he did ultimately salvage his 2025-26 season with a strong second half.

The play, once again, is to aim for incremental gains. Don't ask for a top-35 player in return. You will get laughed out of the digital building. Instead, go back to your league's draft results and find your targets there. Look for players drafted in the 6th or 7th round performing adequately or slightly below expectations. We listed Alex Sarr above, but Josh Hart, Norman Powell, Immanuel Quickley, or Onyeka Okongwu would also be not-too-crazy proposals for either Carter or Camara.

Your other option is to roll the dice that Toumani can keep up his torrid pace for another week and then try those same deals.

Zach LaVine, SG - Sacramento Kings

The Zach LaVine Sell recommendation is far less about his actual real-life basketball ability and more about the uncertainty of this Kings season. Sacramento has yet to win a game, and Sabonis and LaVine are putting up pinball numbers on the trade block while the locker room falls apart. It just feels like a matter of time before the dog days hit, effort starts to slip, and the numbers lag back toward what we saw last year pre-injury.

Then again, maybe not.

We are probably one or two more strong games away from being able to truly cash in on LaVine's start to the year. Call this a warning shot on a Sell High. If LaVine can roast a few more teams, start putting out feelers for players like Jaden McDaniels, De'Aaron Fox, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels, and see if you can lock in a safer rest-of-season target, even if you take a minor per-game production hit in the near-term.

The Secret Sauce

Timing is everything! Don't wait around because these windows to buy or sell players can slam shut in a heartbeat. Open up your phone or browser and get to work. But most importantly, understand why we attack these nine specific names or other similar targets.

It's not because we like or dislike the player; trading during week two and beyond is about finding situations where the box score doesn't tell the entire story. You know why the minutes were low, but perhaps the other manager does not; you know why the scoring is down, but your trading partner may not.

Aim for those attainable gains using predictable assets. Then let's do it all again in a week.