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Hey, all! How's the 2021-22 NBA season treating you?
It's time for the return of the Drop List, my weekly look around the NBA at what players can be moved on from.
Below is our weekly fantasy basketball drop list, a look at players who are can be dropped in some or all formats. Every Thursday, we'll look at why it's fine to move on from certain players based on their recent play. Remember: every league is different, so make sure you evaluate what options you have to replace these players before you actually drop them.
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Players to Consider Dropping or Replacing
Malik Beasley (PG/SG, MIN)
31% rostered
Beasley's season-high in points is just nine, which he did in the season-opening win over Houston.
It just feels like that no matter how talented Beasley is, there's not going to be the minutes/volume needed to turn him into a strong fantasy player on this particular team.
I get that people were high on him this season. I was too! In 37 games last year, Beasley averaged 19.6 points per game on 44 percent shooting. But he's at just 6.5 points per game this year, tied for fifth on the team with Naz Reid. The addition of Patrick Beverley plus the high usage from Anthony Edwards and D'Angelo Russell has just killed Beasley's role.
Nemanja Bjelica (PF, GSW)
14% rostered
The minutes are down. The scoring is way down. Bjelica isn't hitting threes, which was a huge part of his anticipated value.
Just barely hanging onto his rotation spot, Bjelica isn't someone who you can trust in fantasy. We can keep this pretty short: healthy players who are out here playing eight minutes in a game are not guys who you need on your roster.
Marcus Morris Sr. (PF/C, LAC)
27% rostered
Our first injury-related drop of the season, though there would have been reason to drop Morris even without this knee issue, as his first two games of the season resulted in an average of 9.5 points (not bad), 1.5 threes (also not), 0.5 rebounds (oh), and 0.5 assists (yeaaaaaah).
Now, Morris appears to be out indefinitely with the same knee issue that's been plaguing him. The official word is the team wants him to strengthen that knee, which...look y'all, do you really want to be rostering someone who is missing games to strengthen his knee and is averaging 0.5 rebounds while being a PF/C?
No, no we don't want to roster him. Sorry, Marcus!
Goran Dragic (PG/SG, TOR)
10% rostered
Yeah, so Dragic isn't going to have fantasy value as long as he remains in Toronto.
The veteran guard is averaging 15.5 minutes per game, with 6.0 points. 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He also had a DNP-Coach's Decision in his last game, which...yeah, not great.
Dragic might be able to have fantasy value on another team, but as long as the Raptors hold onto him, he'll play sparingly or not at all. Dragic is the opposite kind of player that should be on a rebuilding team like Toronto.
I guess keep him on your watchlist in case he winds up starting next to Luka Doncic in Dallas at some point in the near future.
Larry Nance Jr. (PF/C, POR)
37% rostered
A fun thing about this list is how many of these players are on my teams. Oops.
Anyway, Nance started slow and I thought "alright, that's fine, he's going to get better" and then well...didn't really happen.
Nance is at 5.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game in 18.0 minutes. Contrast that with his numbers in Cleveland last year, when he was at 9.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 31.2 minutes per game.
Just a big drop-off. And I mean...in retrospect, we should have expected this. He was on the Cavs last year, a team that sucked. He's on the Blazers this year, a team that does not suck.
And Portland has a crowded frontcourt. Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Robert Covington, and Normal Powell all are getting a lot of minutes, with Nance fighting for scraps behind them, while also having to fight Cody Zeller for frontcourt minutes. It's messy.
P.J. Washington (PF/C, CHA)
61% rostered
This is for those of you in, like, an 8-team league. In deeper leagues, I'm not ready to move on from Washington until I see more about this knee injury that appears set to keep him out for at least three games in a row.
But before that injury, Washington wasn't setting the world on fire. His shot wasn't falling, as he was hitting 28.6 percent of his shots. His minutes were down too, and after averaging 12.9 points per game last year, he's at 6.0 this season.
So, yeah...if Washington's injury lingers on more than another four days or so, I'll drop him in deeper leagues too. But dang it, I still believe in his talent, even if I maybe should not based on the results so far. My prediction of a third-year breakout for Washington appears to not be happening.
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