RADIO
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 regular season has begun! A majority of the 30 teams have logged one game, and fantasy managers are feeling every kind of way about their rosters. And while most folks can keep the flop sweat at bay, there is always that one fantasy manager that hits the panic button too soon.
It's our job to capitalize. That said, it is decidedly not simple to do so after two days. Managers are typically inclined to give proven names multiple weeks of leash before beginning to worry. Managers also tend to cling way too tight to the most hyped players for fear of admitting a mistake. If we remove the hot or cold players that I believe are too entrenched on rosters to pry loose, we are left with a handful of opportunities going both ways.
Here are four players that I think you actually have a chance of moving in trades in order to take advantage of those who are hastily drawing conclusions after only one game.
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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.
Trey Murphy III, SF - New Orleans Pelicans
Game one was a great one for Dejounte Murray, Yves Missi, and even Zion Williamson. Trey Murphy, on the other hand, was the kid with his face pressed up against the candy store window.
Murphy took just 11 shots in the Pelicans opener and finished with 11 points, one three-pointer, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and no defensive stats. Fantasy players who watched the game saw Jeremiah Fears and Saddiq Bey soak up usage that should have gone to Murphy, and they are scared. Don't be.
Murphy is simply too good to get marginalized by non-star role players. Murray will find ways to get Trey more involved, and over the course of the next two weeks we will see his numbers start to trend upward.
See if you can acquire Murphy for someone drafted in the 50-range that posted a solid, but unspectacular line in their first game. Desmond Bane and Onyeka Okongwu are two names that come to mind.
Cameron Boozer, PF - Memphis Grizzlies
This one may be the hardest of our four Buy Low recommendations to pull off, as whoever drafted Boozer likely did so with a certain passion.
Still, Boozer looked a lot like a rookie in his first game, making just 2 of his 15 field goal attempts, and it's conceivable that a fantasy manager might be worried that the rookie learning curve may be longer than they originally anticipated.
Cameron Boozer vs. Utah Jazz 10/21/2026
7 PTS | 2-15 FG | W 123-103 https://t.co/yrWIAy0hgN
— NBA Shooting Audit (@NBAShotAudit) October 22, 2026
Try offering up a player drafted near 70 that got off to an average or strong start. A few possible matches: De'Aaron Fox, Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels.
Ryan Rollins, PG - Milwaukee Bucks
I have to admit, even I am a little nervous after game one, which tells me that this might be the easiest of the four Buy Low targets to acquire.
Rollins played just 24 minutes in the Bucks game against Washington while his backup Kasparas Jakucionis finished at 26. Ryan totaled only 9 points and 3 assists in his underwhelming season debut, and shot poorly to boot. Tyler Herro ran the offense for lengthy stretches, as well.
The good news is that Rollins is still the point guard of the future for the Bucks, and I would bet my vast fantasy hoops fortune (it's not that vast) that his minutes are in the thirties in game two.
See if you can pry Rollins loose for an overachieving 8th-round pick. Immanuel Quickley, Dylan Harper and Norman Powell are my three best bets to get a deal done.
Kel'el Ware, C - Milwaukee Bucks
Arguably the worst performance from any player with medium-to-high expectations came from Ware, who fouled out of the Bucks' season opener in just 13 minutes. Truly, it almost could not have gone any worse.
Ware got worked over, end to end, by Anthony Davis. He was baited into fouling guards. It was ugly. And just like that, he was done.
I also think fantasy managers had a false hope that Ware was going to start. This was never going to be the case, and his value was always going to be as the backup center with a handful of power forward minutes tossed in for good measure.
This is still the case for a player who can put up top-75 numbers in just 20-22 minutes per game. The upside for Ware is tied up in how many minutes he gets at forward and whether Myles Turner misses any time or simply scales back as the season goes.
On social media, I have already seen a pile of messages asking if Ware will be the bust of the year. When the public turns, you know the price has dropped. See if you can nab Ware for a flyer-level pickoff to a strong start, like Day'Ron Sharpe, Jabari Smith Jr., Fred VanVleet, or Zach LaVine.
Sell High Targets
Sell-high trades are the most difficult to pull off because we often love the player that we are trading away.
I would advise you to instead think of these players as stocks. We loved the stock because it was dramatically underpriced on draft night. The stock then shot up 35 points. Is it underpriced any more?
Ty Jerome, PG - Memphis Grizzlies
Please don't hurt me for putting Jerome on this list! I love Jerome. You know this. He was on every "Best Of" list we made the entire preseason! But his stock maxed out after one day.
As of this moment, Ty Jerome is the #1 player in all of fantasy basketball. This is not sustainable. His wild usage rate most likely won't hold for an entire season, and he has a fairly movable contract.
TY JEROME WENT OFF IN MEMPHIS' WIN!
45 PTS (CAREER-HIGH)
7 REB
6 AST
5 3PMMOST POINTS BY A GRIZZLIES PLAYER IN A SEASON OPENER 🤯 https://t.co/jugQasfscR
— NBA (@NBA) October 22, 2026
I believe this is our opportunity not to try to upgrade the production from Jerome's roster spot, but to upgrade the safety. See if you can move Jerome for someone drafted between 30 and 40 that isn't on a bad team and had a perfectly average first game. Brandon Miller, Jalen Williams, and Derrick White are possibilities, depending on what stats you need.
You can also let it ride with Jerome and hope he stays inside the top-20 while playing the entire season in Memphis. It's a reasonable risk, but my preferred move is to use his buzz to lock in a player with no red flags.
Paul George, SF - Boston Celtics
Ack! Are you serious? Another of the Dan Besbris favorites? I'm afraid so, friends.
My three most-drafted players on the entire board this season were George (1st), Dejounte Murray (2nd), and Ty Jerome (3rd), and here I am telling you to trade away two of those three guys. It hurts my tummy, but it is the right call.
George is going to have a top-25 fantasy season. I have been saying that piping hot take since July, but there is also no denying that he is a huge health risk. Since the 2018-19 season, when PG was still on the Thunder, George has played over 80% of his team's games just once.
So, as much as I adore the value he presented at pick 75, I am, at my core, a pragmatist. I believe the move is to use PG's electric opener (38 points, 7 threes, 5 steals!) to land a player similar to the targets I mentioned above for Jerome - a player with a slightly lower per-game ranking but likely to play 10 additional games this year.
Naz Reid, PF - Charlotte Hornets
"Usage Vacuum" Naz Reid is the best Naz Reid, and we were treated to that version in game one when Reid posted 20 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 three-pointers.
We have seen this iteration of Reid before, if only briefly, on the Timberwolves when Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle were hurt at the same time. The situation for Naz is remarkably similar right now, with the Hornets missing two of their top three usage players in Coby White and Kon Knueppel.
The window for Reid to go bananas is right now, so perhaps the move is to try to squeeze another big usage game or two out of him before offering trades. If you wanted to pull off the swap now, I would advise targeting a quiet producer drafted near 50. Ivica Zubac, Donovan Clingan, or even Cameron Boozer (from the dark half of this article) are potential matches.
Jabari Smith Jr., PF - Houston Rockets
Down near the end of your roster, we have one more possible sell-high, and that is Jabari Smith Jr., who rolled out of the gate with a dynamite 30-burger!
Oddly enough, I think Jabari might have been too good. It looks and feels too much like an outlier for folks to buy it as real.
My suggestion is to let the Rockets log one more game. Hopefully, Smith will have a perfectly average performance, and his overall numbers will appear only half as spectacular.
At that point, see if you can upgrade his roster slot to someone drafted in the 70-range with a high floor and low ceiling. Our goal with this particular sell recommendation is to achieve a small, one-to-two-round incremental bump with minimal fanfare. De'Aaron Fox and Payton Pritchard are two names that fit the listed criteria so far this season.
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Trading is complicated and fun and exhausting and rewarding.
Trading the first week requires a soft touch, but it can be done. Give it a try and let us know what your matching pair was as we take these gains to the bank!
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