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What's up, RotoBallers! We're already close to a third of the way through the fantasy regular season. Hopefully, your teams are staying afloat as the season flies by.
The Drop List returns for another week, and it might not be kind to some of your rosters. Each week, I'll take a look at a handful of NBA players that can be dropped from your fantasy team.
Without further ado, let's get to the fantasy basketball drop list. Every Saturday, we'll have a list of NBA players and a small dive into why they can be cut from some or all fantasy formats. Please take into account: each fantasy league is different. Make sure you check out the waiver wire and have a player in mind to replace one of the following players that you may drop.
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Players to Consider Dropping or Replacing
Santi Aldama (PF/C, MEM) - 24% rostered
To start off the season, Aldama was getting plenty of attention since Jaren Jackson Jr. was not going to be healthy enough to play just yet. During that time, he averaged 9.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game and shot 46.5% from the floor.
Now, ever since Jackson returned to the lineup on November 15th, he's posted averages of 8.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.6 blocks per game on 40.8% shooting. Steven Adams has even started to see more and more time because of his work on the boards, defense, and even his playmaking.
At this point of the season, Aldama is going to need another injury or some sort of lineup shakeup to get back into fantasy relevance. He does have some value in much deeper leagues that have over 14 teams, but everywhere else there are better options on the waiver wire.
Thaddeus Young (PF/C, TOR) - 14% rostered
If anyone thought that Thaddeus Young was more than just a spot-start type of player while Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam were dealing with injuries, they were very wishful thinkers.
He played very well in relief of those two frontcourt starters and probably helped a good bit of fantasy teams along the way. He posted averages of 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.9 steals. The moment that Siakam and Barnes returned, however, Young only received 14 and 4 minutes of playing time respectively in the two games since then.
So, let Young hide out on the waiver wire and deploy him into lineups again if there are any more injuries to the Toronto Raptors frontcourt.
Jalen Suggs (PG/SG, ORL) - 51% rostered
Orlando's luck with injuries and underperforming draft picks continues. Jalen Suggs was only able to play about half of last season and has already missed nine of the team's 23 games so far this season. An ankle issue is the latest ailment that has hampered him for the last four games running.
The silver lining of Suggs' game so far is that he has seen his numbers increase in scoring, assists, steals, and field goal percentage. Three-point shooting, turnovers, and free-throw shooting are all negatives at the same time. To have a guard shooting 29.4% from three and 65.7% from the free-throw line is nowhere close to ideal. On top of that, he hasn't been able to improve to at least a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Fantasy managers have to deal with inconsistencies in playing in general and then inconsistencies with offensive output. Neither of those is something that I'd suggest a manager has to deal with.
In terms of value, he's outside of the top 150. Backup guards like Cameron Payne, Bones Hyland, and even Alec Burks are all ahead of him.
Dorian Finney-Smith (SF/PF, DAL) - 42% rostered
With the departure of Jalen Brunson, the common thought process was that Finney-Smith was going to see some more usage. The team was going to need a lot more offensive output surrounding Luka Doncic.
Christian Wood came in and provided a good boost off of the bench. Spencer Dinwiddie and Tim Hardaway Jr. also provide some offense time-to-time with no real consistency.
Finney-Smith, you make ask? Producing less than last season with lower usage. He was just inside the top 100 in fantasy value last year but has regressed down to the 140s this season. Scoring, rebounding, playmaking, efficiency, and even his steal numbers are all down. Not sure there's much else to say after that.
Saddiq Bey (SF/PF, DET) - 74% rostered
I'll give $20 to anyone that expected Saddiq Bey to grace this list at any point this season. Especially with the way he started the season, he wasn't even close to the radar of this list.
Now, after missing four games with an injury, and getting relegated to a bench role, here we are.
Bey is just barely inside the top 150 in fantasy and in the last week alone he was ranked 258th. The only positive category that he's produced in fantasy terms is turnovers. His field goal percentage is trending down towards below 40% and he's only making a bit over one three per game. For comparison, he averaged 2.6 and 2.5 threes made per game last season.
His defensive stats aren't much to write home about either, so what happens when your 3-and-D player doesn't do either one of those things? They get dropped to the waiver wire.
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