The Cut List - Who To Drop for Fantasy Basketball Week 12

January 15, 2024

Alex's fantasy basketball players to drop when making waiver wire moves in Week 12 (2023-24). He helps fantasy NBA managers decide on who to cut from rosters.

Welcome back, RotoBallers! We're inching closer and closer to the NBA All-Star break as voting returns are causing debates about which players actually deserve to play in a meaningless game compared to others. Maybe the dunk contest will be a little more exciting if we get some real competitors to take on Mac McClung. Honestly, they should bring out the trampolines and have the mascots compete alongside the players.

Instead of talking about an All-Star game that doesn't mean anything for fantasy basketball, let's shift the focus to the actual games at hand. For any fantasy managers who may be new to the series, this is The Cut List. We go over a list of players that managers can consider dropping or replacing because they're either on a downward trend or flat-out not contributing to fantasy wins. There aren't many decisions that are black and white in fantasy basketball, so hopefully we can help make some league-winning choices.

Make sure to check if each player being listed is a drop candidate in deeper leagues or all leagues in general. That can change based on the player and their fantasy output. So, with that being said, let's jump into the Week 12 edition of The Cut List! If you have any other players to add to this list, let me know X/Twitter @__Fisch.

Players to Consider Dropping or Replacing

Jeremy Sochan (PG/PF, SAS) - 36% rostered

Well, the point-forward project hasn't exactly gone that well for Jeremy Sochan so far. Head coach Gregg Popovich is no stranger to bold ideas, but this one was very bold. Throwing out a 6-foot-8 forward who isn't the best shooter and telling him to play point guard is a storyline that sounds better suited for NBA 2K rather than a real NBA team.

When an actual point guard is on the floor, like Tre Jones, the offense flows better and the team seems to be able to get the ball to Victor Wembanyama in the paint. How they can't get him the ball at times is beyond explanation since the guy is over seven feet tall with an eight-foot wingspan. Back to Sochan. He's ranked outside of the top 200 in terms of per-game value in nine-category leagues. Even in total stats, he's ranked outside the top 170.

Sochan averages 11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.0 made threes, and 1.9 turnovers per game while shooting 43.2% from the floor and 77% from the free throw line. In reality, and very deep fantasy leagues, these aren't terrible numbers. In most other fantasy leagues, however, this is not going to win anyone games.

Grayson Allen (SG/SF, PHO) - 64% rostered

Let's start this one off by saying Grayson Allen shouldn't be dropped in deep leagues. Even when the Phoenix Suns are finally healthy enough to roll out their originally planned starting five, Allen has been able to put up some stats that can help fantasy managers in leagues larger than 12 teams. This is for all of those managers in leagues with 12 or fewer teams.

Allen was able to put up top-70 numbers in nine-category leagues when Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant were missing games left and right. Whenever one or more of those three had to watch from the sidelines, Allen made it his mission to make fantasy managers everywhere a bit happier. Let's take a look at the last week, however, where he posted stats that ranked him outside of the top 200 in that span.

Despite getting around 30 minutes a night, he posted averages of 6.5 points, 1.0 made threes, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. That's not going to cut it when it comes to winning fantasy matchups. He can hang out on the waiver wire until Beal inevitably misses some more time and Allen needs to step up the offensive output again.

Andre Drummond (C, CHI) - 38% rostered

One of the greatest waiver wire additions any time his team's starting center is hurt. Andre Drummond, the rebounding machine! At this rate, he probably gets more praise from the fantasy basketball community than he does the fans of whatever team he's on. He could single-handedly win the rebounding category for fantasy managers in category leagues given the minutes. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what he did while Nikola Vucevic missed a few games.

The big issue is that Vucevic has returned and Drummond has gone back to his bench role where he's seeing much fewer minutes. Getting around 15-16 minutes a night isn't going to produce a high enough output for anyone to trust him with more stats outside of rebounds. If only rebounds are needed at the end of the week, Drummond can still help with his 8.5 rebounds per game, which translates to 19.3 rebounds per 36 minutes.

The 7.5 points, 1.2 steals, and 1.1 turnovers per game are replicable in many places on the waiver wire though. In most fantasy leagues, you can still sleep well at night after dropping him until Vucevic has to miss some more time.

Andrew Wiggins (SF/PF, GSW) - 55% rostered

Every once in a while, a strange phenomenon occurs where a name appears on this list multiple times in the same season. It could be due to someone getting some playing time due to those getting injured ahead of him and then they return to the court. For Andrew Wiggins, it's because he's still providing some awful fantasy stat lines yet he remains rostered in 55% of leagues.

Yes, fantasy basketball usually rewards those players who receive more minutes, unlike fantasy football or baseball. So, rostering players that receive the most minutes usually makes sense. In this case, it's better just to let him sit on waivers. As The Beatles would say, "Let it be."

Wiggins not only misses the top 200 in per-game value for nine-category leagues, but he doesn't even make the top 300! His previous worst season was in 2017-18 when he ranked 171. Even in total stats, Wiggins ranks 285th. Please, I'm begging all of the managers that keep him on their team for some reason, just cut him loose!

Ja Morant (PG, MEM) - 47% rostered

We all know why Ja Morant is on this list. It's surprising that 47% of Yahoo! leagues even have him rostered after his injury news broke. For those who might not know, Morant is out for the season after needing surgery to repair the labrum in his shoulder. This, of course, is after the 25-game suspension he served at the beginning of the season.

So, he played a grand total of nine games. I feel for all of those who hung on to him until he came back. He provided an exciting ride for a few weeks as he produced top-50 numbers again in that short span. Just to crush everyone's dreams of ramping up into a fantasy championship. Maybe next season.

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