The Fantasy Basketball Drop List: Week 3

November 11, 2019

Justin Carter looks at fantasy basketball players who can be dropped in Week 3. These are players who've struggled so far in the 2019-20 NBA season.

Can you believe it's already Week 3 of NBA action? How are your fantasy teams doing? Got any dead weight that you need to move on from because they're costing you wins every week?

That's what I'm here to help with in my weekly fantasy basketball drop list, a look at players who are can be dropped in some or all formats. Every Friday, we'll look at why it's fine to move on from certain players based on their recent play.

Let's look at players who you can consider dropping so far. Remember: every league is different and we're working on a pretty small sample size this early in the year, so make sure you evaluate what options you have to replace these players before you actually drop them.

The Fantasy Basketball Drop List

Eric Gordon - (SG/SF, Houston Rockets) - 46% Owned

Baller Move: Drop in 12-team leagues

I saw this tweet:

Why is this interesting? Well, Houston's Clint Capela/P.J. Tucker/Danuel House Jr./James Harden/Russell Westbrook lineup -- which has started seven of Houston's eight games -- is playing well, but the team's struggled at times when turning to the bench, with a lot of the blame falling on Eric Gordon.

Gordon has never shot below 40 percent from the field in a season, but his field goal percentage currently sits at 27.8 percent. His three-point percentage is 23.3 percent, which would also be a career low. His 10.3 points per game is okay, until you also see tht he's averaging just 1.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Gordon is giving you literally nothing but some empty points. He's also currently dealing with a hamstring injury, which adds another layer of complication to things. Just a rough start to the season for the usually-reliable veteran.

Rui Hachimura- (SF/PF, Washington Wizards) - 65% Owned

Baller Move: Drop in 10-team leagues

The rookie was playing a lot and putting up big numbers while playing a lot, but he's now played 22 minutes or fewer in three straight games. Over that span, Hachimura is shooting 30.4 percent from the field and 20 percent from three, with averages of 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.

I've always been suspicious of the idea that Hachimura would be successful in the NBA, but the first four games of the year had me thinking I was wrong and that he might be able to score efficiently enough inside to make up for issues with his shooting. But these last few games have revealed a key issue for the rookie: when he isn't scoring, he isn't really doing much else either. In a 10-team league, you can safely move on. In deeper ones, you should think about it, unless you really need his scoring upside and can ignore that he's a negative in a lot of other categories.

Terrence Ross - (SG/SF, Orlando Magic) - 42% Owned

Baller Move: Drop in 12-team leagues

It's been a rough year for Ross, who is dealing with knee tendinitis that's likely been a big part of why it's been a rough year.

So far, Terrence Ross is shooting 28.2 percent from the floor and 19 percent from three. His 8.3 points per game would be his fewest since his rookie year, His 1.6 turnovers per game would be his most ever. He's somehow shooting 90 percent from the free throw line despite struggling in every other way, but you aren't holding him just for his free throw shooting.

Maybe it's the knee's fault and maybe Ross will get things moving in the right direction again soon. But are you really going to be comfortable rostering and playing him between now and whenever things get sorted out? Is his upside really high enough to justify how much he can hurt you if he keeps playing like this?

Zach Collins - (PF/C, Portland Trail Blazers) - 24% Owned

Baller Move: Drop in all leagues unless you have an open IR spot

Collins was on this list last week and he's on it again this week. We now have some clarity on how long Collins will be out, which is at least four months.

Collins wasn't playing very good basketball before the shoulder injury, so there's no reason to hold him unless you have absolutely zero other options for your IR spot, and even then you can drop him the moment someone else on your team becomes eligible for that spot. Collins just isn't worth waiting for.

Goga Bitadze - (C, Indiana Pacers) - 13% Owned

Baller Move: Drop in 12-team leagues

I really like Goga, but he's currently out with a concussion and by the time he returns, the Pacers should have their frontcourt combination of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis back. I'm fine holding Bitadze in deeper leagues for his upside -- he's an inside-out big man who can rebound well -- but I don't see him getting the necessary playing time that he'd need to be fantasy relevant moving forward. Turner and Sabonis are Indiana's best players until Victor Oladipo returns, and there's no feasible way to play all three guys together, which means that the minutes available to Bitadze are going to be too low to guarantee he has a consistent role.

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