I hope you all were taking notes during the NBA Trade Deadline, because the fantasy basketball equivalent is closing in. That’s right, we’ve reached the point in the season where you’ll soon no longer be able to swindle your friends out of their best players. That time of the year where the waiver wire is the only transaction resource you’ll have at your disposal. That date on the calendar that stops you from sending you co-worker 1,000 proposals per hour. For ESPN users, the deadline is Friday, February 28th, while Yahoo! users are looking at a deadline late Wednesday night, February 26th.
So, which players should you be looking to move or acquire while you still have the chance? Let’s dive into it.
Three Players to Sell at the Trade Deadline
John Collins, PF/C, Atlanta Hawks
Collins has been a borderline Top-10 fantasy asset across the last 30 days, yet it would seem to be an opportune time to move the third-year forward, especially if someone is willing to pay for the 24.3 points he’s been averaging over his past 13 starts. Honestly, it’s not really even about the scoring for Collins, it’s about the unstable rebounding numbers. The 22-year-old recently had a string of seven-straight double-doubles snapped and, since that time, he’s grabbed just 19 boards in his past three games. What’s changed? Well, the presence of Dewayne Dedmon certainly hasn’t been a benefit. So far, in the 72 minutes Collins has logged with the veteran, his total rebounding rate is an underwhelming 10.6%. It probably won’t get better when Clint Capela gets healthy, either.
Derrick Rose, PG/SG, Detroit Pistons
There are two ways of looking at Rose’s standing in Detroit. On the one hand, he’s basically the last man standing. Andre Drummond has been traded, Reggie Jackson has been bought out, and Luke Kennard still doesn’t have a clear timetable for a return from injury. So far this season, in the 383 minutes Rose has seen without that aforementioned trio and Blake Griffin, the former MVP owns an eye-popping 32.2% usage rate. On the other hand, the Pistons’ offense is terrible, Rose is injury prone, and it’s possible Dwane Casey is going to want to see what he has in Bruce Brown and Jordan Bone down the stretch. Personally, I’d be using Rose’s opportunity as a selling point in trade negotiations. It also doesn’t help Rose’s value that Detroit has an NBA-low 24 games remaining on its schedule.
Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves
You don’t want to be hearing things like “no timetable” and “multiple games” with only two months left in the regular season. I’m not a doctor, but my level of faith in Towns returning at some point in 2019-20 from a left wrist injury is pretty low. I mean, let’s think about this from the Timberwolves’ prospective. Towns only missed five total games in his first four professional campaigns, so he could probably use a little bit of rest. On top of that, with Stephen Curry reportedly returning in March, there’s a relatively clear path for Minnesota to have one of the league’s three worst records. If you’re on the cusp of the fantasy playoffs, you need to find some pieces who are going to help you in the immediate future. If you’re already holding onto a playoff seed, you might not need Towns’ services anyway. I’m selling for sixty cents on the dollar.