The NBA preseason is winding down, and while it’s always hard to decipher what matters and what doesn’t during exhibition season, there are always a few nuggets with fantasy basketball implications. .
With that in mind, we’ve brought together our fantasy basketball experts – André Snellings, Eric Moody, Eric Karabell, Jim McCormick and John Cregan – to review what stood out to them over the past few weeks of preseason action.
Young Rockets on the rise
I really noticed the big performances from the young players in Houston. We knew the Rockets were in full youth mode, with four starters aged 22 and under, but in the preseason it looks like the youth is ready to burst.
Jalen Green has 48 points, nine 3-pointers, eight rebounds and seven assists in just 48 minutes over his last two games. Third overall pick Jabari Smith had 21 points, eight rebounds and five 3-pointers in 25 minutes of his preseason debut, and he wasn’t the team’s most impressive rookie . Tari Eason, battling for a starting job after dominating the Las Vegas Summer League, is averaging a 20-10 double-double in just 24.5 MPG over three preseason games.
And that’s not even mentioning Alperen Sengun and Kevin Porter Jr., both of whom could be about to shine. The Rockets look like fertile ground for producing fantasy basketball this season. — Snelling
All eyes on Jalen Green
For me, this has been Green’s stellar pre-season. As last season progressed, he provided real value towards the end of his rookie year. Green averaged 21.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.1 hat-tricks over the final two months of the season.
The Rockets’ offense will revolve around Green after Christian Wood was traded to the Mavericks. There’s a good chance he’ll have a breakout season, and he’s got a strong value at his current ADP (75.1). — Moody
Injured stars back on court
There are an uncommon number of star players returning from long absences. Looking at the pre-season slates so far, it’s been clear how many teams are bringing star-level talent into the fold after long absences. Every season, of course, offers a string of players returning from injury, but between Denver’s young star duo of Kawhi Leonard, Ben Simmons, John Wall, Sexton and Zion Williamson, the caliber and potential of this squad of players back is amazing. .
This means that Fantasy managers will need to refine their positions on each of these situations, as each situation is somewhat unique and decisions will need to be made on these players throughout the first and middle draft rounds. — McCormick
Overestimating Sion, Kawhi and the others
I find fantasy basketball managers rarely overestimate preseason stats because they realize so few stars play every game. Still, according to ADP, they seem to be overly excited about some stars returning after missing out all of the previous season.
Not to continue harassing poor, awesome Williamson, but of course he’s going to look good in pre-season games. This does not mean that he plays consecutively the first few months or that he wants to bounce back once the season has started. Leonard and Jamal Murray also go up in ADP. Why? We know they are good. Nothing has changed. — Karabell
Young players overlooked in drafts
The inflation of older, established names versus younger, still trending names. There’s a small market versus large market bias at play. But I’m also starting to wonder that with all the turmoil since 2020, if we see something that I’ve read recently; our unconscious regression to a pre-2020 mindset. Because when you look at who’s going where, it’s like last season never happened.
Second and third year players and/or players who made the “jump” last season are underdrafted by one round or more. Here is my (very long) list: Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Desmond Bane, Dejounte Murray, Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, RJ Barrett and Tyler Herro. (Not to mention poor Franz Wagner. And basically the entire Rockets roster.) — Cregan