And the NBA is back to regular basketball from the All-Star break.
Fantasy Basketball Schedule Overview
- Monday (2/24): 8 games
- Tuesday (2/25): 7 games
- Wednesday (2/26): 9 games
- Thursday (2/27): 5 games
- Friday (2/28): 10 games
- Saturday (3/1): 6 games
- Sunday (3/2): 9 games
Teams with 4 games:
BKN, BOS, CHA, CHI, DEN, DET, IND, LAC, LAL, MIA, MIN, NOP, OKC, PHX, POR, SAS, TOR, UTA
Teams with 3 games:
ATL, CLE, DAL, GSW, HOU, MEM, MIL, NYK, ORL, PHI, SAC, WAS
Teams with 2 back to backs:
DET, MIA, MIN, OKC, SAS
Teams with 1 back to back:
ATL, BKN, BOS, CHA, DEN, HOU, IND, LAC, LAL, MEM, NOP, PHX, POR, TOR, UTA, WAS
Teams with 0 back-to-backs:
CHI, CLE, DAL, GSW, MIL, NYK, ORL, PHI, SAC
Most Favorable Schedules
Miami Heat – @ATL ATL IND NYK
Miami tops the standings this week as the team with the most fantasy-friendly schedule. The question is – can we find any second-tier player to justify playing this week? Outside of the Big Two of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, new Heat Andrew Wiggins is a must-start (if you can take the FG% hit). Kel’el Ware has cooled down significantly but is still probably startable this week. Another new player on the squad, Davion Mitchell, hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire but he is getting starter minutes and could do a serviceable job with his threes, assists, and steals.
New Orleans Pelicans – SAS @PHX @PHX @UTA
Crazy to say, but the Pelicans are currently quite healthy, with the exception of Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones’ season-ending injuries. Outside of the usual suspects, Karlo Matkovic is someone to take a look at. He’s been good for two blocks a game in his last five games. As well as been shooting very well from the field and the line.
Indiana Pacers – DEN TOR @MIA CHI
Ah, yes, the Indiana Pacers – they, famously, play as fast as the pace car of the Indy 500. Ain’t that grand? Aaron Nesmith has averaged 16 points with 2.5 threes, and 6.5 rebounds in the two games since the All-Star break. Small sample, sure, but what else do we have?
Portland Trail Blazers – @UTA @WAS @BKN @CLE
Things are happening in Portland. Toumani Camara is seemingly one of the best wings in the league. That’s hyperbolic but only slightly. Jabari Walker has scored 20 and 17 points in his last two games, which looks promising on paper though he is just as likely to play 3 minutes in a game as he is 25.
Usage Watch
The biggest increase in Usage % last week was by Alex Sarr of the Washington Wizards (20.6 to 35.8). We’re only talking about a single game but he did score his career high of 22 points. Kyle Filipowski has moved his usage from 15.4% to 25.3% in the two games since the break. Other non-star players with the biggest changes are Jaden Hardy, Jabari Walker, Brandin Podziemski, Corey Kispert, and Kevon Looney.
That concludes this week’s Usage Watch.
On Wemby…
As everyone knows by now, Victor Wembanyama is out for the season with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Devastating news to fantasy players, and, perhaps, even more devastating in real life. Seemingly the diagnosis is that it’s of the Brandon Ingram and Ausar Thompson kind, not the Chris Bosh kind, which would put him at good odds to be back for the next season. If that is indeed the case, I wouldn’t imagine this will have a significant impact on his career arc.
