Was Mike Brown really the problem? The Sacramento Kings are rolling with seven straight wins, shooting them up to the ninth seed, closely trailing the eighth seeded Timberwolves. Furthermore, the Kings also did it with limited availability from star point guard De’Aaron Fox. The bottom of the West continues to be tightly contested, with the 5th seeded Mavericks sitting only three games ahead of the 12th seeded Spurs. Every game here carries weight, and it’s going to be yet another tight squeeze for that play-in spot as the season continues.
In the East, we’ll see a bit less parity. The 76ers, after seemingly regaining Joel Embiid, have started to stutter as Embiid battles additional injuries to his lower body. The Pacers have won six straight as the Cavaliers pace the East atop the mountain. The Hawks also seem due for another play-in appearance, especially if they cannot get rising star Jalen Johnson back soon.
We’re shooting the Three Lists of Threes today for your weekly dose of fantasy tips: Buy-lows, sell-highs, and streams.
Here are some buy-lows we can consider.
Buy ’em
Rudy Gobert, C, Minnesota Timberwolves
Gobert is outside the top-150 in the past two weeks and is averaging a meager 8.1 points and 9.7 rebounds alongside 1.7 blocks and 33.2% shooting from the line. The points were never going to be spectacular, and the free throw percentage was never going to be sexy, but this is well below his floor as a player. His individual regression from last season hasn’t been entirely detrimental to the Wolves as a team, who are still the 8th seed with a 20-18 record, but things aren’t looking good.
The Wolves’ trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle didn’t make sense to me when it happened, and it still doesn’t. I’m not sure why the Wolves thought that adding Julius Randle into the mix would be a good idea considering they now have three players who enjoy playing in the interior, but they’ve tried to adjust with mixed results so far. Anthony Edwards is driving less and is launching a career-high 9.9 attempts from the perimeter.
Gobert’s touch around the rim has always looked awkward. Sometimes he looks more a long-limbed gazelle holding a ball than he does a basketball player, but this season he’s as uninvolved as the offense as he’s ever been, resulting in a 10.1 PPG mark that’s been his lowest since 2016-17, his third season in Utah. I’m not confident in the points bouncing back, and wouldn’t pay a premium to acquire him, but I still think there’s value here in securing an excellent source of FG%, rebounds, and blocks for cheap.
Alperen Sengun, C, Houston Rockets
The only thing dragging down Sengun’s value in the past two weeks is his FT%, which sits at a horrid 58.1% with 6.2 attempts a game. If you have Sengun on your roster, it’s likely that he’s single-handedly cratering your FT% these past two weeks despite playing well in other areas. He’s still putting up 21.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, and 4.4 APG with 1.6 SPG.
Alex Sarr, C, Washington Wizards
Alex Sarr’s first NBA season has been one filled with inconsistency, and lots of L’s. The Wizards are bad, to state the obvious. The good news is that Sarr has a firm hold on the starting center gig ahead of Jonas Valanciunas, as he’s the future of the franchise, but not yet playing like it. Defensively, Sarr already has the making of an excellent defender with his big 1.6 blocks per game, but offensively he just isn’t there yet. His FG% sits at a woeful 40.3%. His three ball is unimpressive. He’s shooting 64.9% from the line.
Despite all this, he’s going to get plenty of run down the stretch, and if you can stomach his shooting numbers, he’s going to be a very nice place to get some boards and blocks.
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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