Things have quieted down after a chaotic trade deadline as we head into the NBA All-Star weekend. Perhaps the most shocking post-deadline news has been the cancellation of the Mark Williams deal, on account of his failed physical with the Lakers. Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish will head back to LA and Williams to Charlotte. Now we’re all curious about Williams’ health; was Charlotte hiding something? Presumably, Williams’ health was one of the main reasons why the Hornets were eager to let him go in the first place.
In other news, the Western Conference has some new faces on top. The Grizzlies sit at second seed with the Nuggets closely behind, while the Rockets have dropped to fourth. Three teams are 26-26 between the ninth and eleventh seeds, illustrating the parity of this conference.
The languishing Wizards still sit at the basement of the East with a league-worst 9-43 record. The Hornets are five games ahead at 13-37. One of the more surprising teams is the Pistons, who are the sixth seed with a 27-26 record and have overtaken the once-mighty Orlando Magic.
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 sell-highs we can consider.
Sell ’em
Austin Reaves, SG/SF, Los Angeles Lakers
Reaves just dropped a monster 45 point, seven rebound, seven assist effort against the Pacers on 14/26 shooting and 13/13 from the line. Are we seeing what first-option Reaves looks like? Call me when this guy gets moved to another team. Things are going to look real rosy here until Luka Doncic debuts for this team, so you have a small window to shop Reaves around before his usage plummets. Reaves will remain an instrumental piece of the Lakers’ rotation, but I think it’s clear that he won’t be seeing this volume when Doncic is active. It’s likely that most managers know this already, though, so be prudent in judging his trade value.
Michael Porter Jr., SF/PF, Denver Nuggets
The 24th ranked player in 9-cat over the past two weeks, Porter Jr. is scorching hot right now, shooting 58.1% over his last seven games. His strong shooting is a big part of Denver’s recent surge up the rankings, winning seven out of their past 10 games. It’s good to look for these windows of efficient shooting to flip players. Their value is boosted, and even though Porter is an excellent shooting, he likely won’t be able to sustain the massive efficiency he’s been displaying.
Trey Murphy III, SF/PF, New Orleans Pelicans
Murphy has been so impressive that the Pelicans finally pulled the trigger on shipping away Brandon Ingram. I assume they’re feeling confident about Murphy’s future on this team as a floor-stretching, modern wing who has showed immense improvement in his fourth season. He’s averaging a career high 22.6 PPG and the only reason he’s on this list is that the Pelicans don’t have much to play for amidst this lost season.
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