Injuries, injuries and more injuries have been a common theme in the NBA this season. We’ve already seen teams lose multiple stars, which has a ripple effect across the fantasy landscape. One way to help your team stay afloat through injuries is to make trades. Let’s talk about some players you should buy low, sell high or hold based on their early start.
Purchase
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Mitchell averaged at least 26.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in each of his first two seasons with the Cavaliers. He is below all of those numbers this season, averaging 23.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. His points didn’t drop because of a lack of efficiency. He is shooting 46.8% from the field, including a career-high 41.0% from beyond the arc.
The reason for the drop in Mitchell’s numbers is because he only averaged 31 minutes per game. He averaged at least 35 minutes each of the last two seasons. The Cavaliers have blown out teams en route to a 12-0 start, meaning they haven’t had to force Mitchell to play much on some nights. His usage rate is still 31.4%, which is the same as his mark from last season. With the Cavaliers playing closer games, Mitchell should spend more time on the floor. While he isn’t exactly struggling, this may be the lowest point of his fantasy value on the season.
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
Pelicans
Injuries, injuries and more injuries have been a common theme in the NBA this season. We’ve already seen teams lose multiple stars, which has a ripple effect across the fantasy landscape. One way to help your team stay afloat through injuries is to make trades. Let’s talk about some players you should buy low, sell high or hold based on their early start.
Purchase
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Mitchell averaged at least 26.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in each of his first two seasons with the Cavaliers. He is below all of those numbers this season, averaging 23.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. His points didn’t drop because of a lack of efficiency. He is shooting 46.8% from the field, including a career-high 41.0% from beyond the arc.
The reason for the drop in Mitchell’s numbers is because he only averaged 31 minutes per game. He averaged at least 35 minutes each of the last two seasons. The Cavaliers have blown out teams en route to a 12-0 start, meaning they haven’t had to force Mitchell to play much on some nights. His usage rate is still 31.4%, which is the same as his mark from last season. With the Cavaliers playing closer games, Mitchell should spend more time on the floor. While he isn’t exactly struggling, this may be the lowest point of his fantasy value on the season.
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans were absolutely decimated by injuries. Things got even worse for them on Tuesday, with Jose Alvarado (hamstring) potentially out for about six weeks. He joined Zion Williamson (hamstring), Dejounte Murray (arm), CJ McCollum (thigh), Herbert Jones (shoulder) and Jordan Hawkins (back) on the sidelines.
One of the few bright spots for the Pelicans is that Murphy made his season debut on Monday after sitting out the first 10 games. He played only 26 minutes, recorded 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two triples. As he continues to return to form, he should become one of the focal points of their offense. Try trading for him now before he starts producing screaming scoring and three-pointers.
Sales
Jordan Poole, Washington Wizards
Poole has scored more points for fantasy managers this season, averaging 20.0 points and 3.3 three-pointers per game. He is shooting 42.6 percent from the field, which is pretty close to his percentage from last season. Still, he’s shooting 41.7% from behind the arc, up from 32.6% last year.
As encouraging as Pool’s start to the season has been, it’s hard to get too excited about his progression. He still only averages 30 minutes per game because the Wizards are often left out. He’s also never finished a season shooting higher than 36.4% from beyond the arc, so he should be in line for a significant decline in that department. Kyle Kuzma is also back from injury, so the Wizards don’t have to rely as much on Pool to score. Now is the time to put out the trade offers and see if anyone is willing to overpay for Poole in a trade for his hot three-point shooting.
AND Anunoby, New York Knicks
Anunoby doesn’t have crazy stats with his averages of 16.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. However, his averages of 1.6 steals and 2.2 triples are a valuable combination. He’s still a reliable shooter from beyond the arc, making 41.5% of his three-point attempts this season.
The reason to consider selling Anunoby high is his injury history. He hasn’t played at least 70 games in a season since his rookie campaign. Although he hasn’t missed a game this season, it’s scary that a player with his injury history is averaging 37 minutes per game. With the lack of talent on the bench, don’t expect the Knicks to cut Anunoby’s minutes anytime soon. It’s hard to imagine him lasting an entire season with that kind of heavy workload.
Hold on
Norman Powell, Los Angeles Clippers
Powell averaged just 26 minutes in each of his first two full seasons with the Clippers. Now that Paul George is gone, the Clippers need more from Powell this season. He responded by averaging 26.0 points and 4.2 3-pointers in 34 minutes per game. While his 50.5 percent three-point shooting probably won’t hold up, he shot 39.9 percent from deep in his career.
Not only is Powell playing more, but his usage rate has increased from 20.0% last season to 26.6% this season. The Clippers don’t have a huge roster and there has been no positive update on the status of Kawhi Leonard (knee). The Clippers need Powell to make big plays and make a ton of shots. Powell doesn’t need to sell high right now. He should remain a reliable source of points and 3-pointers going forward.
Jrue Holiday, Boston Celtics
Holiday took a big hit in scoring during his first season with the Celtics, which translated to him averaging just 12.5 points per game this season. However, his overall lack of production in other departments this season has been surprising. After averaging 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 0.9 steals last season, Holiday is averaging 3.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 0.3 steals per game this season.
Holiday has never averaged less than 0.9 steals per game in a season in his career, so his output in that department should increase soon. He also has seven straight seasons in which he averaged at least 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists. The Celtics have been involved in a lot of uneven scoring out of the gate, which has resulted in Holiday averaging two minutes less per game than last season. His playing time should increase shortly, so look for him to improve his counting stats. Don’t panic and exchange it with a discount.
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