RADIO
The NBA season keeps rolling along, and while talk around the NBA world is that the regular season is dead and no one wants to watch basketball, I know that y'all reading this care about regular season basketball, because fantasy sports are a great way of getting attention on sporting events.
Here's our weekly fantasy basketball drop list, a look at players who are can be dropped in some or all formats. Every Friday, we'll look at why it's fine to move on from certain players based on their recent play.
Let's look at players who you can consider dropping so far. Remember: every league is different and we're working on a pretty small sample size this early in the year, so make sure you evaluate what options you have to replace these players before you actually drop them.
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Players to Consider Dropping or Replacing
Frank Ntilikina - (PG/SG, New York Knicks) - 10% Owned
With Elfrid Payton (who you also should probably not own!) set to return soon (and possibly even by the time you read this article on Friday morning, since he could play on Thursday), this backcourt is about to return to being a mess. Factor in that Frankie Smokes is also dealing with injury and that he's struggled some lately, shooting poorly and not really providing much beyond five assists and an inconsistent scoring total each much, and it's probably time to join the other 90 percent of fantasy owners who've already sent or left Ntilikina on waivers.
I know his promise is enticing, but even in deeper leagues, I don't see David Fizdale giving him a large-enough workload moving forward for him to make sense as a playable fantasy asset. Maybe the Knicks should -- they're bad and giving a healthy Payton minutes isn't going to do much to change that, unless the Knicks think Payton's a long term answer for them at the position, which I don't think they're thinking?
Joe Ingles - (SG/SF, Utah Jazz) - 58% Owned
I'm so tired of having to roster Joe Ingles.
Ingles has been a huge disappointment this year, taking major steps back in a variety of statistical categories. He's scoring fewer points. He's shooting worse while scoring fewer points. He no longer gets enough assists to be an asset there. He's gone from an elite three-point shooter to a below-average three-point shooter.
I've been patient. I've trotted him out in my fantasy lineups day after day all year, because Joe Ingles at the level he's been the last two years has been a must-play option for his ability to provide you with a well-rounded stat line.
But it's not happening. His move to the bench must have disrupted his rhythm too much, and at the quarter mark of the season I'm finally putting my foot down and saying "yeah, Joe, this was a good run we had here, buddy." I'm not even that concerned about missing out on a bounce back effort for him as the year goes on, because
Mohamed Bamba - (PF/C, Orlando Magic) - 19% Owned
With Nikola Vucevic out, I thought the Magic would be forced to make Bamba a key part of their rotation. And while he is playing, he's gone four games in a row without cracking 20 minutes and the team has gone with Khem Birch as the starting center.
This is an easy one: To justify picking Bamba up, he had to start doing more than he was doing before. That didn't happen, which means you might as well move on from him.
Ivica Zubac - (C, Los Angeles Clippers) - 28% Owned
Zubac is another guy who I like a lot, but his fantasy impact just isn't really there, especially at a level that justifies a 28 percent ownership rate.
Despite starting 20 of his 22 games, Zubac's playing under 20 minutes per game and averaging 8.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game along with 1.1 blocks. Those are fine numbers for a backup big man, but they aren't the numbers for a starting caliber fantasy center.
His upside is limited by Montrezl Harrell's presence, which can be seen in how rarely Zubac has gone above his usual numbers. He's scored in double figures just six times and grabbed double-digit rebounds four times, so you can't even really use him as a "well, I need a guy and maybe this matchup tonight is one where he'll give me a double-double" type player. Might as well look for a higher upside option.
