By far, the questions that I get the most on Twitter (@ProfessorDrz) deal with player value. Should I get rid of "this guy," trade for "that guy," or pick up "the other guy"?
For example, from earlier today from @Karan_Talwar27:
@ProfessorDrz 10 team, 9cat, Weekly with daily squads, H2H. What in heavens should I do with Wiggins? :( There's Danny Green, PJ Tucker, Joe Harris, RHJ, Allen Crabbe, Mikal Bridges, Jerami Grant, Jeremy Lin available. :( Appreciate it!
So, let's discuss some player values. We are about a quarter of the way through the NBA season, time enough to get a general feel for how the season is playing out and what types of changes you'd need to make on your fantasy teams to maximize your team's competitiveness. At this point of the season, trading is one of the best ways to change your team's fortunes.
Here are a handful of players who are currently undervalued based on how they've played so far and who make sense to trade for while the price is low.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
As I noted when assessing the fallout of the Jimmy Butler trade, it was obvious and well publicized that Towns didn't produce well next to Butler this season. As a quick review and verification, here are Towns' numbers through the first nine games of the season while playing with Butler versus his numbers through the most recent 10 games without Butler:
First nine games (with Butler): 15.3 PPG (40.5 FG%,), 10.7 RPG, 1.9 APG
Last nine games (without Butler): 21.6 PPG (53.6 FG%), 14.0 RPG, 2.7 APG
Towns' defensive numbers are actually down since the trade that sent Butler to the 76ers, but his overall numbers during that stretch are closer to the expectations that made him a consensus top-six draft pick in this season's fantasy drafts.
But wait, it gets better.
Towns also had notoriously and consistently been more productive during the second half of the season than he has during the first. To that point, his scoring and rebounding numbers have increased in each of his first three seasons after the All-Star Break, often to a significant degree, as shown by averaging his pre- and post-All-Star break averages across those seasons:
Pre-All-Star break 2015-16 through 2017-18: 20.3 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 2.2 APG
Post-All-Star break 2015-16 through 2017-18: 24.5 PPG, 12.4 RPG, 2.6 APG
Put it together, and not only is Towns a lot more valuable now than he was a few weeks ago before the trade, but he also should be even more valuable during the second half of the season than he is now. Invest.
Donovan Mitchell/Ricky Rubio, Utah Jazz
Mitchell burst onto the scene last season with a Rookie of the Year-worthy campaign, and backcourt mate Rubio also turned in one of the best seasons of his career with legitimately dominant weeks down the stretch. Both entered this season with high expectations that they would build upon those performances with a year of experience playing together and leading the Jazz. While neither has been awful to date, both have clearly stepped back from how they finished last season and are not living up to current expectations.
The good news is that Mitchell, Rubio and the Jazz have started this season a lot like they did last season ... when everything came together and they all improved down the stretch.
To wit, through the first 28 games of last season, the Jazz were 13-15, similar to their 10-12 start this season. During those first 28 games last season, Rubio averaged only 11.9 PPG (39.0 FG%), 1.1 3PG (28.2 3P%) and 4.9 APG while Mitchell averaged 17.8 PPG (42.0 FG%), 2.4 3PG and 3.3 APG.
Meanwhile, they picked things up big time during the second half of the season. The Jazz won 16 of their last 20 games, with Rubio averaging 16.0 PPG (44.8 FG%), 1.7 3PG (41.3 3P%), 5.8 APG and Mitchell averaging 22.6 PPG (43.1 FG%), 2.4 3PG, 4.4 APG.
On Thursday, the Jazz traded for another shooter in Kyle Korver as they look to shake their early season doldrums, and they are still widely expected to put things together and make another playoff run this season. The team offense is powered by Mitchell and Rubio, and as they move through early season ouchy injuries into the second half push, it's likely that both will improve and help the team get back to where they were last season.
Otto Porter Jr., Washington Wizards
Porter got off to an extremely slow start this season, averaging only 10.6 PPG (46.3 FG%, 76.5 FT%), 4.4 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.3 SPG and 1.3 3PG during his first 15 games.
However, he has picked it up of late, averaging 15.2 PPG (53.7 FG%, 84.6 FT%), 7.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.4 3PG during his past five games (even including a terrible outing on Wednesday against the New Orleans Pelicans).
Which Porter is real?
Well, his numbers through 15 games were almost a carbon copy to his numbers for the 2014-15 season ... but Porter has consistently improved his production in every season since then. Also, Porter's numbers during his past five games look very similar to his season-long production from last season -- 14.7 PPG (48.4 FG%, 82.8 FT%), 6.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.8 3PG) -- which encourages the notion that he just had a slow start and should continue to play more like himself moving forward.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brooklyn Nets
Hollis-Jefferson is another player who got off to a slow start but has picked it up in recent games to look more like I expected. RHJ's numbers through the first 12 games -- 9.3 PPG (41.1 FG%, 57.6 FT%), 5.3 RPG, 1.7 APG -- looked a lot like his production level during the 2015-16 season, even though he had steadily improved in seasons since then.
Meanwhile, his production during the past five games [11.0 PPG (45.5 FG%, 66.7 FT%), 7.6 RPG, 1.4 APG] has been more in line with his averages from the 2017-18 season [13.9 PPG (47.2 FG%, 78.8 FT%), 6.8 RPG, 2.5 APG], his expected levels this season, and what we would expect from him moving forward.
RHJ is actually available in one third of ESPN leagues, so you may be able to pick him up for free or acquire him on the cheap if he is already rostered.
Key rookies
Rookies often get better as the season goes along, as they get more used to the NBA game and their teams start giving them more opportunities, and like RHJ, they can be acquired at a good price or picked up for free off waivers.
The super blue-chippers, such as Luka Doncic and Deandre Ayton this season, have been starting and putting up big numbers from Day 1. But this was a deep rookie class, with a lot of talented players, and many of them are already improving and playing themselves into fantasy starting lineups.
Marvin Bagley III (Sacramento Kings), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Collin Sexton (Cleveland Cavaliers), Mo Bamba (Orlando Magic), Kevin Knox (New York Knicks) and Miles Bridges (Charlotte Hornets) stand out to me as rookies who are either currently on the rise or have a good chance to improve with more significant minutes as the season goes along.
Jackson, Bagley and Sexton in particular have shown quite a bit of early-season promise with legitimate fantasy starter impact potential for the rest of the season.
Bamba has flashed talent but is playing behind the surging Nikola Vucevic. On the positive side, Bamba is the future, already has his own theme song courtesy of Sheck Wes, and if Vucevic gets either injured (four seasons with 65 or fewer games played) or traded (unrestricted free agent in 2019), then the way would be clear for Bamba to step way up.
Knox has dealt with early-season injuries, and Knicks head coach David Fizdale has experimented with a lot of different lineups, but ultimately, it seems likely that the future-building Knicks will give Knox a good run to see what they have in him.
Bridges has shown flashes as he fits in on the Hornets, but if they eventually shift from trying to compete now to more of a future bent, Miles has the talent and athleticism to produce good numbers in more significant minutes.