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Fantasy hoops: Start or sit rankings

Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets defended by three Phoenix Suns. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Click here for the fantasy basketball Forecaster

Read below for weekly rankings and start/sit recommendations


These rankings are based on the assumption that all teams play their games over the next week, which as we know may not happen. Please stay plugged in to potential schedule changes due to COVID-19 up until rosters lock on Monday, and adjust your lineups accordingly. With that said...

...so, you're in a weekly transaction league, and you need to decide by Monday evening who your starting lineup will be for the week. Should you consider sitting a usual impact starter like Devin Booker? Or perhaps starting someone like Kelly Olynyk, who might generally be on your bench, perhaps even your waiver wire?

The season is underway, but it's still so early that players are still establishing their value. Nevertheless, number of games and schedule difficulty are still key factors in deciding who should be in your starting line-ups for the week. I mentioned Booker in the opening because he's a highly rated player that was drafted to be a starter on every fantasy team he's on. His teammates Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges are also impact players. But the Suns only play twice next week, so even a player like the aforementioned Olynyk is projected to score more fantasy points than they are for this week.

Thus, the "potentially sittable" list below is full of Suns, as well as players with only three games that may have tough schedules, or that may be dealing with injuries that could eat into their production for the week. Meanwhile, the "potentially startable" list is full of teams with four games against teams that tend to give up a lot of points. Check out the overall rankings to get a more in-depth look at how we think things might go next week, but we do make it easy to get the high points at a glance with the startable and sittable lists below.


Potentially startable players

Methodology

The "potentially startable" list is generally comprised of players ranked below 80th in the season-long points rankings who ended up among the top-100 projected players for this week utilizing the Forecaster. Conversely, the "potentially sittable" list is generally comprised of players ranked in the top 100 of the season-long points rankings who ended up outside of the top-120 projected players for this week utilizing the Forecaster (or who are in the 120 range but projected much lower for the week). There is also some correction for injury, so a player with injury question marks may have his value lowered enough to end up on the sittable list -- even if he's not officially out. Similarly, an understudy would get a boost in value if he is expected to play, and that could land him in the startable category. Finally, I have the license to add players to either list even if they don't fit the exact criteria, but if I feel that it is close enough to be of interest.