The young NBA season is producing many interesting storylines and questions already.
Are the new foul-calling rules the reason that so many volume perimeter scorers are off to slow starts? Why do the consensus favorites to win this season's championship - the Nets, Lakers and Bucks - have almost as many combined losses (10) as they have wins (11)? Also, the Raptors are +10,000 to win the Atlantic Division even though they're currently only a half-game out of first place and their best player hasn't even played yet...why doesn't anyone realize that they might actually be good this year?
So many questions.
On the fantasy basketball front, this early season is the time to try to get out in front of everyone else by figuring out who should be added before your league-mates do. Here, in this space, that is the question of interest. So, let's take a look at another handful of players that could help your team that are rostered in less than 20% of ESPN leagues.
Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic (15.7% rostered in ESPN leagues): Wagner was considered a project lottery pick in the 2021 NBA draft, needing to develop for a season or two before making his impact. Not the case. Wagner is off to a stellar start to his NBA career, having scored in double figures in each of his first eight games, including 28 points on Monday to raise his scoring average to 15.6 PPG. He's averaging 2.4 3PG, 1.1 SPG and 0.6 BPG while shooting 50.5% from the field. Wagner is contributing right now as a key starter on the rebuilding but frisky Magic, and he should only get better with more experience.
Darius Bazley, Oklahoma City Thunder (14.7%): Bazley has recently shown signs of breaking out of his season-long shooting slump, with at least 15 points and three 3-pointers in two of his last three games. His peripheral numbers are already strong, with averages of 6.4 RPG, 1.0 BPG and 1.0 SPG on the season, so if he gets his shot straightened out on a Thunder team that's desperate for scoring, Bazley would have plus value in all fantasy basketball formats.
Jalen Brunson, Dallas Mavericks (12.6%): Brunson is the sixth man and offensive punch off the bench for the Mavericks, both backing up Luka Doncic as the point guard and also often playing next to him as a scorer. Brunson is an inconsistent producer, but in the first six games of the season he had one 17-point game with three rebounds, three assists and three 3-pointers, another game with an 11-point/11-assist double-double, and a third game with 19 points, seven boards, five assists and three 3-pointers. In deep leagues, the potential for games like this, even interspersed with single-digit scoring nights, might make Brunson worth rostering. Brunson also tends to perform better with more opportunity, which tends to happen when any of the other major scorers on the team get injured.
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets (6.4%): Gordon is a professional scorer when healthy, and he's settled in as the sixth man for the Rockets. I'd worried that Gordon could be phased out of the rotation for the young and rebuilding Rockets, similarly to how John Wall has been (or how the Thunder did with Al Horford last season). And that might be a risk for Gordon as the season goes along, but for now he's averaging almost 27 minutes per game and has scored at least 15 points four times in seven games. He's averaging 14.3 PPG and 2.5 3PG, and could have some value as a role player shooter/scorer in roto leagues.
Luke Kennard, LA Clippers (2.7%): Kennard has quietly been stepping into the role of primary scorer off the bench for a Clippers team that desperately needs scoring with Kawhi Leonard out. Kennard has scored in double digits in four of his last five games, including 39 combined points in two games against the Trail Blazers. He's also averaging 3.3 3PG, and has been more active on the glass and as a distributor in recent games. Kennard is demonstrating he can be a useful role player for the Clippers and on fantasy rosters, and he has a chance to scale up if his role gets any larger.