Russell Westbrook's huge week put him in contention to unseat James Harden for the top spot in the fantasy basketball rankings, but Harden hangs on to No. 1 after averaging 41.5 points, 10 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 3 steals and 5 3s in his past two games. Westbrook is almost No. 1b at this point after going for 32.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 10.2 APG, 1.4 SPG, 3 3PG in five games since last week's rankings update.
Karl-Anthony Towns (7), Giannis Antetokounmpo (8), Isaiah Thomas (9) and John Wall (10) round out the top 10. Towns is playing better than Antetokounmpo right now, earning the higher spot, and as we mentioned last week Thomas may have finally reached a place at No. 9 where he can't move any higher; he just doesn't stuff the stat sheet the way Towns and Antetokounmpo do.
In a week marked by a lot of movement from top to bottom, Miami point guard Goran Dragic (moves from 33 to 24), Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal (from 43 to 31) and New Orleans PG Jrue Holiday (from 60 to 42) are three of the biggest risers.
Dragic shot 60.3 percent over his previous five games, averaging 23.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.2 SPG and 3.2 3PG in that span.
Beal put up 41 points against Cleveland on Monday and scored 23 points or more in four of his past five games while averaging 3.8 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1 SPG and 3.6 3PG in that stretch.
Meanwhile, improved efficiency propelled Holiday's game. He shot 52.1 percent while firing up over 19 field goal attempts in his past five games, averaging 24.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 8 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.2 BPG and 2 3PG. Huge numbers!
Lillard is shooting just 40 percent in his past five games and 40.8 percent over the past 10, keeping his scoring under the 25 PPG range. Dragic, teammate C.J. McCollum (21) and Gordon Hayward (23) are among those to pass him in the rankings.
Jordan hasn't reached double digits in scoring in five consecutive games, making him much less valuable in fantasy. Ice-cold Ariza is shooting 25.6 percent over his past 10 games, averaging 6.9 PPG and 6 RPG in that span. Dieng has finished with two points in two of the past four games. Jackson isn't recovered from the offseason knee procedure and his scoring and efficiency are both suffering as a result. Bradley has missed 10 games in a row with no definite return date. Barton and Evans are both battling inconsistent playing time and are underperforming when they are on the court.
The one big name to fall from the rankings this week is Minnesota's Zach LaVine, who tore his ACL and is out for the season, but another big name enters the rankings, as Milwaukee's Khris Middleton (91) is set to make his season debut Wednesday against Miami.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd told the media Tuesday that the plan is to play Middleton 15 to 20 minutes off the bench against the Heat. Middleton is a top-40 fantasy player when fully healthy, so the big question with him is how long it will take him to recover from a preseason hamstring injury that cost him the first 50 games of the season.
Here is the full rundown of the updated Top 150 rankings:
