The massive wave of player movement this past summer saw just 44% of players from last season's rosters remain on the same team entering the 2019-2020 campaign. With more than half the league changing jerseys, these first few weeks of the NBA marathon will reveal so much about rotations and roles.
Julius Randle, for instance, moved from the Big Easy to the Big Apple, and in his debut with the Knickerbockers tallied the second-most fantasy points (using DraftKings' scoring key) among power forwards from last night's huge 11-game slate, thanks to becoming the first Knick ever to reach 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a season-opener. An early fantasy selection in most formats this season, the market was aware of the value Randle gained by moving to a high-usage role for the Knicks.
Marcus Morris, however, made a far-less-heralded shift to New York in the summer and finished fourth last night among power forwards in fantasy production, thanks to delivering a team-high 26 points on 18 shots to go with an impressive three steals in the loss to the Spurs (the very team he jilted to sign with New York).
The point being that while there were so many celebrated transitions this past summer, such as Kyrie Irving joining the Brooklyn Nets -- which we discuss in greater detail below -- many names such as Morris flew under the radar, especially in fantasy leagues. Morris is available for a few clicks and the price of a roster spot in more than 80% of ESPN leagues and yet could enjoy rare offensive freedom, as last night signaled, on a New York roster in need of his offensive savvy.
Wednesday recap
Highlights
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves: 36 points (11-22 FG), 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 3 steals, 3 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 32 points (12-18 FG), 23 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks, 2 TO
Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets: 50 points (17-33 FG), 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block
Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls: 35 points (13-25 FG), 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 TO
Lowlights
Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies: 5 points (1-16 FG), 5 assists, 2 TO
De'Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings: 8 points (3-7 FG), 1 rebound, 5 assists, 5 TO
Terry Rozier, Charlotte Hornets: 7 points (2-10 FG), 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 TO
Kemba Walker, Boston Celtics: 12 points (4-18 FG), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 TO
Wednesday takeaways
Speaking of the Knicks, rookie RJ Barrett netted 21 points and became just the third rookie in franchise history to score at least 20 points in his career debut, joining Eddie Lee Wilkins and Bill Cartwright. It could be tough for Barrett to consistently eat on offense, given his high-usage frontcourt peers in Morris and Randle, but last night's efficient outing was undoubtedly impressive for the Duke product.
Among the widely available crowd, there might not be a more exciting guard to acquire for fantasy purposes than the Spurs' Dejounte Murray, who helped down the Barrett's Knicks on Wednesday. The former All-Defensive Team talent tallied 18 points and 14 combined assists and rebounds in his first NBA action since April of 2018. Murray is floating in free agency in roughly 60% of ESPN leagues but is an awesome early-season addition in all but truly shallow leagues.
Down in Orlando, we saw former top pick Markelle Fultz flash some impressive athleticism on a few drives in the paint, but five of his six makes came from the paint, while he didn't connect on any of his three 3-point attempts. I'm not quite ready to endorse adding Fultz to fantasy rosters, given what should still be a limited complementary role, but it's at least encouraging to see him producing on the NBA floor. Even as the Magic cruised to a win over the Cavaliers, it was encouraging to see Kevin Love pull 18 rebounds after missing 60 games last year.
Phoenix started off the season on a positive note in drubbing the Kings in a wire-to-wire win on Wednesday evening. De'Aaron Fox got into early foul trouble and the Kings somehow turned the ball over on 24% of their possessions, thus the Suns ran away with the game. The key fantasy take from the contest might be the continued ascent of Kelly Oubre Jr. as a statistical star; he posted 21 points, nine boards and, most impressively, three stocks (steals plus blocks). Go and add Oubre, a key deep sleeper heading into the season, in all formats.
Conley struggled to find the net in his debut with the Jazz, as his 6% shooting in a win over the Thunder marked the worst by a player in a team debut in the shot-clock era (min. 15 FGA), per Elias. In the loss, second-year breakout candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tallied a career-high 26 points for Oklahoma City, the second most in a season-opener by a player age 21 or younger in team history (Russell Westbrook had 28 in 2009-10). SGA is available in free agency in roughly 30% of ESPN leagues as of Thursday morning.
Speaking of impressive scoring performances from young players, Dallas' Luka Doncic delivered 34 points and nine boards in a win over the Wizards, marking the most points ever scored by a 20-year-old in a season opener in NBA history. This guy might be good. Kristaps Porzingis also looked good in producing 23 points on 16 shots in his first game in more than 18 months.
Irving's 50-point outburst marked the most points by any player in their team debut (previous record was 47 points by Kiki VanDeWeghe in 1984), albeit the Nets lost in overtime. While everyone already knows about Irving's otherworldly offensive arsenal, it's time for more fantasy managers to appreciate the growing value of Caris LeVert's game; the young wing delivered 20 points with strong peripheral production on Wednesday and is still available in more than 30% of ESPN leagues.
Speaking on underrated wings, Miami's Justise Winslow was brilliant with the ball in his hands last night to the tune of 27 points and 14 combined rebounds and assists. Jimmy Butler surprisingly missed the opener due to a personal issue, thus Winslow's unfettered usage, but I'd go and speculatively add the emergent wing in all formats even when Butler is back in the mix.
Drummond was a force for Detroit in becoming just the third player since the merger (1976-77) with 30 points and 20 rebounds in a season-opener, joining Charles Barkley and George McGinnis. Possibly more important for fantasy purposes was the offensive outing Luke Kennard tallied; the Duke product became the first player with 30 points off the bench in a season opener since Leandro Barbosa in 2006. I'm not sure if Kennard can sustain such brilliant shooting, but it's encouraging that he served such a busy role as the team's best perimeter threat on Wednesday.
Injuries of note
Detroit's Blake Griffin will miss tonight's tilt with the Hawks and the rest of October due to hamstring and knee ailments and will be reevaluated to return to the floor in early November.
Paul George is also likely to miss the remainder of the month with an eye on a November debut with the Clippers.
Analytics advantage for Thursday
During a small three-game slate (which is common for Thursdays), I'm all about loading up on shares of Stephen Curry in DFS competition tonight. With Klay Thompson recovering from a serious knee injury and Kevin Durant going to Brooklyn this past July, Curry will shoulder much of the offensive load for Golden State.
If anyone is prepared to handle such a task, it's Curry; in 271 minutes of game time last season, Curry averaged 42.7 points per 36 minutes when Durant and Thompson were off the floor. That number jumps to 44 points per 36 minutes when evaluating his 2017-18 results in such scenarios.
Top players to watch tonight
This one was simple for me; I can't wait to see the Rockets' superstar backcourt of Westbrook and James Harden reunited on the floor. Last season, Harden led the NBA in isolation plays per game, was fourth in touches per game and led the NBA in dribbles per game. Westbrook, meanwhile, rated fourth, second and sixth, respectively, in those metrics last season. We'll surely see Mike D'Antoni stagger the two after the initial run with the starters, but any on-court overlap should prove riveting.