Fantasy Basketball Forecaster: February 11th - 17th

Welcome to this week’s Fantasy Basketball Forecaster! In here, you’ll find:

• 3 players who are coming into the week hot
• 3 players who are coming into the week on a cold spell
• 3 waiver wire adds (among all players under 50% owned)
• Each teams schedule ranking, based on opponents’ stats allowed, where the #1 ranked team faces the easiest fantasy schedule this week, while the #30 ranked team faces the hardest

Let’s begin!

3 players who are hot (not named James Harden)

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (100% owned) — The Greek Freak’s stat line from last week looks exactly as it would if you played with the Bucks on rookie in NBA 2k against your nephew who can’t even hold the controller. 34 points per game on 71.2% shooting—and 50% from downtown—12.7 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1.3 blocks. That’s cheat code numbers.
2. Andre Drummond (99% owned) — I know last week I said to trade Drummond but I guess I didn’t realize that Drummond is now a low post God and can’t help but score 20+ points per game while collecting almost as many rebounds. Dude’s been straight blasting.
3. Myles Turner (92.7% owned) — Most of Turner’s stats this week won’t leave you in shock: 17 points per game—shooting 57% from both the field and three—5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.5 steals. But it’s been his blocks that have boosted his fantasy value, averaging 4 per game this past week.

3 players who are not

1. Ben Simmons (100% owned) — Ben’s starting to become a regular on this list, which isn’t great for the everyone who rostered him. Bad week across the board, averaging 13.3 points, of course zero threes, 4.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
2. Kawhi Leonard (100% owned) — 17 points per game on 34% shooting is not great if you have Kawhi on your fantasy team. Add in fewer rebounds and above average turnovers and you get a bad week of fantasy production.
3. Steph Curry (100% owned) — Steph’s week wasn’t as bad as the above guys, but he shot noticeably less and worse from three his last three games, taking only—and I say only because these numbers are low for Steph—8 threes per game and hitting 42% of them.

3 players to add off waivers

1. Trevor Ariza (51.4% owned) — I know I say under 50% only, but the fact that Ariza, who is starting for the Wizards and averaging at 35 minutes per game, isn’t owned in more leagues is crazy to me. He gets you threes, assists, steals and points.
2. Patrick Beverley (23.6% owned) — Another plug for adding the Clippers’ point guard. 12 points, 2 threes, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1 steal on 28.3 minutes last week.
3. Daniel Theis (0.5% owned) — Theis hasn’t been getting a ton of minutes, but he’s been hyper effective with the time he’s on the court. Last week on 19 minutes he averaged 12 points, 1.3 threes, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks.

Strength of schedule

Rough week for Warriors players, meanwhile Lakers have one easy game against the Hawks.