NBA DFS bubble preview: Brooklyn Nets

It’s been quite a—boring—ride but we’re almost there, folks. Starting July 30, the NBA will enter a vortex of daily action that will get us back to our couches to indulge as much basketball as we can with games coming left and right. With such a short time between now and the restart (and with the four months we have endured without any NBA hoops around) it makes sense to go through the 22 teams that made it to Disney’s bubble to review what they did during the first months of the 2019-20 season and what we can expect from them going forward. Consider this a primer on who to target, who to avoid, and a know-it-all reviewing exercise of what will be there when NBA DFS contests come back in less than 14 days time.

As has always been the case, I will be using data from both the official NBA website paired with information from DFS contests held on DraftKings through the first months of the season. Every chart uses the same scale (salaries from 3K to 10K except when they don’t fit, fantasy points from 0 to 65) so they can be easily compared between teams to see where each player ranks league-wide.

Regular Season Stats

• Record: 30-34 (.468)
• Offensive Rating: 108.1 (22nd)
• Defensive Rating: 108.7 (8th)
• Net Rating: -0.6 (19th)

The Nets enter the bubble as the 19th-best team in NRtg in the NBA, although that doesn’t mean much if we compare the squad that achieved that number to the one that Brooklyn will be deploying in Florida. The Nets won’t feature Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Wilson Chandler, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, or DeAndre Jordan. They have signed a 40-year-old in Jamal Crawford to bulk the scoring, and while they also signed Michael Beasley for the rest of the season he won’t ultimately make it to Florida, so you can get an idea of what the chances are for the Nets to advance in the playoffs.

Team Leaders (per game)

• MIN: Joe Harris (30.9)
• PTS: PTS: Caris LeVert (17.7)
• 3PM: Joe Harris (2.4)
• REB: Jarrett Allen (9.5)
• AST: Caris LeVert (4.1)
• STL: Caris LeVert (1.1)
• BLK: Jarrett Allen (1.3)
• TOV: Caris LeVert (1.8)
• USG%: Caris LeVert (27.7%)
• DKFP: Caris LeVert (31.4)

Fantasy Profile

• Players Acquired: Donta Hall, Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas
• Players Lost: Theo Pinson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler, Nicolas Claxton, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant

If you think that chart is depressing, well, it is because it actually is. No Net entering the bubble is at 32 DKFP per game this season with LeVert leading Brooklyn in average fantasy performance. At the same time, no player from the team has boasted salaries over $6K on average through the year other than the same LeVert, which makes sense, but is still very cheap. The good thing about such a horrific roster, though, is that the Nets are 1) playing for nothing, 2) trying to give their young players some run leading up to the playoffs and once they start, and 3) someone will need to handle the ball and score some points, boosting the upside of (mostly) LeVert, Jarrett Allen, and Joe Harris.

Before the prices catch up to the expected uptick in production (if only because of the lack of other options in the lineup) you might find some good bargains in the Nets roster, at least for the eight games left on the regular-season schedule.

Caris LeVert holds the best Price/DKFP relation among the Nets playing in the bubble, though he’s not far from Garrett Temple and Joe Harris. Jarrett Allen ranks fourth in potential Return On Investment (ROI) very close to Harris.