Fantasy Basketball Buy & Sell: Week 20

It’s Thursday, and you know what that means.

Buy low, sell high is one of the oldest terms in fantasy, but it’s more involved than that. You have to look at the “low” and “high” of it to make sure you’re maximizing value. We can also buy the player, but question the team and role that they are in when it comes to maintaining the pace that they are on.

Most importantly here, with any call you make, you have to be willing to lose the deal or accept that you made the wrong call. It happens all the time when we think we are selling at the highest value, only for that player to buck the trend and play like a stud going forward.

With trade deadlines come and gone in the majority of leagues, we’ll be looking at players whose performance we buy in the larger sense for the rest of the season.

Now that you have an idea of what to expect for this column week to week, let’s get to the players.

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Buy

Cameron Payne (PG/SG – PHO)

We’ve been waiting for Payne to play now after missing the last 16 games with a wrist injury. He finally took to the court Wednesday night but was limited to 20 minutes.

And that’s totally fine.

Payne is one of the key free-agent pieces that you can pick up and stream moving forward. With Chris Paul likely out for the regular season, Payne is going to see a big workload moving forward and will be a big fantasy playoff contributor.

I’ll be writing about Payne more this week, but I’m absolutely buying him as a top 75 player for the rest of the season.

Tyrese Maxey (PG/SG – PHI)

I was so wrong on Maxey. After the James Harden deal was announced, I was part of the crowd that made the jokes about Maxey being wide open and Harden just looking at him saying “and?”

But that hasn’t been the case so far. Philadelphia has a big three, and best believe it’s Maxey who is that third.

Maxey, who is the 15th-ranked player in fantasy over the last two weeks, has played three games with Harden so far. In those games, he’s averaging 24.6 points, three 3s, 4.3 boards, 2.6 assists, and two steals in 35 minutes per game.

Maxey is shining with Harden, who has turned into the playmaking guard that we saw in Brooklyn in 2021. I’m buying Maxey and the Sixers moving forward.

Evan Fournier (SG/SF – NYK)

Alec Burks hasn’t quite been the player I hoped he’d be with the numerous absences in the New York backcourt. But do you know who has? Fournier, Wednesday’s game notwithstanding.

Prior to his disappointing three-point game against the Sixers, Fournier scored in double-digits four straight games, including a 24-point and 29-point game.

He was also playing 31-plus minutes per game and attempting 16 shots on average.

I like Fournier as a top 100 option moving forward and someone who can capitalize on the opportunity at minutes and offensive involvement.

Sell

Tobias Harris (SF/PF – PHI)

Remember above when I said that I liked Maxey with Harden’s arrival? Well, originally I was down on Maxey because I thought he’d be the forgotten man in the offense.

While he hasn’t been, Harris sure has.

Harris has averaged 10.6 points per game since the arrival of Harden, down from his 18.2 mark on the season.

What’s more, he’s been the 120nd-ranked player over the last two weeks for fantasy. Someone was going to be the odd-man-out in Philly, and it looks like we found out who that is.

Brandon Ingram (SF/PF – NOP)

I was notoriously down on Ingram early in his career because he didn’t meet the expectations that were thrust on him right away, which is fine, but he was being drafted as if he had. In New Orleans, with no Zion Williamson, Ingram has been that player, as he hasn’t had to share the ball with anyone of note.

But that’s changed since the arrival of CJ McCollum. Ingram has taken a backseat with his production and has been more of a facilitator for the Pelicans.

Of course, he’s coming off a 33-point game Wednesday night, and while he’s still going to be starting and productive, I’m expecting the dip in scoring to continue with McCollum leading the way offensively on a nightly basis.

Alperen Sengun (C – HOU)

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting but Sengun has not been set free by the Rockets yet.

We’ve seen glimpses, sure, and he played 22 minutes Tuesday where he nearly recorded a double-double, but that was his first time playing more than 20 minutes in a game since February 16.

I’m not abandoning ship yet, as the Rockets are absolutely terrible and have four games on the schedule next week. But if Sengun doesn’t see more run in those games, I’m cutting bait for this season and will be prepared to overdraft him everywhere next year.