You’ve bought low and sold high, but what do you do with toxic assets that could turn it around? Holding underperforming players is one of the most difficult things to do in fantasy basketball. You would think oh great this is my time to strike and buy low on these underperforming players. That’s not always the case. The fantasy basketball players on this list have major warts, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend giving up an asset to trade for one of them. If they are on your waiver wire and you have someone you want to drop by all means make the move. If you invested capital in one of these players by draft or trade do not drop them. It’s been an unpleasant ride, I know, but you will have regrets if you make the drop and they turn it around. Here are some players you shouldn’t cut in category leagues.
Fantasy Basketball Holds
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard is injured and there’s no timetable for his return. You are free to panic, but I’m not sure you can do much about it. Is anybody giving you a top 50 fantasy basketball asset for Kawhi? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. Can you get a top 75 guy for Kawhi? Maybe but I don’t think I’ll sell Kawhi at that price because that loss in draft day capital probably would make it impossible to win your league. Put him in your injured slot and work the waiver wire. Hopefully, you can find a top 75-100 producer there. Let’s not forget Kawhi was the 4th ranked player in 9-cat (per-game) in 2020-21. When and if he finally gets healthy that is still within the range of outcomes. However, I’m not giving up assets to get Kawhi on my fantasy basketball team because his health concerns aren’t going away anytime soon. If you have Kawhi Leonard on your fantasy basketball team you just have to ride it out.
Klay Thompson
For some Klay Thompson might be a buy-low candidate. His best finish was 9th in 9-cat in 2014-15. That is not in the range of outcomes for Klay anymore. There was also a cluster of seasons where he was a top 30-40 fantasy basketball asset. It seems unlikely that he’ll get back to that value at this stage in his career. However, he was a top 60 player in 9-cat after returning from injury last season on a per-game basis. If the Warriors’ plan is to load-manage Klay, I wouldn’t want to give up a valuable fantasy basketball asset for him. His FG% is currently down 6.5% from last season which is painful, but you should expect positive regression to the mean. Keep Klay Thompson on your fantasy basketball team.
Jabari Smith Jr.
It feels strange putting a rookie on this list, but here we are. Jabari Smith’s shooting has been atrocious this season. The Rockets in general have shot the ball poorly. Why is Jabari on this list, but not fellow teammate Jalen Green? I have a one-word answer, blocks. Jabari Smith has upside in fantasy basketball because of that one category. Although, I’m not actively trying to trade for Jabari. What really scares me about the Rockets is they don’t play a real point guard. It’s messing up the flow of the offense and guys aren’t able to get in rhythm. Even with that troubling note, I’d expect Jabari to shoot better than 30% from the field the rest of the way. Find some diamond hands and leave Jabari Smith in a bench slot.
Al Horford
I think we can all agree Al Horford is no longer in his prime. He’s off to a slowish start to this season and there is some cause for concern. You might have forgotten but Horford was once a top 20 fantasy basketball producer at his peak in four straight seasons from 2012-16 in 9-cat (per game). He’s never going to deliver that type of value again, but he shouldn’t be worthless. Horford was a top 50 asset in 9-cat last season and that was with a significant stretch where he felt unplayable for fantasy basketball purposes. With Robert Williams out the Celtics haven’t had a lot of options at center. Horford hasn’t taken advantage of that yet. On top of that, the Celtics are pretty cautious and don’t want to play him on both nights of a back-to-back. I’m not buying or selling Al Horford in fantasy basketball, but I don’t think he’s droppable at this point. If you look at his per-game numbers they are only slightly down across the board from last season. As of writing this article, his blocks are down 0.6 per game. Steals are down 0.6. Assists are down 1.3. Rebounds are down 1.7. Find some willpower and keep Al Horford on your fantasy basketball team.
Who are you refusing to drop in fantasy basketball? Let me know in the comments below!