The big talking point in the NBA right now is the All-Star game, but that's doesn't concern us for fantasy. Whether someone is an All-Star or a 10th man, we want to know who has been playing well lately, and who hasn't been. February has brought us some big swings in performances from a variety of different players. So let's check in and see who is trending up and who is trending down.
Trending Up
Terry Rozier and LaMelo Ball, Hornets
Devonte' Graham has missed five of the past seven games for the Hornets. That's resulted in Rozier and Ball taking on even more playmaking responsibilities than usual. Over the past seven games, Rozier has averaged 28.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals. Ball has averaged 17.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.1 steals. Graham is dealing with patella discomfort, and that's an injury Charlotte likely doesn't want to take any risks with. As long as Graham remains sidelined, Ball and Rozier should continue playing at an elevated level.
Zion Williamson, Pelicans
Williamson has been trending up all season, but his recent stretch of games has been on another level. Over the past six games, Williamson is averaging 30.0 points on 67.3 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line. That free-throw percentage number becoming respectable is huge for Williamson's fantasy value. He's taken 7.9 freebies per game this season, so it's incredibly influential on his fantasy value. It's not just scoring
The big talking point in the NBA right now is the All-Star game, but that's doesn't concern us for fantasy. Whether someone is an All-Star or a 10th man, we want to know who has been playing well lately, and who hasn't been. February has brought us some big swings in performances from a variety of different players. So let's check in and see who is trending up and who is trending down.
Trending Up
Terry Rozier and LaMelo Ball, Hornets
Devonte' Graham has missed five of the past seven games for the Hornets. That's resulted in Rozier and Ball taking on even more playmaking responsibilities than usual. Over the past seven games, Rozier has averaged 28.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals. Ball has averaged 17.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.1 steals. Graham is dealing with patella discomfort, and that's an injury Charlotte likely doesn't want to take any risks with. As long as Graham remains sidelined, Ball and Rozier should continue playing at an elevated level.
Zion Williamson, Pelicans
Williamson has been trending up all season, but his recent stretch of games has been on another level. Over the past six games, Williamson is averaging 30.0 points on 67.3 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line. That free-throw percentage number becoming respectable is huge for Williamson's fantasy value. He's taken 7.9 freebies per game this season, so it's incredibly influential on his fantasy value. It's not just scoring for Williamson, either, as he has averaged 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 combined steals-plus-blocks over the past six contests. The main difference has been coach Stan Van Gundy trusting Williamson to generate offense as a ballhandler rather than just a post player.
Kyle Anderson, Grizzlies
Anderson has been a revelation for the Grizzlies this season. He's played well all year, taking on more playmaking responsibilities when Ja Morant missed time, but he's arguably playing even better with Morant back. With less pressure on him over his past nine appearances, Anderson has averaged 16.7 points on 57.4 percent shooting, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 combined steals-plus-blocks in 27.6 minutes. Anderson's efficiency and defensive numbers are probably due for a dip, but he's still going to be a starting-caliber option in 12-team fantasy leagues.
Kendrick Nunn, Heat
Miami's backcourt just can't seem to stay healthy, and that's allowed Nunn to step back into the starting five even though he was actually out of coach Erik Spoelstra's rotation earlier this season. He's been playing well in the recent opportunity, and across the past 10 games, he has averaged 17.9 points on 49.6 percent shooting, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals in 34.5 minutes. Make sure he's rostered in your league. And even when the Heat's backcourt gets healthier, he's probably worth stashing on a bench even if he catches DNP-CDs again.
Kelly Oubre, Warriors
Oubre started the season as one of the worst shooters in the NB. He was unplayable in fantasy. Through the first 21 games of the season, he averaged 12.0 points on 37.6 percent shooting. 5.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals. In the 11 games since then, Oubre has averaged 21.0 points on 48.3 percent shooting, 7.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals. He's been the 50th-ranked fantasy player in eight-category leagues on a per-game basis since Feb. 4.
Robert Covington, Trail Blazers
Similar to Kelly Oubre, Covington changed teams during the short offseason and looked awful. Through the first 15 games of the season, he averaged just 6.5 points on 30.3 percent shooting, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals. However, new opportunities opened up for him with both CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic suffering month-plus long injuries. Over the past 14 games, he's averaged 8.4 points on 43.3 percent shooting, 7.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.6 blocks. That might not seem like a massive improvement, but the jump in field-goal percentage is enormous, and Covington is also reliant on his defensive stats for value. On a per-game value, he's been the 48th ranked fantasy player since Jan. 30.
Trending Down
Michael Porter, Nuggets
Coach Michael Malone has little faith in Porter on a night-to-night basis. That's caused both Porter's minutes and production to fluctuate. He's shot poorly lately, too, but that could be tied to feeling uncomfortable due to an inconsistent role. Over the past 13 games, Porter has averaged only 11.1 points on 41.7 percent shooting, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.2 minutes. In four of those games, Porter saw fewer than 20 minutes. Those numbers are a far cry from his averages through the first eight games of the year: 18.3 points on 55.6 percent shooting, 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 assists.
Buddy Hield, Kings
Hield's performances have been all over the place this season, and it feels like his averages are made up of big and small games rather than consistent play. He's on a rough 10-game stretch right now, as he's averaged 14.8 points on only 35.0 percent shooting, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He's ranked as the 144th player in fantasy since Feb. 6. Those numbers could swing back up at any moment, but fantasy managers should at least be aware that his performance is more volatile than ever due to his reliance on threes. Even for Hield -- an elite three-point threat -- his dependence on the three-ball has reached new levels. He's taking 72 percent of his shots from deep and just nine percent of his shots at the rim.
RJ Barrett, Knicks
Coach Tom Thibodeau has gone with a more balanced rotation this month, especially since Derrick Rose joined the team. Aside from Julius Randle (37.0 MPG), nobody on the Knicks has seen more than Barrett's 28.3 minutes per game in February. For Barrett, that workload is a far cry from his run earlier in the season. Through the first 21 games of the season, he saw 36.3 minutes per game. The result for Barrett has been an understandable drop in production, as he's averaged just 12.8 points on 41.1 percent shooting, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists over the past 11 contests. This is close to a panic situation if Barrett is on your fantasy team. He's outside of the top 180 over the past month, and the Knicks have a ton of other backcourt options -- Elfrid Payton, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, Reggie Bullock -- available for when Barrett isn't playing well.
Steven Adams, Pelicans
Adams' playing time has taken a sharp downturn over his past 13 appearances. He has seen just 25.5 minutes per game during this stretch with averages of 6.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. He's losing time to Willy Hernangomez, which is alarming considering Adams was signed to a two-year, $35 million extension in November and Hernangomez makes $1.7 million this season. I'm not sure what will propel Adams to more minutes. He could be a drop candidate if he can't get near 30 minutes per game moving forward.
