Fantasy Basketball - Winners & losers of James Harden trade
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Titus and Justin Henry discuss the fantasy fallout from the superstar’s move from Philadelphia to Los Angeles — including which 76ers & Clippers players will benefit or suffer in terms of fantasy value.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN TITUS: James Harden is now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers. So I got to ask you, who's the biggest winner of this deal?
JUSTIN HENRY: To me, I could obviously say James Harden would be the guy that I think is the biggest winner. He's gonna be on fantasy rosters. But if I'm looking at a performance increase, I think this is great news for Tobias Harris. This is a guy who's now going to be the third option for this Sixers team for the remainder of the year unless they add somebody later on down the line.
Last year, he averaged a career-- since his Orlando days, he hasn't averaged this-- 14.7 points per game. And that was in 2016 was the last time we've seen him that low when it comes to points. So he's been back to his 18-to-20 point range here, early in the season, averaging almost 20 points.
And I think the biggest thing we get with Tobias Harris is consistency. We haven't seen that much because he's been that third, fourth option. It's depending on who's been healthy, who hasn't. So I think this is a ton of value for a guy that we drafted outside of the top 75.
DAN TITUS: Tobias Harris is definitely gonna be a winner out of this. But he's not gonna be a bigger winner than Tyrese Maxey. Tyrese Maxey, Eastern Conference Player of the Week. This guy averaged 36 and 6 through the first week of basketball. And it's only going up from here.
This guy is looking like a first-year All-Star candidate, Most Improved Player. You can just stack-- continue to tack on all the accolades you want because the offense is now his. He has the keys to this offense. And he is going to produce for fantasy managers.
I mean, James Harden, he fell in drafts. You got him in one league in, like, what, the fifth round or something like that?
JUSTIN HENRY: Yeah, crazy value.
DAN TITUS: Definitely gonna be a winner out of this. We talked about the good things. What about the bad things? Who are the losers of this deal?
JUSTIN HENRY: Well, obviously, when you move a player like James Harden, there's seismic value change for the team that he goes to because of the usage. And so when you look at the stars on this team, I don't really see a whole lot of change when it comes to the stars. It's gonna be the secondary players.
And the main person I think that's going to suffer a hit from this is Norman Powell. He's had some strong seasons in Toronto, Portland, even with the Clippers last season and starting here in this season. But those minutes are gonna come down. That usage is gonna come down.
And for a guy that's really point-dependent, I see his scoring coming down unless one of the stars is sitting out, obviously, for one of those games. So you know, Terance Mann is expected back here at some point. Norman Powell, a guy that was a fringe play, probably picking him up, adding, dropping him in daily leagues-- maybe you're hoping to get a little bit of extra from him early on in the season with Mann out. I think it's time for his value to come down.
DAN TITUS: So for me, the biggest loser here is probably Paul Reed. I mean, I thought that Paul Reed was gonna get that opportunity in Philly now that James Harden's out the way. You traded-- I feel like they just had the opening. Like, this was Paul Reed's moment, right? They resigned him in the offseason.
But when you bring over four power forwards, I don't even know how the Clippers are even rostering four power forwards of this caliber-- KJ Martin, Nick Batum, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris. Like, it's crazy. Like, there's no opportunity for Paul Reed to really get into action.
And Nick Nurse, he's playing Jedi mind tricks, man. He said that he wanted to play Paul Reed next to Joel Embiid. That hasn't really happened. He's been backup center. So I don't really see much opportunity for Paul Reed here. This is a wait-and-see because I don't know how this Philly frontcourt is really gonna shake out now that you have so much depth in that frontcourt.
But kudos to Daryl Morey for getting the job done. We bet on this before. We said, like, what? What's the over-under? 10 games?
JUSTIN HENRY: 10 games. Yeah.
DAN TITUS: It only lasted three. So at least fantasy managers don't have to wait too long to get James Harden back in lineups. I would also say Russell Westbrook's probably a loser in this too. What do you think that that rotation's gonna look like now that James Harden is being inserted there? Because you know if you start Russ and Harden together, man, like, that defense is-- that's Swiss cheese.
JUSTIN HENRY: Well, I kind of think, Dan, this is a good thing for all the players involved, right? Because we've seen Russ. By himself, he can carry rebounds, assists, points, like, if he's running a unit by himself. James Harden, the exact same way, whereas Paul George, why, they can kind of feed off of each other.
So I see them all starting together in the starting lineup and finishing games together. But I think this duo-- they'll be paired as duos. We'll see some Russ with Kawhi, some James Harden with PG. I think there's gonna be a good blend here of duos that we'll see on the floor that give these guys a chance to rest and perform at their best and get the highest usage possible out there on the floor.
DAN TITUS: Make sure you go to YahooFantasy.com or download the Yahoo Fantasy app to draft a fantasy basketball team today.