Will Jalen Green, Jalen Brunson continue fantasy success next year?

Yahoo Sports fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus and contributor Justin Henry decide if the late season success of the two guards will continue in the 2024-25 season.

Video Transcript

DAN TITUS: So you talked about how Jalen Green was probably one of the most surprising best players when it came to silly season. Is that real? Like can he take this momentum going into next season knowing that Alperen Sengun was off the floor, there was other injuries throughout the team? Is this something that you can believe in going forward with Jalen Green?

JUSTIN HENRY: You know, the level he played at was elite down the stretch. And you look at it, you know, you say Alperen Sengun was out, so he was asked to do more. But I think this was more of a coming out party for a guy that's in his third year that needed time. And I think we're so used to rookies coming in like Wemby and Chet and just dominating early. Or we get Paolo Banchero averaging 25 and 5. And we're like this is the expectation.

Not all guys come in and just ball out immediately, some need a little bit more time to fill the role. And I think Jalen Green showed this year that he's ready to take that next leap. So I believe we saw the start of something. Does he produce at the same level that he did down the stretch? I think it's a tier below that. But this isn't a guy we should be taking out of the top 75 players anymore. This is a player that's going to be in the top 50 conversation next year. And I think deservingly.

DAN TITUS: Whoa, whoa, I was waiting to get to that note. If he wasn't going to give me a number, I was going to ask a number. Like where do you realistically think that he could finish? And I'm sitting here like [GROANS]. Like as good as he was, he's usually around that 200 range, right? And he got up with that crazy ending to the season. He got up to 135.

I think I'd be OK with taking him in like the eighth or ninth round. But I don't know, like maybe he's worthy of a sixth round pick, a fifth round pick, because he's going to be that top 50 guy.

JUSTIN HENRY: You know, like you mentioned, sometimes injuries make players more valuable than they appear on the surface. And we have to find out if that's for real next year. Another player who saw a really big output scoring-wise, and is now entered like the best point guard in the league type conversation, Jalen Brunson, another Jalen, stepping up in a major way for the Knicks. Dan, how are you feeling about him, heading into next fantasy season?

DAN TITUS: I've been a staunch Jalen Brunson supporter, man. And I feel like it's to the point now where like I'm ready to overpay. Yeah, they went through-- Knicks had a ton of injuries. But I feel like this guy is different. Like he's entering this echelon of point guard that, you what I'm saying? He was deservingly in the MVP conversation. I think you could put him in there for fantasy MVP for that stretch run.

He easily could have been a silly season MVP. Dude was averaging like 35 a game over the last month. I'm ready to play a second round value for him, man. Like I think it's time. I think he could be a mid-second round pick for the way that he leads this New York team. Like many thought that this was an overpay in terms of his contract, he's the best player on that team. He's going to be the leader of that team.

This guy is going to be averaging 25 plus points, six assists, shoot high efficiency from the field, he gives you the 3's. He's a star in this league. And I think now it's time. The days of getting him in the fourth and fifth round are long gone.

JUSTIN HENRY: See, this is the kind of player that I look at and I'm like I think he overachieved a little bit. And so now, I'm be on the opposite side of you there. I think that he's going to go a little too early in drafts, especially if he plays well in the playoffs here. Losing a piece like Julius Randle, who's a 20 point scorer himself. The scoring load was needed from him. He had to increase his scoring output.

So, you know, he plays a lot of minutes in Thib's system, so we have to also worry about how durable he can be, even though he's proven to be very durable. And then there's also, do the Knicks add another piece? There's always a rumor with the Knicks of adding, trading for Donovan Mitchell, and we're going to go get-- like every season it seems like there's somebody. There's always somebody in the rumors is what I mean. So we'll see.

They added OG Anunoby, he wasn't able to play a lot down the stretch. I don't know, I have question marks, more question marks with Jalen Brunson. But shout out to his performance this season.