Get To The Points: Panic time for fantasy managers?

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Titus and Justin Henry take a look at three players - including the looming return of Grizzlies star Ja Morant - and how their situations will affect your fantasy basketball roster.

Video Transcript

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DAN TITUS: All right, so speaking of which man, there's definitely some concerning situations, and probably some good ones going around the league right now. But I think the top of mind, we got to talk about Ja Morant and his potential return in week nine. He can return as early as Tuesday versus the New Orleans Pelicans. So all things look good for Ja coming back, man. What do you think that this means for fantasy managers and what this could potentially do for the Grizzlies?

JUSTIN HENRY: Well, if you're able to hold out these 20, 25-- these 25 games that it was for Ja Morant, now you're getting back an elite player. And the thing is, it wasn't injury related, so there might be a little bit of rust. But you're not waiting five to 10 games to get normal production from Ja. I'm expecting him to be back and ready to go.

And so some of these secondary options, you may see a little bit less scoring from your Desmond Bane. You may see a little drop off slightly from Jaren Jackson, scoring wise. But for the most part, I think it actually helps this Grizzlies team become more competitive, and keep these guys on the floor for the entire game.

So I'm excited that Ja Morant is back. Excited that he's going be able to help fantasy teams. But I also want to caution, like, don't-- especially when it comes to your category leagues, Ja has been a player that's obviously name value high. But then he's also had some efficiency issues. So just know that when it comes to Ja Morant, we're getting the same player, but don't let the hype supersede the actual production on the court.

DAN TITUS: Think you hit every point that I was going to say, man. That's crazy. So I think from a fantasy basketball perspective, it's interesting because Ja Morant is definitely a really good fantasy player, right? Or not-- sorry, he's a really good real life player, not necessarily a great fantasy player.

He's great for points formats because all of those category areas where he's deficient, that don't matter. So if you have him in a points league, you've got to be feeling really good. Categories, I would definitely temper expectations the same way you just said. Like, he's going to be good. But like, how good is he really going to be?

JUSTIN HENRY: I want to talk about another team that's been losing games. 20 straight L's for the Detroit Pistons. But Ausar Thompson-- you know, we talk about Ja being back in the lineup. Ausar Thompson is now back in the starting lineup.

Question is, how long is it going to happen, right? We know what he is defensively. But for a young team that we want to see, Dan, like, how-- do you think that this is a role he can stay in? Or do you think he's going to be up and down throughout the lineup throughout the course of the whole season?

DAN TITUS: I think we'll actually see him play more at the Ford. That's what he played last game. He had 20 points, six rebounds. He was playing as a screener and driving to the basket, which I think is probably the right thing to do for a guy that's, like, as rangy and athletic as he is. Like, we've been comping him to, like, an Andre Iguodala, Shawn Marion type. And that's a power forward. That's a modern day power forward.

So in my opinion, I feel like you got to hold him in fantasy leagues, like, 12 team. 10 team, I get it. If it's going to be one of this fluid situations where he's on the bench playing 16 minutes, then he comes back, plays 39, that could be something that's too frustrating to deal with.

But unless you have a better option, like, you got to keep this guy roster because I think if you're looking the long term, Detroit's not going anywhere. And I wouldn't be surprised if they traded Bogdanovic at some point. You got to play the long game. Much like Scoot Henderson, these rookies are going to get a lot of burn towards the end of the season. And Ausar Thompson, we've already seen it, man. This dude's a baller.

Speaking of L's, San Antonio's losing just the same, man. Like, they just can't get a-- they can't get a dub. And it seems like Popovich is also tinkering with lineups. And we talked about it a couple of weeks ago with Tre Jones and his relationship with-- or his rapport with Wembanyama.

Someone else has been the sacrificial lamb here, and it seems like it's Zach Collins. He's now coming off the bench. Wemby is now starting at center. What do you think that this does for Zach Collins? And is he a drop in fantasy leagues?

JUSTIN HENRY: I think this is a-- we have to wait and see, right? It's easy to see news, and see rotational changes, and just immediately panic. But Zach Collins has been a player, fantasy wise, that we've all kind of been like, hey. When he plays, we know how dynamic he can be.

It's just that Wemby's playing the five now, and he's played efficient there. We've seen a 2020 game out of Wemby, so I wouldn't be overly-- I'm not just going to flat out drop Zach Collins. I want to see how this thing plays out for a minute. But if it is a permanent type change, I think it's time to cut ways with Zach Collins probably at the top of the year here.

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