Angle Fantasy Basketball

Buy #1: Miles McBride

Season stats:

GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	3PM	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
48	14.1	.443	.815	1.2	6.4	1.0	1.2	0.6	0.1	0.4

Making his 2nd appearance on this list, McBride is the most widely available winner from the Brunson injury. He is only owned in 11% of Yahoo leagues, should be in store for some massive minutes.

In the 4 games he’s started this year, McBride has put up the following stats:

GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	3PM	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
4	40	.450	.800	3.0	17.5	4.3	4.8	1.5	0.7	1.5

People should be scrambling to the wire for this guy. Newly signed Shake Milton may get some run as the backup PG, but if Brunson is to miss any extended time I would expect McBride to pay 40+ minutes a night under Thibs. No clear weakness (outside of maybe affecting your FG% a bit), and should be able to help you across the board. This is somebody I’d designate as a priority add as you make your playoff push, and is somebody who has the potential to be a serious difference maker. The only downside here is the Knicks don’t have the best playoff schedule (3-3-4 for 20-21-22), but I’d grab now and worry about that later.

In shallower dynasty leagues, if he’s still on your wire somehow, he’s a priority add for me in that format as well.

Relevancy: Must own in 14+, strong pickup in 12 teamers.

Buy #2: Grant Williams

Season stats:

GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	3PM	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
57	26.9	.434	.761	1.7	9.2	4.0	1.8	0.5	0.6	1.3

Am I physically capable of doing one of these lists without including a Hornet recently? I’m not sure. Grant Williams has really turned his season around in Charlotte. Still relatively of a lower end asset, Williams has improved his ranking well outside the top 200 in Dallas to around the 150 range in Charlotte. Like I said, he’s not jumping off the page but he’s been racking up some counting stats in recent games and would be a nice guy to have at the end of your bench.

Since Feb 10:

That’s pretty good! And he does have the upside for more on nights where the Hornets are a bit short handed as demonstrated in the most recent game vs Toronto, where Nick Richards was inactive. The Hornets do have a 2 game week in week 21, so he’ll be a drop then, but only owned in 27% of Yahoo leagues, he’s a pretty elite streamer at this point in my opinion, and is a very under the radar silly season candidate.

Relevancy: Elite streamer. Strong pickup in 14t+

Buy #3: Ashton Hagans

GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	3PM	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
9	15.7	.424	.778	0.2	4.1	2.0	2.4	0.4	0.7	1.3

Who? He’s Tyrese Maxey’s former backcourt partner at Kentucky, and he’s the first potential end of season league winner type that I’ve identified. Following the footsteps of Trendon Watford in 22-23 or Brandon Williams in 21-22 (all 3 for the Blazers weirdly enough! Or sadly, depending on how you look at it) Blazers are entering full tank at this point, even seemingly being cautious with guys Jerami Grant and Scoot, as well as Brogdon having no timetable for return. Hagans has appeared in 9 consecutive games since Feb. 8 with his best 2 being the most recent two.

Hagans has been putting up monster numbers in the G-League with 15.3/4.7/10 as well as 1.8 steals per game on 44% shooting, so he has demonstrated at both levels now that he has the ability to rack up some stats if he has the ball enough. If you’re in a 14+ team, feel free to grab him if you want to look like a genius if he goes crazy, but he’s definitely not must roster. 12 team, might not need to grab him yet, but definitely keep an eye on his next game.

Even though he’s younger, I don’t think he carries much of any dynasty value, as both Watford and Williams who I mentioned previously faded into obscurity after their late season runs.

Relevancy: Decent add in deeper leagues. Watch list guy in 12 teamers or if you’re making a playoff run in a dynasty league.

Honorable Mention Buy: Ochai Agbaji

Season stats:

GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	3PM	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
60	19.1	.418	.750	0.9	5.5	2.5	0.9	0.5	0.6	0.7

I don’t have a ton of analysis for Ochai and this is definitely more of a speculative add. Ochai has a pretty rock bottom floor and his efficiency issues can be harmful to some, but, with Scottie likely out for the rest of the fantasy season, and with Bruce Brown banged up, the Raptors may be keen to give Ochai a chance down the stretch. This buy is based purely on the Raptors not having many healthy bodies, and he is somebody to watch out for. Good speculative dynasty add, but he’s also somebody to keep an eye on in redrafts.

I do prefer taking a chance on Ashton Hagans than to Ochai in redrafts fwiw.

Relevancy: Speculative add in deeper leagues and dynasty leagues.

Sell #1: Daniel Gafford

Not very often you see legitimate fantasy assets trend down like this in a season outside of an injury. If you haven’t already Gafford is likely a drop in redrafts unless you have a first round bye locked up, but even then, outside of an injury, he’s probably the first to go.

Maxi Kleber is really the one hurting Gafford here, not Lively, as it was always expected Gafford would share time with Lively. Kidd seems reluctant to play Maxi at the 4 and he’s barely playing as a result. Here are his last 4 games:

The game with 24 minutes, Kleber missed with an injury. He can’t help you if he doesn’t play. If you need the stats, it would likely be wise to drop him.