We have fantasy basketball, we have winners and we have losers.
The winners are the players who should elevate in production following the trade deadline, whether they were impacted directly or indirectly. The losers are the guys who should take a hit following Thursday's activities.
And it's important to know given that the fantasy playoffs are just weeks away, shortly over a month for many of you.
Hopefully, you have more winners on your roster, because the deadline may have impeded the progress of several key fantasy, but helped some others, let's go through them.
Fantasy Winners
SG Buddy Hield
Philadelphia 76ers
Hield finally departs from the free for all in Indiana and dives into a more centralized role in Philly where he'll be the teams' primary sniper. Hield shapes to be a complementary sniper who could help make life easier as a release valve for both Tyrese Maxey and, eventually, Joel Embiid.
Hield, who hasn't missed a game this season, is down to 12 points per game but is still 38 percent from deep on 25.7 minutes per contest and with 2.6 makes on about seven attempts nightly. Hield's usage has been a career low 18.5 this year, I'd expect a jump once he arrives in Philly, and a leap in stats across the board once he settles into his new role.
SF Ausar Thompson
Detroit Pistons
With the Pistons reshaping their roster, Ausar Thompson has the opportunity to be one of these rookies who ends the year strong and helps you in the playoffs. Thompson is at 8.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest and now sees Bojan Bogdanovic's 24.5, Alec Burks' 23.3 and Monte Morris' 22.3 usage out the door, meaning Thompson should jump from 16.7 down the stretch. The efficiency, or lack thereof, could hurt given the uptick in touches, but Thompson should score more than he has and continue helping you on the glass and with stocks, where he's at 1.9 per contest.
PF/C Marvin Bagley
Washington Wizards
I've already added Bagley. The Wizards moving Daniel Gafford to Dallas opens things up for Bagley, who has actually been effective and fantasy-relevant since landing in DC, save for his current back injury, which he should return from.
Bagley has posted 15.5 points and 8.4 rebounds on 61 percent shooting in eight games with the Wizards despite logging just 24.0 minutes per contest and starting in just two of these contests. Bagley and the Wizards are tanking, which I'd always be weary of, but assuming he's back soon, expect fantasy relevance, and he might be on your waiver wire right now ready to fill a vacant injury slot until his return.
Fantasy Losers
C Dereck Lively
Dallas Mavericks
Lively is currently out with a nose injury, and in general, has been in and out of the injury reports for the bulk of an otherwise promising rookie season. He already has three streaks of four or more missed games, including the one he's on now. To date, he's averaging 9.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 74 percent from the field. He may continue to start when healthy, but the Mavericks added security in their frontcourt in Daniel Gafford, previously starting at the five with the Washington Wizards, as well as PJ Washington.
Gafford, in particular, gives the Mavericks another option at the five so Lively isn't overtaxed, but as a result, the already injured rookie could struggle with consistency down the stretch, and that's beyond the fact that he's in his first NBA season.
PG, SG, SF Alec Burks
New York Knicks
It's cool that Alec Burks' positional flexibility is appealing, but his role won't be in New York from a fantasy perspective soon. Burks will be behind Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart at a minimum while also competing with Miles McBride for minutes. He's been solid in Detroit, averaging 12.6 points and shooting 40 percent from three plus 90 percent on free throws, but he'll give you less of that and not much of anything else in his new, smaller role, barring injuries. Bojan Bogdanovic should be ok fantasy wise, especially with Julius Randle and OG Anunoby out for a few weeks at least, and that could help Burks a tad, but he shouldn't see as much run due to his position.
PG Spencer Dinwiddie
Free Agent
Dinwiddie was dealt from the Brooklyn Nets to Toronto Raptors and has already been waived. He'll be a sought after buyout candidate and is already receiving interest from his old team, the Dallas Mavericks. Dinwiddie hasn't been good this year and he likely won't record 30.7 minutes per game at his next stop, meaning he should be headed for a lesser role with a usage drop from 18.3, his lowest since the 2016-17 season, his first year in his first stint with the Nets.
He's averaging 12.6 points, 6.0 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game on 39/32/78 shooting. I think there's a chance he is rejuvenated elsewhere, but he won't have as much rope and will be tough to depend on from a fantasy perspective on a game to game basis, especially at this point of the year, and with the likelihood of a playoff ambitious team adding him, not a bottom dweller with usage to devote.
Much like any other move, only time will tell to see if Thursday's trades will pay off in the ways that are indeed beneficial for the winners. The pieces to the puzzle do make sense and now it's all about executing on a strategy in welcoming their newest additions. The "losers" on the other hand bring in players that may leave them with more to figure out than they originally planned for, but sometimes that what teams sign up for and they learn the hard way. All in all, the NBA trade deadline left us with plenty to monitor as we prepare for the fantasy basketball playoffs and how these moves can have an impact on what's to come. So buckle up, because it's storylines in league are just heating up from here.
