Almost four weeks in and there’s even more to come, but the NBA has given is enough to make some analysis on the dynasty side of fantasy basketball. I’ll check in on the remaining 15 teams around the league in a very early season roundup so far. Keep in mind that being this early in the season I would advise not to make any impulsive or desperate decisions, have patience with your team or you might regret it big time. Without further ado, let’s begin this Dynasty Check-In:

Oklahoma City Thunder

Obviously Chet Holmgren’s injury is the biggest topic in the Thunder sweepstakes ever since it happened: while a hip fracture like that is a very unlikely injury to occur in today’s NBA, it just shows where the 23-year-old phenom needs to start developing his game. His physique needs to be up there in level with at least the league average to withstand such contested and fierce competition inside the paint, hell, it was Jonathan Kuminga who he was contesting on that shot that saw him fall on the court when the injury happened.

It’s too early to put an injury-prone tag on Chet, since both of the big injuries he has suffered shouldn’t be worrisome long term, but Oklahoma now knows what to do to prepare him in the future as his body is too fragile to be exposing him out there against the best of the best.

OKC is still thriving as one of the best teams in the Western Conference despite Holmgren’s absence, thanks in part to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominance and Jalen Williams’ growth as a second star behind him. When Isaiah Hartenstein comes back from his injury (questionable for Wednesday), it’d be exciting to see what they can accomplish once he’s up to speed with the rest of the group. Cason Wallace and Nikola Topic are still pieces to keep around in the long-term depending on the size of your league.

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Wolves are fighting with inconsistency as the season develops, but their keeper/dynasty outlook hasn’t changed much for better or worse. Anthony Edwards continues to expand as the team’s most important scorer, taking the step to become one of the best at that statistic in the whole NBA, even though his efficiency might suffer a bit from it. Julius Randle is doing Julius Randle things, which will always be good news as long as he’s far away from the injury report, along with Rudy Gobert still on a sort of slow start, but starting to do what he does best (boards and blocks).

Naz Reid is also having solid progress as one of the main offensive options on Minnesota, as his bench role fits him like a glove, maybe even hinting at a potential of being much more if given a central role on a team. The rest of the bunch is not so hot at the moment, with Jaden McDaniels still failing to become more than a neat defensive player, as his inconsistency on the offensive end hurts his defensive greatness a bit, making just a stream on narrow leagues.

Mike Conley seems to be running out of gas as an offensive option but his increased steals are a nice sight, maybe everything isn’t over yet. Donte DiVincenzo is having a hard team recreating his successful spell with the Knicks during the 2023-2024 season, stringing games of very low production with other decent ones, he should be given some time to continue to adapt to this new rotation, still has the benefit of the doubt at least for me.

As far as other Wolves prospects, Rob Dillingham is seeing as little minutes as possible with Nickeil Alexander-Walker being the preference in the Chris Finch rotation, with Leonard Miller and Josh Minott not even being an option. All of these names are for deep fantasy leagues only.

Denver Nuggets

I’ll do my best to not mention how disappointing Michael Porter Jr. is as a max-contract player, but it seems like it’s an impossible task for me, I can’t help it. Funny thing is I don’t even roster him in any of my teams, mmmmm, I wonder why. What’s surprising is how long has Jamal Murray been on a shooting drought, even with Nikola Jokic, he can’t get into his groove, marking a very disappointing start to his season as well. I do expect him to get out of this funk soon though, he’s too good of a player to not do it.

Nuggets fans should be very happy with Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther’s progress though, as they have become important rotation players, especially Braun, picking up a lot of usage ever since Aaron Gordon went down with a calf tear and doing a solid job with it. To me it’s still very early to have Braun’s production set in stone as a reality but he seems to be doing the things he wasn’t doing on the 2023-2024 season, where we all thought he’ll make the leap after a great NBA Finals performance.

Watson and Strawther are still a bit far from becoming consistent pieces in such an important contender like Denver, but they surely have the tools to make and they have shown glimpses of it through this short stint of the season. You should be worried if Denver starts to struggle though, they can become trade pieces very fast.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The best team in the NBA after a 15-0 start (now 15-1 thanks to Boston) is doing great things amid having a stacked lineup who should be eating each other’s usage up on paper right? Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland seem to be co-existing greatly with each other as long as neither is injured. I mean, even Caris LeVert is playing at a very decent level right now, which makes me question if all of this is sustainable at least throughout most of the fantasy season. It probably isn’t but a man can dream.

The big question of how much can Evan Mobley can develop as the star center everyone saw in him once he arrived at the NBA with Jarrett Allen next to him is still relevant, but the 23-year-old big man is doing great things on the court and actually making a bigger impact than ever for the Cavaliers. Allen is also doing his thing, maintaining numbers an efficiency. And it’s very nice to see Darius Garland in his zone once again after such a injury riddled 2023-2024 campaign, forming a great backcourt duo with D-Mitch.

Outside of those five previously mentioned, there really isn’t much going on in terms of dynasty basketball, with Ty Jerome having a solid season so far but in part due to the absence of Max Strus, Dean Wade, and Sam Merrill. Isaac Okoro has not done much progress at all, although it’s hard when you have such a big list of stars ahead. Barring a big trade involving the big-four, I’d say just hold the fort if you roster any of them.

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