Week 4 is more of the same and it looks like the league will get worse before it gets better in terms of COVID spreading and postponement of games. Standings are going to look extremely weird in the fantasy landscape as fantasy GMs will have to maneuver countless PPDs and COVID-IR situations. It looks like the calendar flipping to 2021 didn’t magically make all of 2020’s problems disappear. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel that’s getting brighter though, so hang in there.

Top 50 Players (Per-game averages) in 9-cat from January 11 – January 17

Top Performers

Jerami Grant is without a doubt the best player on the Pistons. He had a terrible first game which led to the flock of crows talking way more than they should as we all saw the talent in Denver. After his nine-point outing in his Pistons debut, Grant has scored at least 20 points in every single game this season. He’s also had either a block, a steal or a 3-pointer in every game as well and is posting top-20 numbers in fantasy no matter how you slice it. He’s the man on the Pistons which is what he wanted when he signed his heavy contract and is absolutely tearing through the league right now. He’s become a legitimate All-Star level player in Detroit and if you just watch one quarter of his play, you’ll see how much better he’s gotten. On the season, he’s averaging 24.8 points, 6.3 boards, 2.2 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.3 blocks and 2.8 3s on .462 shooting. He’s finishing the year in the top-20, don’t sell high.

Victor Oladipo, Malik Beasley, Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns all played well, but only played one game last week. Games played are becoming a valuable resource in itself at this point and Towns owners are rightfully frustrated due to him slated to miss more time because of his wrist and COVI/d.

Jordan Clarkson is having himself his best fantasy season to date, and arguably his best season as a pro. In only 25.0 minutes a night, he’s averaging 17.5 points, 3.0 3s, 4.6 boards, 1.8 dimes and 1.0 steals on .500 shooting from the floor and .938 shooting at the line on 1.2 attempts. The free throw shooting is just icing on the cake, but he only takes 1 free throw a game so it doesn’t help you that much. The real question is whether or not he can keep shooting lights out in his limited role. He’s a guy fantasy GMs should roster no matter what, but even with his clearly defined role and improved shooting, it’s hard to imagine a world where Clarkson continues to post top-30 value like he did last week. It’s possible, but he should be on your sell-high list for sure, as the minutes and shots are still concerning from a sustainability standpoint.

Last week, Duncan Robinson averaged 23.3 points, 5.0 3s, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.7 blocks on .548 shooting. The shooting alone would make any fantasy GM happy, but the little sprinkle of dimes and blocks pushed him into elite territory last week. He was hot and the Heat were missing Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Avery Bradley so don’t expect this high level of production to continue. He’s worth rostering for his triples alone, but enjoy last week for what it was and don’t read too much into it.

Myles Turner averaged 4.0 blocks a game last week and should finish as the league leader in swats.

Our golden egg Nikola Jokic finishes as the No. 1 player last week with averages of 27.0 points, 1.3 3s, 12.0 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 4.0 steals and 0.7 blocks in .536 shooting in three games. Somehow, he just finds ways to get even better and now he’s doing it from the start of the year so we don’t have to go through all of the nonsense like years past. I’m sure anyone who drafted him is having the time of their lives as he’s the No. 1 player in fantasy hoops and while there’s room for regression, he’ll at a minimum return his value on his ADP which is all you can ask for from your first round pick.

Notable Disappointments

Pascal Siakam started to pick it up a bit, but he still finished last week outside of the top-60 in value. The Raptors are in a crater right now and it looks like the only way out is if their stars play up to their potential, which Siakam has not. The buy-low window is still there.

It’s not time to worry about Trae Young, it’s time to send your most aggressive buy-low offers. The Hawks are still struggling to piece all of their new additions together and Young has been struggling to put it all together. The foul baiting and ref-hunting was a terrible sight to start the year, but he’s cooled off on it as the refs aren’t giving him the whistle anymore, but this doesn’t mean he just lost all of his talent. It’s still there, the elite production is still somewhere there, it’s just going to take some time to get it sorted out. My advice is to send your buy-lows and be as strong willed as you can to grab Young, because this is a time where you can grab a superstar for cheap, one that should finish the season in the top-50 at a minimum, but has been outside of the top-100 in value on the year.

John Collins is also having a rough time adjusting to life on the Hawks with Clint Capela now in the picture. He just isn’t going to be a reliable guy unless he’s traded somewhere else, which is something he’s wanted since the offseason. If you’re going to send a buy-low for Collins, make sure it’s someone you absolutely won’t miss, because banking on a trade is risky business.

“A fantastic buy-low opportunity has been presented to you by Jamal Murray, who has struggled to recapture the magic of the bubble but is still way too talented to be posting numbers outside of the top-50.” is something I wrote last week, and with another terrible week in the books, and Jokic shining like a star, you can still get Murray for pennies on the dollar.

He fell back to earth, but LaMelo Ball is someone you don’t need to worry about. He’ll get right back on track, but fellow rookie James Wiseman might have a tougher time getting back to speed as Coach Kerr seems unwilling to play him big minutes.

Surprise Names

Not surprising to us, but Richaun Holmes delivered another top-25 week for fantasy GMs.

With the Pistons short on players, it was Derrick Rose who stepped up big time in his one game played last week. He was a top-100 player last season and now that he has an expanded role, he’s a must roster player.

Shake Milton came up big for the Sixers, who are still trying to get a full roster going, but he’s someone that every fantasy GM needs to roster as well.

O.G. Anunoby and Donovan Mitchell woke up and finally stopped scaring fantasy GMs. Both players are going to be popping up on the top-50 list pretty frequently.

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Threes