This article is part of our In-Season Strategy series.
A belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! If you were plugged out of NBA news during the extended celebrations, hopefully this article is a useful refresher on some players playing better or worse than usual over the past week and a half.
Risers
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers
Somehow, Haliburton has turned into even more of a one-man band. He had back-to-back 20-point, 20-assist performances last week, committing only two total turnovers. Across the last five games, he's averaged 26.2 points on 52/40/78 shooting, 15.8 dimes, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals with just 2.0 turnovers. In NBA history, there have been only 12 instances of five-game streaks with at least 26 points and 15 assists per contest. Haliburton continues to be in elite company, and it's helped fuel the Pacers to a four-game win streak after some struggles.
Andre Drummond, Bulls
He's back. A strained left groin to Nikola Vucevic has thrust Drummond into a starting role. A per-minute monster off the bench, Drummond is proving that production wasn't a fluke. In four starts, he's averaged 14.3 points, 20.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks with 0.8 assists to 2.0 turnovers in 29.3 minutes. Never change, Drummond. The 35.0 free-throw percentage might be killing managers in category formats, but the rest of his stat line is too monstrous to get overly concerned.
Cody Martin, Hornets
Martin played only seven games last season and just made his 2023-24 debut Dec. 23. It's easy to forget that the
A belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! If you were plugged out of NBA news during the extended celebrations, hopefully this article is a useful refresher on some players playing better or worse than usual over the past week and a half.
Risers
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers
Somehow, Haliburton has turned into even more of a one-man band. He had back-to-back 20-point, 20-assist performances last week, committing only two total turnovers. Across the last five games, he's averaged 26.2 points on 52/40/78 shooting, 15.8 dimes, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals with just 2.0 turnovers. In NBA history, there have been only 12 instances of five-game streaks with at least 26 points and 15 assists per contest. Haliburton continues to be in elite company, and it's helped fuel the Pacers to a four-game win streak after some struggles.
Andre Drummond, Bulls
He's back. A strained left groin to Nikola Vucevic has thrust Drummond into a starting role. A per-minute monster off the bench, Drummond is proving that production wasn't a fluke. In four starts, he's averaged 14.3 points, 20.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks with 0.8 assists to 2.0 turnovers in 29.3 minutes. Never change, Drummond. The 35.0 free-throw percentage might be killing managers in category formats, but the rest of his stat line is too monstrous to get overly concerned.
Cody Martin, Hornets
Martin played only seven games last season and just made his 2023-24 debut Dec. 23. It's easy to forget that the wing had a decent 2021-22 season, where he saw 26.3 minutes per game and averaged 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals, ranking 169th in eight-category per-game fantasy production. With Brandon Miller out against the Kings on Tuesday, Martin started and provided 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 33 minutes. The workload was more encouraging than his stat line, but he's averaging 7.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals in 26.0 minutes after his 17-minute season debut. Managers in 16-team leagues should definitely take note and consider him a potential waiver wire add, while managers in shallower leagues should watchlist him for streaming purposes on four-game weeks.
Jarrett Allen, Cavaliers
Evan Mobley has been out since Dec. 8 due to knee surgery, but Allen didn't immediately step up. During Mobley's first eight absences, Allen averaged a fairly modest 12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 29.5 minutes. A switch flipped on Dec. 23. Over the past four, the center averaged 22.3 points, 15.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 36.0 minutes per matchup. This is a massive sell-high moment. Mobley isn't expected to be back until February, but this production from Allen just isn't sustainable. He's had opportunities throughout his career to see an increased role, but he's never reached these marks for more than a short period.
Fallers
Cam Thomas, Nets
For as talented as Thomas is as a scorer, he doesn't do much else. It's been hurting the team, evidenced by his on-off differential of -12.7. He started 13 games in a row before finally being benched by coach Jacque Vaughn over the past three. Thomas' production has fallen dramatically over the past five contests, with the guard averaging 12.0 points on 36/19/53 shooting, 1.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 21.0 minutes. Yes, five total assists and five total rebounds in 105 minutes. He followed up a 20-point performance against the Thunder on New Year's Eve with a zero-point performance against the Pelicans on Tuesday. Fantasy managers should hold if possible, but if it trends like this for another week or so, it might be a drop for all standard leagues.
Fred VanVleet, Rockets
After a four-game heater in the middle of last month, VanVleet has cooled off significantly. Fantasy managers can't be happy with his recent string of six performances where he's racked up 16.0 points on 43/40/84 shooting, 6.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 33.3 minutes. However, the good news is that most of his recent production can be chalked up to reduced minutes in blowouts. FVV is averaging 37.4 minutes on the season, so he's been losing out on about four minutes of production.
Klay Thompson, Warriors
It seemed like Thompson had finally turned things around in the middle of December. In six games between Dec. 14-23, the sharpshooter averaged 25.7 points on 53/50/100 shooting. But he's gone back to the struggles that are representative of his overall disappointing season. In the past four games, Thompson is posting 10.0 points per game on 31/30/75 shooting. He should still be rostered in standard fantasy leagues, but he's not necessarily an automatic start when on a three-game week. It's just hard to trust him, evidenced by his recent performances.
Damian Lillard, Bucks
Lillard's stats over the past 30 days are good as a whole, but it's been peaks and valleys. He's at a low point right now, coming off a 3-for-16 performance against the Pacers. The point guard has alternated good and bad over the past handful of games, with scoring totals of 19, 32, 12, 31 and 13 for an average of 21.4 points on 41/30/94 shooting. His 5.6 assists to 2.8 turnovers during this stretch are solid, but it also comes with just 0.4 steals. It's nothing to panic about, but it's certainly frustrating for managers in daily lineup formats.
