Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Tomas Satoransky
See More
After two seasons in Chicago, Satoransky was shipped to New Orleans over the summer as part of the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade. He'll join Devonte' Graham, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Garrett Temple and Kira Lewis in a crowded Pelicans' backcourt that may be difficult to get a read on. Realistically, all five players could compete for a starting spot under new head coach Willie Green, though Satoransky's ability to play both guard positions is a notch in his favor. Regardless of whether he starts or comes off the bench, if Satoransky can lock in 25-plus minutes per night, he could return low-end value in standard leagues. Two seasons ago, Satoransky finished inside the top 110 in eight-category leagues behind 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.2 steals in 28.9 minutes per game.
During his first season in Chicago, Satoransky enjoyed career highs in minutes (28.9), points (9.9) and assists (5.4) while shooting 43.0 percent from the field. He started the first 64 games before shifting to the bench for the final game of the shortened campaign. That marked rookie Cody White's first career start, and it's likely an indicator of how the depth chart will shake out in 2020-21. As such, Satoransky may revert to a bench role since White is a key facet of Chicago's rebuild. Satoransky has a proven ability to play all three positions in the backcourt, though, which should afford him the chance to log plenty of minutes as one of the first players off the bench.
For the second year in a row, Satoransky saw his workload increase with the Wizards. That resulted in career highs nearly across the board for the former 32nd overall pick. His role truly opened up once John Wall was lost due to injury, and Satoransky posted 10.7 points, 6.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals as a starter. But Washington decided to move on from Satoransky during the offseason, and the Bulls swooped in to sign him to a three-year, $30 million deal. While Chicago has young point guard options in Kris Dunn and rookie Coby White, the organization has openly place Dunn on the trading block, and starting a rookie point guard is a high-risk move for a team hoping for a postseason berth. So it appears Satoransky will join Chicago's starting five, possibly allowing him a bigger role than he's seen up to this point. Even on the off-chance that Satoransky isn't the Bulls' full-time starter, he can play three positions and could make for a great sixth man off the bench. At 6-foot-7 with a well-rounded skillset, Satoransky can play both guard spots, as well as small forward.
Satoransky saw his first major minutes during the 2017-18 campaign with starting point guard John Wall missing 41 games due to injury. That allowed him to pick up 30 starts across 73 games and tally a career-high workload of 22.5 minutes for the season. Satoransky played particularly well during those 30 starts, averaging 10.4 points, 5.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds across 30.7 minutes, while shooting a blistering 53.2 percent from the field and 50.8 percent from deep. That certainly bodes well for his future in the NBA, but unfortunately doesn't guarantee him a significant role heading into his third season in 2018-19. Wall is expected to be back to full strength and the Wizards also traded for combo guard Austin Rivers, so Satoransky is going to face a much more crowded path to playing time. He'll surely still provide some key reserve minutes at point guard for stretches of games, but the added bodies likely mean Satoransky will have a tough time matching his breakout season. For that reason, the 26-year-old is nothing more than a dynasty stash when considering his Fantasy value.
Satoransky, a rookie last season out of the Czech Republic, saw a spotty workload during 2016-17. Despite having solid athleticism and basketball IQ, he was still quite raw during his first season in the States, posting 2.7 points, 1.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds across 12.6 minutes per game. The 6-foot-7, 25-year-old also shot 41.5 percent from the field and went 9-of-37 (24.3 percent) from deep. The Wizards drafted him in the second round with the hopes of him being a jack-of-all trades player on both sides of the ball, capable of playing point guard through small forward. That was somewhat the case last year, as he spent 62 percent of his time at shooting guard and 35 percent at small forward, but just three percent at point guard and one percent at power forward. It may be tough for coach Scott Brooks to find him minutes once again, as the Wizards have a seemingly established set of reserves at each position. He’ll likely see run if the team deals multiple injuries, however. That said, he can almost certainly be avoided in the vast majority of Fantasy formats, as we have very little to go on as far as his NBA potential and he doesn’t seem to be slated for an increased workload.