Wade Baldwin

Baldwin made frequent trips to and from the D-League last season. In the NBA, he posted 3.2 points, 1.8 assists and 1.4 rebounds across 12.3 minutes per game while shooting 31.3 percent from the field over 33 appearances. In the D-League, he averaged 12.9 points, 5.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals across 28.2 minutes per game while shooting 43.3 percent from the field. With reserve point guard Andrew Harrison still on the team and seemingly ahead of him on the depth chart, plus the addition of ballhandling sixth-man Tyreke Evans to the mix, Baldwin doesn’t seem primed for any significant bump in production. As a result, he can likely continue being safely avoided in seemingly every format for the upcoming 2017-18 campaign.

Even though the Grizzlies ended up re-signing Mike Conley to a max deal later in the summer, the organization didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to bolster their depth at point guard during the 2016 NBA Draft in June, selecting Baldwin with the the 17th overall pick. The 20-year-old from Vanderbilt was coveted for a 6-foot-10 wingspan that certainly aids his projection on the defensive end. He also boasts a reliable three-point shot after hitting 40.6 percent of his attempts during his final year of college. Baldwin is still learning the point guard position and may have issues with consistency during his rookie season, but the presence of Conley will allow the Grizzlies to take things slowly with him. With Andrew Harrison and Tony Wroten being the only other point guards on the roster and neither a lock to make the roster, Baldwin is the frontrunner for top backup duties, but will probably struggle to see more than 20 minutes per game so long as Conley is healthy. As such, Baldwin is a more intriguing commodity in dynasty formats than single-season leagues, though he’d likely gain universal value if Conley is sidelined for an extended period of time, as was the case last season.