Week 10 Fantasy Basketball Droppables: Should You Drop Ausar Thompson, Naz Reid and Kevon Looney?
Discussing Ausar Thompson, Naz Reid and Kevon Looney as potential drop candidates in the 10th week of the NBA season.
After diving into some possible NBA players you could target on the waiver wire, let’s discuss some players you could drop in the 10th week of the season.
This week, we’ll discuss Detroit Pistons’ Ausar Thompson, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Naz Reid and Golden State Warriors’ Kevon Looney.
Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy basketball trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.
Ausar Thompson Fantasy Outlook
There were high hopes for Thompson after being selected fifth in the 2023 NBA Draft. Things haven’t materialized fully yet though.
Thompson has started 24 of the 30 games he’s appeared in, averaging 26.2 minutes, 9.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. He’s shooting 46.1% overall, just 16.1% on his 3-pointers and 69.5% from the free throw line.
Thompson’s playing time has dipped a bit of late. He’s topped 25 minutes just once over the past six contests. He was only on the court for eight minutes in the team’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
The rookie has scored in double figures 11 times this season. Thompson has pulled down double-digit rebounds on eight occasions and finished with five or more assists four times. He’s got a steal in 17 contests and a block in 18 games.
Verdict: I know his playing time hasn’t been all that high of late, but I’m not quite ready to move on from Thompson. He fills the stat sheet enough where he doesn’t need to score a ton to be productive. I’d give it another week or so before moving on. And of course, we’re talking about standard redraft leagues here - under no circumstance should you be dropping Thompson in a dynasty league.
Naz Reid Fantasy Outlook
Reid is enjoying arguably his best season ever, but his ceiling is relatively low.
Reid has come off the bench in all 29 games he’s appeared in, averaging 22.1 minutes, 12.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks. He’s shooting 49.5% overall and 39.4% from deep. Reid is 92.9% on his free throws.
Being a center, albeit an undersized one, his rebounding numbers are pretty underwhelming. He hasn’t topped 10 boards in a game, and has more games between 0-4 rebounds than contests between 5-9 rebounds.
Reid has scored in double figures in 21 games, which is a great thing, but it’s really the only stat he’s consistent in. He’s got a steal in 16 games, a block in just 12 contests and has been under five assists in every game this season.
Verdict: Reid is getting enough minutes and scoring enough to be a solid fantasy asset, but he’s not doing enough else to choose him over another player. I would be OK moving on from Reid and trying to fill that spot with a player who can fill the stat sheet a bit better on a nightly basis.
Kevon Looney Fantasy Outlook
Looney is one of several Warriors who are having down years.
The big man has started 27 of the 30 games he’s appeared in but has less minutes (21.4), points (5.3), rebounds (7.8) and blocks (0.3) than a season ago. His averages for assists (2.7) and steals (0.7) are barely up.
Looney is shooting 56.8% overall and 72.2% from the line. He’s up about 12% on his free throws, but down 6.2% overall.
Looney has only been in double figures as a scorer three times. He’s topped 10 rebounds nine times, but only has one double-double this season. He’s got a steal in 17 games and a block in just seven. He’s been under five assists in 24 of his 30 contests.
His playing time hasn’t been all that consistent of late. He’s been over 20 minutes just four times in the past 12 contests. Looney has played under 15 minutes in five of those games.
Verdict: Looney is rebounding better than Reid, but is scoring way less and not doing much else to be a real solid fantasy asset outside deeper leagues. I am also OK moving on from Looney now. At some point, Looney could get in a groove and deliver similar stats (7 points, 9.3 rebounds) to a season ago, so he’s worth keeping an eye on.
#ausar-thompson #naz-reid #kevon-looney
