Week 8 Fantasy Basketball Drop Candidates: Ben Simmons, Bennedict Mathurin, Marcus Smart and More
Analyzing six fantasy basketball drop candidates during the eighth week of the season.
It’s already the eighth week of the fantasy basketball season.
After we identified some waiver wire options on Monday, let’s now go over six drop candidates. I found these six guys on the waiver trends most dropped tab, which can be located on any FantasySP fantasy basketball page.
That, along with the waiver wire page are updated daily, so fantasy owners can keep up on all the latest fantasy trends throughout the season. Injury news is also something that’s updated daily, and is super useful for a fantasy basketball owner.
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Guerschon Yabusele Fantasy Outlook
Yabusele is the most-dropped fantasy player at 4.1%. That brings his overall percentage down to 23.
This season, Yabusele is averaging 9.9 points, 2 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks across 24 minutes. He has 29 turnovers across 528 minutes played.
Yabusele had been playing a healthy amount of minutes most nights, but was at just 13 minutes in his last game. That’s probably the biggest reason behind the recent drop.
Yabusele was just a deep-league option, but if he’s not averaging close to 20 minutes, his own percentage is definitely going to drop. It also was just one game, so if he does get dropped in your league, keep a close eye on him in case his minutes shoot back up.
I personally would have just benched Yabusele instead of dropping him outright, but I understand if fantasy owners wanted to go after another waiver wire target and needed Yabusele’s roster spot to open first.
Ben Simmons Fantasy Outlook
Simmons has been dropped in 3.6% of leagues, bringing his overall mark down to 33%.
Across 23.1 minutes a game this season, Simmons is averaging 5.2 points, 6.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks. He has 44 turnovers across 416 minutes played.
Filling the stat sheet has never been a problem for Simmons, but being a decent and consistent scorer hasn’t. Injuries have also derailed his career.
His own percentage is around where I’d expect it to be with his scoring average, so I think fantasy owners are doing the right thing by dropping him. His own percentage should stabilize and remain around that 30% mark for most of the season.
Don’t completely overlook Simmons just because he doesn’t score a lot though. Filling the stat sheet consistently is hard to come by in fantasy players, and Simmons can deliver solid fantasy numbers even with low scoring totals.
Chris Boucher Fantasy Outlook
Boucher is rostered in 10% of leagues after being dropped in 3.1% of leagues recently.
He’s averaging 10 points, 0.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.7 blocks across 17.3 minutes a game. Boucher has 16 turnovers across 398 minutes played.
I was a bit confused as to why Boucher was being dropped in fantasy leagues because he had some nice fantasy showings in his most recent games. But Boucher has not played in each of the team’s past two games, so it makes perfect sense.
There’s no use holding Boucher if he isn’t going to see the floor. Only stash him in the deepest of leagues.
He’s a player to keep tabs on in case he jumps back into the Toronto rotation or gets traded to a team and carves out a role there. But for now, Boucher should be dropped so you can use that roster spot on players who are actually taking the floor.
Bennedict Mathurin Fantasy Outlook
Mathurin was recently dropped in 2.9% of leagues, bringing his total mark down to 86%.
Across 32.3 minutes a game this season, Mathurin is averaging 17.8 points, 1.7 assists, 6.3 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks. He has 53 turnovers across 807 minutes.
A recent peek at his game logs suggest he’s being dropped for a couple off shooting nights of late. Mathurin has finished at or below 11 points in two of the past three games. That comes after he scored 16 or more points in four straight.
He’s playing plenty of minutes and scores and rebounds pretty well, but without a ton of assists, steals or blocks, Mathurin isn’t likely ever going to be owned in all fantasy leagues. It’s likely his own percentage will fluctuate a bit here and there throughout the season as he gets hot and cold from the floor.
Right now, Mathurin isn’t a reliable scorer, so it makes sense for fantasy owners to look to other players instead. He’s one to keep tabs on, or possibly stream in the right defensive matchups, but I agree with fantasy owners with this drop decision.
Marcus Smart Fantasy Outlook
Smart is rostered in 39% of leagues after a recent 2.8% decrease.
He is averaging 9.6 points, 4.1 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.4 blocks across 20.9 minutes a game. Smart has 32 turnovers across 314 minutes played.
He’s already missed time this season with injuries, and he’s been up and down when available. Smart has scored in double figures every other contest over the past five. He does a little bit else while on the court, but it’s not enough to be an asset outside of deeper leagues.
Like in the case with Simmons, I think Smart’s own percentage is getting close to where it’ll sit for most of the season. It’ll go up and down as he gets hot and cold from the floor, but he’s unlikely to ever become a standard league option, or completely be dropped from deeper leagues.
Kelly Olynyk Fantasy Outlook
Olynyk has played in just two games so far this season, but fantasy owners are not a fan of what they’ve seen so far and are bailing. He’s been dropped in 2.8% of leagues, bringing his overall mark to 39%.
He’s played 14 minutes in each game and is averaging 9.5 points, 1 assist, 4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks, while committing three turnovers.
Those averages are good enough for some deep leagues, but fall short of the standard leagues threshold. He’s a player to keep tabs on in case he catches fire as he settles in, but right now, he’s just a deep-league option.
