Time to Cut Ties? Fantasy Basketball Players Losing Steam

After going over another set of fantasy basketball waiver wire options, let's put together our second drop article of the week.

Here was the first drop story. We won't include any players who we discussed in that article.

More drops can be found daily on the FantasySP waiver trends most dropped tab, which can be found on any fantasy basketball page on the site. 

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 and the Trade Value Chart to break down trade scenarios.

Keegan Murray - Sacramento Kings

Murray is down 11.6% so far today, which brings his overall mark to 76%.

Murray is way down today thanks in large part due to an ankle injury. He's day-to-day with that ailment and has already missed one contest.

He's had an injury-riddled season overall, playing in just 23 games so far. Murray has averaged 14 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1 steal over 34.5 minutes a night.

With Murray out, Sacramento is really hurting, as De'Andre Hunter, Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis are already out for the season, and Dylan Cardwell and Russell Westbrook are others banged up right now.

When he's back out there, Murray will be worth adding in a bunch of leagues, but the massive dropoff today is warranted, especially because he's been so injury-prone this season.

Be watching his status and be ready to add him when he's back, but if you cannot stash him in an IR spot until then, he's probably droppable for a lot of you in standard leagues. I'd keep holding him in deeper leagues, unless this absence turns into a multi-week ordeal.

Shaedon Sharpe - Portland Trail Blazers

Sharpe is rostered in 62% of fantasy leagues right now after a 4.7% dropoff today.

Sharpe is out 4-6 weeks with a calf injury. That puts his return in late March or early April, and with the season ending on April 12, there's a chance he's done for the remainder of the regular season.

That makes Sharpe droppable in a lot of redraft leagues, especially if you do not have an IR spot to stash him in. He's not worth holding in standard leagues, and deep-league owners would probably be best suited letting him go as well.

Over 48 games this season, Sharpe has averaged 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.1 blocks over 30 minutes a night. That equals a pretty good fantasy asset, so missing him maybe the rest of the season is a blow to his fantasy owners.

His long-term outlook isn't affected too much by this injury, but it does alter his dynasty/keeper value a bit now that he has missed a bunch of games in two of his four NBA seasons.

Cam Thomas - Milwaukee Bucks

Thomas is down 4% and sits at 58% overall.

Thomas had a stretch of really strong play for the Bucks, but has fallen off the past two games. Over the four games before that, Thomas averaged 22 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists over 21.8 minutes a night, but in the last two contests, he's combined for 13 points, four rebounds and four assists over 35 combined minutes.

It makes sense to see him being dropped, and this feels like a situation that is going to frustrate fantasy owners the rest of the season. With Thomas coming off the bench, his production is going to vary. There will be games he erupts for 20+ points, and others where he barely scores.

That means he's probably just a deep-league option for the remainder of the season, although he could be a standard league streaming option when he's in a good groove or a good matchup.

Look to buy low on him in deeper leagues, but don't be expecting continuous success the rest of the way.

Christian Braun - Denver Nuggets

Braun is rostered in 74% of leagues after being let go in 2.8% today.

Braun has also dealt with injuries all season, appearing in just 23 games in total. He's played in nine straight contests, which is a positive.

He had been scoring in double figures for most games in that stretch, but only tallied six points in his last appearance. Braun played 27 minutes in that one, also posting seven rebounds and two assists.

His production has just been too inconsistent for fantasy owners to roster him in all standard leagues. Braun is a good deep-league option, but that inconsistency makes him a better standard league streamer.

Denver could get Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson back here relatively soon, so that would also knock Braun's fantasy value down a few pegs. He might end up just being a deep-league asset, and maybe even one that's not owned in all deeper leagues.

Basically what I'm saying is that you need to watch Braun and his gamelogs closely. Be ready to add him if he picks up his production, but there's also a chance he's dropped in a bunch more leagues if his production dips more.