Fantasy Basketball Streaming Guide: Top Wednesday Matchups and Targets
Streaming players from three NBA teams with good matchups on Wednesday.
Happy April Fools Day. If you look at the state of the NBA these days, it seems like everything is a joke, so it's hard to pick out pranks sometimes. One thing that is serious is that we are within the final two weeks of the NBA season, leaving around six games or so for each team.
Moving to fantasy basketball, let's look at streaming players from three NBA teams with good matchups on Wednesday. We'll focus on the guys who get on the court and are widely available in fantasy leagues. Most stats are from NBA.com.
Use FantasySP's defensive rankings to find the teams and players with the best matchups every day!
Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers
Indiana is in the top 10 in pace and in the bottom 10 in defensive rating both over the full season and in the time just since the All-Star break. I talk about this every day that the Pacers are here on our streaming list, but it's still worth mentioning: in the latter portion of the season, Indiana has the worst defensive rating in the league, a big part of the reason that they are tied for the worst record.
The Bulls aren't quite as bad, but they have been eliminated from the playoffs for a little while now and will finish with one of the 10 worst records in basketball. Chicago made moves at the trade deadline to shed talent and add future value, maybe helping to build their next winner.
Guard
Jones had his best month in March, averaging 17.2 points, 5 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. Sexton's assists and rebounds are a little lower, but he was at 21.1 points, 1.2 steals, and 2.9 3-pointers in March. Both guys are quality fantasy streaming options if available.
Dillingham has had some good scoring games recently, but he's a much lesser statistical player than the other two, leaving him as a lower-level fantasy player.
Forward
Okoro and Williams are very similar as top-five picks from 2020 who haven't developed into useful players on a winning team and are now putting up subpar fantasy stats on a losing Bulls squad.
Miller is the most interesting option from this group, as he averaged 12.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in March. He's just a low-to-mid-level fantasy player, but he's the best of these three in fantasy right now.
Center
Richards left last Wednesday's game with an elbow injury and has missed the subsequent three contests. He is questionable here but carries plenty of risk for a team that has nothing to play for.
Yabusele has finally found production since joining the Bulls at the trade deadline. In February and March, he is averaging around 10 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1 steals, and 2 3-pointers. It's not great work, but it gives him a little intrigue if you're in a deep league.
Denver Nuggets @ Utah Jazz
Utah is another team that fits the top-10 pace/bottom-10 defensive rating criteria both over the full season and since the All-Star Game. Their full-season numbers are the most intriguing, as the Jazz rank second in pace and have the worst defense over that longer timespan, making them a top streaming target.
The third through sixth seeds in the West are still too close to call, as those four teams are within three games of each other. The Nuggets currently sit in fourth, which would give them homecourt advantage in the first round; that's probably their biggest goal right now (along with making sure everyone is healthy).
Guard
Hardaway is the best option here, though he doesn't add anything outside of scoring and shooting. That's still valuable, and Hardaway averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 3-pointers per game in March, giving him some lower-level intrigue.
Brown is generally more of a defensive asset and role player, not producing the stats needed to be on the fantasy radar.
Forward
Though Johnson is a starter, his fantasy work has generally been middling or worse. He's another guy who does some shooting and scoring but doesn't add a lot else statistically, capping his fantasy ceiling (his 12.4 points and 2.4 3-pointers in March were both slightly better than his season numbers).
The only thing that has slowed down Watson since the new year is injury, as he missed over a month-and-a-half from early February into late March. In four games since returning, Watson has averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists, close to his season averages but below his best work when guys in front of him were injured. Watson is an OK lower-level guy to consider streaming.
Center
- None
Nikola Jokic will always dominate the minutes at this position, and the other backups have been playing very few minutes (if at all) recently.
Philadelphia 76ers @ Washington Wizards
Washington is tied with Indiana for the worst record, both just a half game worse than the Nets and 1.5 worse than Sacramento. The bottom three teams share the best odds in the lottery, and though the fourth team is only 1.5 percentage points lower in odds, it's better to secure the best chances after a long, awful season.
The 76ers are currently seventh in the East, a spot that would give them two chances to win one game to advance to the real playoffs while also hosting both potential play-in games. Philly could still finish anywhere between No. 5 and No. 10, though, so there is plenty left to play for. Keeping Joel Embiid being on the court is paramount at this point in the season.
Guard
Grimes is generally a decent streaming option, averaging 13.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.8 3-pointers on the season. Those numbers were all similar in March aside from his scoring, as Grimes bumped up to 17.2 points last month. There's value here.
Forward
Oubre is the best option here, averaging 14.5 points, 5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.8 3-pointers on the season. He only played six games in March while dealing with injury, but he played in each of the past two and looks ready to go for this one, making him an OK option.
Barlow's numbers don't get high enough in any category to make him a real fantasy option.
Center
When Embiid plays, it doesn't leave a lot of opportunities for anyone else at center. Bona is generally a low-level statistical player even when getting minutes, so he's not up to par in a deeper backup role here.
