5 Fantasy Basketball Players You Can Consider Dropping: Bridges, Pritchard, and More

Let's discuss some more fantasy basketball drop candidates in the third week of the NBA regular season!

We discussed some possible drops back on Monday in an add/drop article. We went over more waiver options on Tuesday.

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Wendell Carter Jr. - Orlando Magic

Carter is rostered in 87.97% of fantasy leagues right now. He has been over 90% already this season, but is starting to dip down a bit.

He's started all seven games for Orlando so far and has logged plenty of minutes. Carter's scoring has been inconsistent though, with three games over 20 points, but also four games with under 10 points.

Across 32.4 minutes a night, he's averaging 12.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 1 assist and 0.4 blocks. The averages don't look bad on paper, but a deeper dive shows he's not very consistent.

That makes him droppable in some standard leagues today, especially if you are set with centers and big men. He's likely to remain as a pretty solid fantasy asset all season, but the inconsistencies will hold him back from being 100% owned ever - he can still be streamed in standard leagues here and there.

Mikal Bridges - New York Knicks

Bridges is sitting at 92.73% owned at the moment. He was owned in pretty much every league to kick off the season.

He's started all seven of the Knicks' games so far, but logged anywhere from 13-35 minutes. As you might expect, that inconsistent playing time has his results all over the place.

Bridges is averaging 25.7 minutes, 6.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. That's a significant dropoff from past seasons, and it's really come out of nowhere. 

I still want to hold out hope for Bridges, so I'd keep holding him as long as I could. If your team is struggling early on, you might need to move on from him now though.

Keep tabs on Bridges if he becomes a free agent in your league. He could get back on track at some point, then be worth rostering in all leagues for long stretches, or maybe the rest of the season.

Coby White - Charlotte Hornets

White is rostered in 92.35% of leagues at this time. He too was close to 100% when the season kicked off. 

He has played in just one game this season due to injuries, and he's back on the injury report for the team's Wednesday game. That might remain the case for a bit as White gets ramped back up.

He logged just 16 minutes in his first start of the season. White posted seven points and three assists.

With more minutes, White's fantasy production should increase, but it's hard to roster him through an injury and ramp-up period, so I'd understand dropping him today. Again, he can be a high-end fantasy player when he's right, so I'd do my best to hold him and expect bigger and better days ahead.

Matas Buzelis - Chicago Bulls

Buzelis is down to 90.48% rostered, after also beginning the season owned in all leagues.

Buzelis has started all seven games he's appeared in for Chicago so far this season, logging between 17-34 minutes, so again, there's inconsistencies in his playing time. He's averaging 25 minutes a game, which is enough to be a fantasy asset still.

Buzelis is averaging 13 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.4 steals per game. Those are all lower than what he produced a season ago, so he's definitely underwhelmed to open the season.

He's been a solid fantasy asset in the past, but he hasn't done it for super long either, so I wouldn't mind dropping him today if you need an early-season jolt. Better days could be ahead, but for now, he appears to be a better deep-league option.

Payton Pritchard - Boston Celtics

Pritchard is another player who opened the regular season rostered in nearly every single fantasy league. He's sitting at 95.49% owned right now though.

He's come off the bench for all seven of Boston's games so far, playing between 21-34 minutes. Pritchard is dealing with a shoulder injury and is questionable for Wednesday's game, so that's also leading to some drops.

Pritchard is averaging 28 minutes, 13.4 points, 3.4 assists, 3 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.3 blocks per game. Most of those marks are below last year's numbers, so he too has underwhelmed in the early going.

Even off the bench, he's playing enough to have some fantasy value, but right now, he's not doing enough for usage in all standard leagues. He's droppable in some of those leagues today, and he will continue to drop if his numbers don't improve. Keep close tabs on him and be ready to add him if he gets starts, or just improves his averages, going forward.