Things are heating up in the NBA. The All-Star votes are tallying up, the trade deadline is less than a month away, and the playoff picture is starting to take shape. That means fantasy basketball is heating up, too. The playoffs are around the corner, and managers will need to put their best roster out there.
The easiest way to upgrade at this point is making a shrewd trade. Here is a look at five players that should be moved in fantasy leagues.
Get free start/sit and waiver wire advice for your fantasy team 
Buy
It is the perfect moment to make a move to acquire these three talents.
Donovan Mitchell (UTH – PG/SG)
Mitchell is having an outstanding season. He is averaging 24.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.2 3-pointers made, and 1.1 steals in 34.4 minutes per game. The Jazz guard is shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 84.2 percent on his free throws.
Those stats have pushed him to 21st on the FantasyPros Player Rater, which ranks ahead of his ADP of 29. The best is still yet to come for Mitchell, though.
For his career, Mitchell is significantly better after the All-Star break. Managers should expect his steals to tick up closer to 1.5 per game. The 23-year-old is taking another step forward and becoming an annual top-20 option.
Things are heating up in the NBA. The All-Star votes are tallying up, the trade deadline is less than a month away, and the playoff picture is starting to take shape. That means fantasy basketball is heating up, too. The playoffs are around the corner, and managers will need to put their best roster out there.
The easiest way to upgrade at this point is making a shrewd trade. Here is a look at five players that should be moved in fantasy leagues.
Get free start/sit and waiver wire advice for your fantasy team
Buy
It is the perfect moment to make a move to acquire these three talents.
Donovan Mitchell (UTH – PG/SG)
Mitchell is having an outstanding season. He is averaging 24.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.2 3-pointers made, and 1.1 steals in 34.4 minutes per game. The Jazz guard is shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 84.2 percent on his free throws.
Those stats have pushed him to 21st on the FantasyPros Player Rater, which ranks ahead of his ADP of 29. The best is still yet to come for Mitchell, though.
For his career, Mitchell is significantly better after the All-Star break. Managers should expect his steals to tick up closer to 1.5 per game. The 23-year-old is taking another step forward and becoming an annual top-20 option.
Trade for Donovan Mitchell. I’d be looking to swap anyone outside the top 20 to acquire him right now.
Ja Morant (MEM – PG)
Morant has been outstanding so far. He is averaging 17.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 1.0 steal in 29.5 minutes per game. Morant is shooting 48.0 percent from the field and 80.0 percent on his free throws.
The rookie has picked it up over the last 15 games, too. He is shooting over 51 percent from the field and averaging 7.5 assists. Morant has the look of a superstar in the making.
He currently ranks 59th on the Player Rater. Perhaps the person with him in your league is worried about the “rookie wall,” but that’s not a real thing. Morant should be a top-50 option for the rest of the season, and you should try to acquire him at a discount right now.
Khris Middleton (MIL – SG/SF)
Middleton is 43rd on the Player Rater so far. He averages 19.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 0.9 steals in just 28.5 minutes per game. The 28-year-old is playing fantastically, but the Bucks keep blowing out teams, which pushes his minutes down.
Expect his minutes to increase from here on out. Middleton plays about 32 minutes in games that are close. The Bucks cannot continue winning by 20 points every other night, so the uptick in minutes will allow his production to increase.
Middleton should finish as a top-35 player. Now is the time to acquire him at a bit of a discount, especially from a manager worried about his playing time.
Sell
Some players have reached the apex of their value and should be traded away before their stock begins to slip.
Chris Paul (OKC – PG)
CP3 is a fantasy GOAT. His stellar counting stats coupled with elite efficiency have made him a top fantasy option for the last 15 years.
The 34-year-old is continuing it in his first season in Oklahoma City. Paul is averaging 16.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.4 assist, 1.6 steals, and 1.6 3-pointers made in 31.8 minutes per game. He shoots 46.8 percent from the field and 89.5 percent on his free throws. That stat line has him ranked 13th on the Player Rater.
Now is the time to sell high on CP3. He has already played in 40 games. He has not topped 65 games in a season since 2016. Paul finished with 58 games played in each of the last two seasons, so it’s unlikely that he stays healthy down the stretch.
Consider moving Chris Paul for any player ranked inside the top 30. That adds some safety to your lineup for the stretch run.
Zion Williamson (NOR – PF)
Zion is about to make his NBA debut. It could come as early as Thursday night. Now is the perfect time to sell high on the 19-year-old.
He has missed the entire season so far with a knee injury, and Zion dealt with one in his lone season at Duke as well. He is a massive man with incredible leaping ability, and that risks a few more injuries down the stretch.
More importantly, the hype is out of control. Zion had an ADP of 22 and was going as an early second-round pick in plenty of leagues. The chances of him producing at that level as a rookie that will be eased in slowly are very low.
Trade Zion for Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Jrue Holiday, or any top-35 option that is safer. Williamson could be a home run, or he could play 25 minutes per game for the next three weeks and finish barely inside the top 60 by season’s end.
Get free start/sit and waiver wire advice for your fantasy team
Tyler Watts is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Tyler, follow him @tylerpwatts.
