5 Dynasty Small Forwards on The Rise - NBA Fantasy Basketball by Noah Rubin
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Dynasty Small Forwards
The dynasty positional series continues with small forwards. There is plenty of talent around the league at this position, with a number of those players breaking out this season. Let’s talk about five intriguing small forwards for your dynasty league.
Trey Murphy
All the injuries in New Orleans at least opened the door for other players to take on larger roles. A longtime favorite of dynasty analysts, Murphy finally had the breakout season that we all knew he could. In 53 appearances, he averaged 21.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.1 steals and three triples per game. There are plenty of questions about New Orleans moving forward, but Murphy ascended to star level production this season. Injuries have been a concern, but he’ll be in the conversation to make the All-Star Game if he is healthy next year.
Franz Wagner
An early injury to Paolo Banchero opened the door to Wagner to show us just how good he can be. Over the course of the entire season, Wagner averaged 24.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 threes per game, all of which were career-highs. Shooting is still an issue for him, and he shot below 30 percent from beyond the arc for a second consecutive season. He forms an elite young duo with Banchero, but he was at his best when Banchero was sidelined; Wagner averaged 26.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.0 threes per game in 20 games without Banchero this past season.
Jaden McDaniels
There were quite a few question marks about McDaniels entering this season, but he answered them with the best season of his career. He played all 82 games for Minnesota and averaged 12.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game, which were all career-highs. He’s been an elite defender for a while, but it finally translated to defensive stats this season, and he made improvements on offense as well.
Zaccharie Risacher
The No. 1 overall pick last summer showed some flashes in year one that should encourage dynasty managers. His season numbers weren’t great; he averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.6 threes in 24.6 minutes per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor. He was inconsistent, but when his shot was falling, the vision was clear. He had a 38-point game and a 36-point game over the final two weeks of the regular season. There were flashes of on-ball creation mixed in, but he’s going to make his money as an off-ball scorer.
Deni Avdija
After being traded from Washington to Portland last summer, Avdija enjoyed the best season of his young career. He averaged 16.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.7 threes per game, which were all the best marks of his career. However, he started off the year slowly and really turned things up down the stretch. After the All-Star break, Avdija averaged 23.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.4 threes per game. In both redraft and dynasty leagues, Avdija did a ton for his value moving forward.
Tune back in next week as we dive into power forwards!
Noah Rubin - NBC Sports Rotoworld
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Robbin Marx
NBA Fantasy Analyst
Experience: NBC Sports - Rotoworld, HashTag Basketball, Bleav Network
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