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DeutschAs we flip the calendar to March, Week 20 will mean different things depending on where you are in your fantasy basketball league standings. Playing? Prepping? Still grinding? Three scenarios for this week, three different plans. Let’s go!
More Playoff Primers
Week 20 slate at a glance
Day | Mon 3/9 | Tue 3/10 | Wed 3/11 | Thu 3/12 | Fri 3/13 | Sat 3/14 | Sun 3/15 |
Games | 5 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
Quality | Stream | Crowded | Stream | Crowded | Crowded | Moderate | Moderate |
To view the team matchups for each slate, check out Hashtag Basketball’s Advanced Schedule Grid.
Are you in the playoffs?
Whether it’s accumulating more total points than your opponent or winning at least five categories, the moves you make (or don’t) determine the result of your matchup.
Quality meets quantity
There is one team playing five games in Week 20, 15 teams playing four, 13 playing three and one team playing just two — the New Orleans Pelicans.
5 games: PHI
4 games: BKN, CLE, DAL, DEN, DET, GSW, IND, LAC, MEM, MIL, MIN, NYK, SAC, TOR, UTA
3 games: ATL, BOS, CHA, CHI, HOU, LAL, MIA, OKC, ORL, PHO, POR, SAS, WAS
2 games: NOR
The teams I’m prioritizing for streaming are:
76ers — The only five-game team in the league in Week 20. Monday’s five-game slate means a guaranteed start right out of the gate
Jazz — Four games landing on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday — no B2Bs, games every other night, all week long
Knicks — Same every-other-night cadence as Utah: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, ducking big slates.
Philadelphia is the best team to stack for Week 20
Five games spread across the entire week, beginning Monday. Joel Embiid (oblique) is out for the next three games and will be re-evaluated thereafter. Even if Embiid returns, it’s extremely unlikely we’ll see him play in both sets of the Sixers’ back-to-backs. Andre Drummond is a must-add across formats, while Quentin Grimes, Dominic Barlow and maybe even Trendon Watford are deeper-league options to consider. The number of games provides a strategic advantage in points and 9-cat leagues, but this has less impact in High Score. Still, I would target players from one of the 10 teams playing on Monday to get an early start on a lighter slate.
Other teams to consider streaming from who play three games in four nights to begin the week are:
Brooklyn Nets — Mon., Tues. Thurs. — Day’Ron Sharpe, Nolan Traoré and Danny Wolf could be in play as early week options.
Memphis Grizzlies — Mon., Tues., Thurs. — part of a four-game week that also includes Friday (two full B2B sets)
Denver Nuggets — Mon., Wed., Thurs. — Four games total. Guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. become fantasy relevant in deeper leagues.
The Grizzlies’ schedule is compelling for a specific reason: they have two sets of back-to-backs — Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday. Memphis plays at Brooklyn on Monday, at Philly on Tuesday, hosts Dallas on Thursday and then travels to Detroit on Friday. That dual back-to-back schedule will almost certainly trigger rest decisions for certain vets, which means role players like Cam Spencer become more valuable because he hasn’t been subjected to the B2B rest treatment the way guards like Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. have been managed recently. If you’re in a 12-team league and Spencer is sitting on the wire, this is the week to grab him. Also, keep an eye on Santi Aldama and Cedric Coward, who returned on Tuesday.
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The Jazz and Knicks are your “set-and-forget” streaming options. Both teams play four games on an every-other-night cadence — Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday — which means no back-to-back fatigue risk and a clean start on every light-slate day of the week. For the Jazz, Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier, Ace Bailey and John Konchar round out the players I would stream from that roster. For New York, there are far fewer options available on the wire, but hey, maybe Jose Alvarado can be a cheap source of assists and steals.
Who to avoid — and when
The Pelicans are your obvious two-game team to fade, but here’s how to actually play it. New Orleans plays on Wednesday and Friday only — which means that roster spot can work for you twice this week. Drop any fringe Pelicans player before Wednesday and use that spot for Monday and Tuesday production on a better team. Then, after Friday’s game, the spot opens up again for the weekend — Saturday and Sunday both have seven games and plenty of streaming targets. Don’t just bench a two-game player and move on; be active with that spot. Pelicans on that bubble for me are Derik Queen, Jeremiah Fears, Herb Jones and Yves Missi.
The other thing working in your favor this week: Tuesday is the only day that cracks double digits at 11 games. Every other slate — including Monday’s five-game stream window and Wednesday’s six-game setup — gives you a manageable board to target the best available matchups without getting buried. Leave yourself at least one open spot heading into the week and play the best available matchup each night.
Got a bye week? Stay one step ahead
You’re in the playoffs, so start planning and scouting.
Look ahead to the Week 21 schedule outliers: Phoenix and Washington both jump to five games in Week 21. We should have more info about Devin Booker by then, but I would still be eyeing Royce O’Neale in shallow leagues and Oso Ighodaro in deeper leagues. Washington is hard to peg because it seems like all of their guys are either resting or playing 20 minutes and getting pulled. I’d check on Kyshawn George, but I probably have more faith in Will Riley, Bilal Coulibaly and Tre Johnson the rest of the way. The Pelicans also bounce back to four games in Week 21, so holding Trey Murphy III through this quiet two-game week hopefully has a payoff coming. Adding the aforementioned fringe Pelicans guys who were dropped is certainly in play as well.
Study opponents in your bracket: For 9-cat leagues, pull your opponents’ last few matchups to see how they’re winning (or losing). For High Score, play the wire and see if any leaguemates got desperate and stress-dropped a good player. It happens more than you’d think when injuries pile up in March.
Audit yourself: What categories are you consistently losing? Don’t fix everything — pick one or two you can realistically flip. That’s your target for roster moves this week. And make sure you’ve got at least one or two spots at the back of your bench available for streaming — things are already getting weird in silly season, so you have to be ready to scoop up those replacement-level guys who can potentially become league-winners.
What if your playoffs haven’t started yet?
You’ve got time — and the fantasy basketball trade deadline hasn’t closed yet (the default deadline is March 5). Do something!
Make a move before Thursday’s deadline: Look at the schedule and offload players with an unfavorable slate or a nagging injury. Move them for a player who has a nice mix of quantity and high-quality games rather than someone who provides less upside.
Stream aggressively this week: Every win matters for seeding or getting in. Look at the teams playing three games in four nights to open the week. Remember, Monday and Wednesday are lighter slates, making it easier to maximize your transactions if one pickup can net more than one game in your lineups.
Scout the next two weeks: Whoever you’re playing in Round 1, start pulling their stats now. Same process — find their weakness, find yours and spend this week building toward the matchup before it arrives.
Get ready because Monday will be here before you know it. I’ll be running this column back again for the fantasy managers whose playoffs begin in Week 21. Stay tuned.