It is officially April, which means we get playoff basketball this month! It also means the fantasy season is officially wrapping up if yours hasn’t already. If it’s your championship week, these streaming options could give you the boost needed to secure a ring. If your fantasy season goes through the end of the regular season, good luck next week, but this will be the last streaming column of this season. Instead, we’ll pivot toward dynasty content, which can still be relevant for managers playing single-season leagues.
As far as the rest of this week, five teams play three times between Thursday and Sunday. The Warriors, Lakers, Bucks, Trail Blazers, and Raptors are the teams to target if you’re looking to maximize games played, while the Magic are a team to avoid; they only play one more time this week.
Damian Lillard is out indefinitely with a deep vein thrombosis in his calf, but the Bucks have been able to rely on Ryan Rollins in the starting unit. He has started six of Milwaukee’s last seven games and averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.1 threes in 26.7 minutes per game while shooting 56.4 percent from the floor. In their most recent game, he had a career-high 23 points to go with five rebounds, five assists, two steals and five threes. He should be considered a priority option for the rest of the season.
Toronto’s rotation has been quite the headache, with most of the veteran players alternating rest days. The one consistent player has been rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, who has started the last four games for the Raptors. He has played 30.3 minutes per game in those starts and averaged 14 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.0 threes per game while shooting just 41.9 percent from the floor. This isn’t just a hot shooting stretch that will eventually fade out. He has been really productive, which has been grea,t to say, after a relatively quiet first four months of his rookie year.
I don’t feel great about the streaming options on the Warriors or Lakers (unless you want to roll the dice on Dorian Finney-Smith, who has played really well recently). In Portland, Dalano Banton got his first start of the season on Tuesday and contributed 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and two triples in 28 minutes despite a poor shooting night. Scoot Henderson (concussion) is still out, while Anfernee Simons (forearm) is questionable again. Banton will continue to start as long as Simons is out, and if Portland hopes to improve their lottery odds, sitting Simons is the answer. Hopefully, that’s the route they opt to take.
Four of the five aforementioned teams play back-to-backs on Thursday and Friday, while the Bucks have their back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday if you’re looking to maximize games that way. The only other team with a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday is the Hawks. Caris LeVert and rookie Zaccharie Risacher are the two players were considering as streaming options, though neither has been consistently productive recently.
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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