The NBA trade deadline is a month away, but trades and trade rumors have been flying left and right lately. The latest buzz surrounds Brooklyn Nets big man Brook Lopez, who has been connected to several trade scenarios in the past 24 hours, including one for Charlotte Hornets guard Lance Stephenson, who has been on the trade block for several weeks now.
Late Friday morning news broke that the Nets have passed on a proposed three-way deal in which the Nets would have acquired Stephenson, the Oklahoma City Thunder would have received Lopez, and the Hornets would have gotten Jarrett Jack, Jeremy Lamb and Grant Jerrett.
Apparently, the Nets didn’t want to add Stephenson to their roster. Instead, they may just dump Lopez’s salary by shipping him to the Thunder for Kendrick Perkins. That the Nets may choose getting essentially nothing back for Lopez over getting Stephenson in return speaks volumes about the sour locker-room reputation that precedes Stephenson.
It also suggests that the Hornets are going to have a tough time finding a trade partner for Stephenson, though he remains on the trading block.
Regardless, now that Stephenson (available in nearly 50 percent of ESPN leagues) is back on the court after missing a few weeks with a pelvic sprain, he should be owned in most formats just to see what happens with him going forward.
Whether your team is a title contender or down in the dumps, Stephenson is exactly the type of high-upside midseason waiver pickup who could push your team to greater heights. That holds true even if he isn’t traded.
Sure, he didn’t live up to the lofty heights some had for him after his 2013-14 breakout, but even the 10 PPG, 4.7 APG and 6.6 RPG he posted in his first 25 games with the Hornets are pretty helpful numbers in most formats from a shooting guard who could round out your starting lineup.
Of course, he will have to work his way back into a starting role first -- as my cohort Joe Kaiser noted earlier this week, there is no guarantee that will happen -- but there is some lottery-ticket upside here. And if he doesn’t come through or isn’t traded in the next couple of weeks, you can simply cut him and move on.
As for Lopez, his exit from Brooklyn appears to be inevitable, if not imminent. Trade rumors have connected him with the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets, but the one with the most legs early Friday afternoon would be a salary-dump move by the Nets, where they would acquire Perkins for Lopez, then try to flip Perkins’ expiring contract for an established player.
Denver would be a great landing spot for Lopez in terms of his fantasy value; since their frontcourt is so thin, he would get plenty of minutes and touches.
The Heat, too, would be a good place for Lopez for the same reasons, though Chris Bosh's presence would put a serious cap on Lopez’s upside.
On the Thunder, Lopez presumably would unseat Steven Adams as the starting center. But since Lopez is horrible on the glass and would be no better than a distant fourth or fifth option on offense, his fantasy value would be quite limited there.
As for the fantasy impact of Lopez leaving the Nets, well, Mason Plumlee already replaced Lopez as the starting center this month and has averaged 16.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks over his past five games. Somehow he still is owned in just 57.1 percent of ESPN leagues.
Plumlee was one of my sleepers entering the season and now is in position to come through as a solid double-double threat, who should shoot at least 60 percent from the field, the rest of the season. He should be rostered in every standard league at this point, especially with Lopez seemingly all but out the door.
Plumlee also is a quality DFS option, even though his recent bump in production has increased his salary. Plumlee also will benefit this weekend from a back-to-back set of games versus the Washington Wizards on Friday and Saturday. The Wiz are mediocre on the glass, averaging 42.9 rebounds per game (15th) this season, so he should have ample opportunities for rebounds and easy put-backs.
Plumlee could get an added boost if the Nets limit Lopez's minutes or hold him out Friday and/or Saturday to keep him from getting hurt while they try to consummate a deal -- or if they do complete the trade.
