Fantasy Basketball 2021: Ranking Sleepers for NBA Week 7
Multiple injuries on the Portland Trail Blazers roster have led to a handful of role players receiving more time on the hardwood.
Gary Trent Jr. and Anfernee Simons are among the players who have been thrust into larger roles while C.J. McCollum, Derrick Jones Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic are sidelined.
Portland does not have the most ideal schedule in Week 7. But the volume of games, combined with the minutes each fantasy basketball sleeper should earn, vaults Trent and Simons to top of the sleeper list.
The Utah Jazz will also play a majority of their games in the next week on the road. Most of the fantasy basketball focus on the Utah roster has shone on Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, but one of the team's role players could be a perfect pickup for the next week and beyond.
Week 7 Sleeper Rankings
1. Gary Trent Jr., SG/SF, Portland
2. Royce O'Neale, SF/PF. Utah
3. Anfernee Simons, PG/SG, Portland
4. Jeff Green, SF/PF/C, Brooklyn
5. Theo Maledon, PG, Oklahoma City
6. Deni Avdija, SG/SF, Washington
7. Cody Zeller, C, Charlotte
8. Jeremy Lamb, SG/SF, Indiana
9. Wayne Ellington, SG/SF, Detroit
10. Thaddeus Young, PF, Chicago
Gary Trent Jr., SG/SF, Portland
Even though Trent has been placed into a starting role lately, he is not considered as one of the top two fantasy options on the Portland roster.
Damian Lillard is far and away the team's top point producer, and Enes Kanter has racked up some decent numbers in Nurkic's absence.
Trent recorded a pair of 20-point performances in the past week against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, but he also posted two points January 18.
The 22-year-old's fantasy basketball appeal comes from his three-point shooting ability. He knocked down at least three shots from beyond the arc in each of the past four contests.
Trent's could experience an uptick in production in the next week since Kanter faces a few difficult paint matchups against Brook Lopez, Joel Embiid and Julius Randle.
If Kanter is shut down for long stretches, Portland needs a No. 2 scorer to step up behind Lillard to have a chance of coming out on top.
The Blazers also have a Tuesday matchup with the Washington Wizards, which could be favorable to Trent's stat line. Washington has not held an opponent beneath 100 points this season and allowed its past three foes to eclipse the 115-point mark.
Royce O'Neale, SF/PF, Utah
Royce O'Neale is one of the best Swiss Army knife players in the NBA.
The Utah Jazz forward recorded a season-high 20 points versus the New York Knicks on Tuesday and then chipped in with 11 rebounds in the win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
O'Neale typically fills up the rebounds and assists columns and can knock down a few three-pointers to pad the scoring behind Gobert, Conley, Mitchell and others.
He hit multiple three-point shots in three of the past five games, including four in Sunday's loss to the Denver Nuggets.
O'Neale could be the perfect pickup for the next week because of Utah's fairly easy schedule, which begins with a home clash against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. Utah visits the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers to finish the week.
The matchups with Detroit and Charlotte could be most beneficial to O'Neale's fantasy production since both teams rank in the top 10 of three-point shots allowed per game. As long as O'Neale contributes some three-point shots to go along with his rebound and assist totals, he should be a viable backup at forward in most fantasy basketball lineups.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from Basketball Reference.