One of the most popular storylines throughout Duke’s national title run this season was the emergence of projected first-overall pick and star freshman Jahlil Okafor. Okafor averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils this season en route to a NCAA Championship and he secured his position as the most sought after player that will enter this year’s draft. Projecting the fantasy value of rookies can be difficult as their production can depend as much on situation and opportunity as it does talent, and that makes where he will end up that much more important for fantasy basketball managers.
Let’s examine the best landing spots for Okafor in terms of his potential fantasy value as a rookie.
New York Knicks
The Knicks registered just 17 wins but their record could be deceiving in terms of how far they are away from becoming an actual playoff contender once again – especially when you consider the injuries and trades that ravaged their roster this season. It didn’t take long for the team to decide it was best for their MVP Carmelo Anthony to have season-ending surgery with an eye on being healthy for next year and that decision was promptly followed by Phil Jackson cleaning house as he traded away a number of players that didn’t fit the future outlook including J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. New York will have substantial cap space heading in to this offseason as well as perhaps the No. 1 pick so the chance to build a core that features Anthony, Okafor and perhaps one or two key free agents would create a situation where Okafor would thrive as the second or third option.
As long as the Knicks don’t sign another good post player like Greg Monroe, who will leech some of his production, then the Knicks are a good fit for Okafor’s fantasy value.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Andrew Wiggins is the man in Minnesota right now and a Rookie of the Year favorite, but they have some talented pieces in fellow rookie Zach LaVine as well as Ricky Rubio, Gorgui Dieng and even Nikola Pekovic. They at least appear to be headed in the right direction as a franchise. Rubio and Pekovic would undoubtedly help Okafor’s development at the NBA level while Wiggins would take some of the pressure off of him from being the No. 1 option right away, so while the Timberwolves don’t have a player like Anthony right now, it would still be a good fit for Okafor’s rookie fantasy value.
Orlando Magic
The Magic have a couple of quality young players in Victory Oladipo and Tobias Harris, as well as an impact big man that would help take some of the pressure off of Okafor in Nikola Vucevic. Channing Frye and Evan Fournier have both underachieved to certain extents this year, which has left the Magic particularly weak at the power forward position.
If Orlando brings back this same core and can add at least one or maybe two key role players in free agency, then Okafor would have an excellent shot at putting up some decent numbers with a developing supporting cast as a rookie.
Philadelphia 76ers
Avoiding the Western Conference altogether might actually be best for Okafor’s rookie fantasy value and while the 76ers did trade the reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams earlier in the year, it’s clear they are committed to building a championship team in the long run. Tony Wroten is still somewhat underrated while Nerlens Noel has really stepped up his game of late so while Philadelphia doesn’t have the same level of talent as the other teams on this list it wouldn’t be a terrible fit if Okafor ended up being drafted by the 76ers.
What’s interesting to note is that while the Sixers have two big men in Noel and last year’s first-round pick, Joel Embiid, the latter has been out of shapes many times this year and has been fined thousands of dollars by the team. The Sixers may decide to put Okafor next to Noel, which would be great for Okafor’s value.
