Russell Westbrook provided yet another unbelievable stat line on Sunday when he scored 54 points with nine rebounds and eight assists against the Indiana Pacers. The problem is that the Oklahoma City Thunder lost the game and are still technically behind the New Orleans Pelicans for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference because of the head-to-head tiebreaker.
If that wasn’t enough, Westbrook also got himself an automatic one-game suspension after he was called for his 16th technical foul of the season. The good news is that on Monday morning, the NBA rescinded the foul and Westbrook will play when the Thunder host the Portland Trail Blazers.
A lot of people rushed out to bet the other members of the Thunder in fantasy dailies early in the morning but hopefully you weren’t one of them. The following guys will get burned now that the Westbrook is expected to play.
SG: Dion Waiters
Waiters takes the biggest blow in this spot as with Westbrook out – and with Kevin Durant already sidelined – he would have become the team’s primary source of points in the backcourt. Yes, they have some other pieces like Andre Roberson and Jeremy Lamb but Waiters has been seeing the lion’s share of the minutes. He played 30.8 minutes per game in March and is up to 37.0 minutes in April.
While he’s still scoring a healthy 14.8 points per game along with 3.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals this month, there is no question that if you were eyeing him in DraftKings or FanDuel, you’d rather have Westbrook out of the way. With him back in the lineup, Waiters value diminishes.
C: Enes Kanter
Kanter has been an absolute revelation since his move to Oklahoma City and only Westbrook has averaged more points per game than the big man over the last 15 days. Part of Kanter’s production has been the obvious result of playing with Westbrook so it’s good news for him that Westbrook will be back. At the same time, with no Westbrook, the offense would probably run through Kanter on the inside as he’s actually been their next-best scoring since coming over. He’s averaged 18.0 points per game along with 10.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks while in a Thunder uniform.
Although in many ways, you’d rather have Westbrook suspended if you already picked up Kanter but his value shouldn’t drop too much.
SF: Anthony Morrow
Had Westbrook been out, there would have been potential for Waiters to move to the point and Morrow to play the shooting guard role. And with bigger minutes for Morrow, that would only mean good things. He’s had some impressive performances this month, scoring 32 against Dallas, 22 against Houston and 19 against Sacramento. He’s averaged 3.3 three-points per month along with 4.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals. With no Westbrook, he’d be relied upon to do a whole lot more. With Westbrook back, you’re probably regretting your decision to pounce on Morrow. The Thunder scored 104 points last night in Indiana but Morrow had just seven with five rebounds in 29 minutes.
PG: D.J. Augustin
Augustin takes the biggest hit in terms of Westbrook’s technical being rescinded because he’s a bench guy that would have been in the starting lineup. In terms of his production this season, we’ve seen a huge difference in his fantasy output when he’s either been starting or coming off the bench. Augustin has come off the bench for 66 games this season and averaged just 21.7 minutes of action. In those games, he’s averaging 7.7 points, 3.7 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 steals while shooting 37.9% from the field. In his 14 starts, August is playing 35.1 minutes – a whopping 14 more – while averaging 18.6 points, 7.6 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 threes, 0.7 steals while shooting a healthy 44.7% from the field. With Westbrook now slated to play since the NBA – for a second time – has rescinded his 16th technical foul to prevent the automatic one-game suspension, Augustin’s value gets hurt the most.
