NBA Fantasy: Salary Cap Edition - Week 9 Recap

The story is now crystal clear - a triumphant victory for a team that has undergone a remarkable transformation, culminating in a well-deserved gold medal.

Here are all the need-to-knows midway through Week 9:

Story So Far 

Long gone are the Bucks of old. The surprise bottom-dweller of the season’s early going has risen back to the level of title contention many foresaw it competing at.

Milwaukee (14-11) culminated a 12-3 turn following a 2-8 start by lifting the Emirates NBA Cup 2024 trophy Tuesday, by way of a 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder (20-5).

It won’t reflect in their record, but the in-season tournament champions assembled one of their – if not the – finest efforts against the best of the west. The Bucks punished the Thunder from beyond the arc, outscoring them 51-15 from deep while holding the group to its fewest points all season.

The Western Conference’s first-place squad and league leader in defensive rating was shut down offensively in a taste of its own medicine. Oklahoma City had yet to score less than 99 points in a game and had won five in a row by tallying at least 111 in each. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo

– 2024 NBA Cup MVP – has continued to lead the way to remarkable results in fantasy. He averaged 56.6 fantasy points per game (FPPG) during the Bucks’ resurgent previous 15 while bulldozing his way to second in total fantasy points (TFP) with 1353.3. His efforts in the cup final would’ve constituted 74.8 fantasy points – a fourth outing with 70-plus this season.

Recent help has arrived in the form of

Khris Middleton

, playing the last four fantasy-counted games on limited minutes, but

Damian Lillard

(No. 33 with 948.8 TFP) and

Brook Lopez

(No. 76 with 695.1 TFP) have provided primary support. There’s been scoring stability with Lillard’s five 35-plus point performances since Week 7, but Lopez is exiting a three-game slump from Dec. 6 to 10 during which he accumulated just 26.8 fantasy points.

Transaction Tips

Double down on mismatches in the stretch run if you want to maximize your point output for this otherwise quiet week. In this case, that means acquiring and starting top fantasy scorers from the Houston Rockets (17-9) and/or Denver Nuggets (14-10).

The former is tasked with a pair of lowly foes in the New Orleans Pelicans (5-22) on Thursday and the Toronto Raptors (7-20) on Sunday, each of whom possess bottom-third defensive ratings. Toronto has dropped its last five in a row and maybe without a key difference-maker Sunday in

Jakob Poeltl

– who suffered a groin injury Monday – while New Orleans is amidst a four-game losing streak itself.

Alperen Sengun

could make mincemeat of both. The fourth-year center has been highly productive all season long, sitting 11th with 1132.9 TFP and 20th with 43.6 FPPG. He’s notched five performances with 40 or more fantasy points in his previous eight games.

Other Rockets potentially poised for big showings include

Fred VanVleet

(No. 50 with 808.1 TFP) and

Jalen Green

(No. 56 with 779.0 TFP), but with VanVleet playing inconsistent basketball lately, Green is a better bet in light of his five games in the last seven featuring 25-plus fantasy points.

A fantasy feast may very well be on the table for Denver, too. It’ll face the Portland Trail Blazers (8-18) on Thursday before battling the Pelicans on Sunday, with Portland’s 26th defensive rating only marginally better than New Orleans’ 28th. Coach Chauncey Billups’ crew has yet to win a game this month losing six straight.

Naturally,

Nikola Jokić

– the best player in fantasy with a staggering 65.4 FPPG – is a prime candidate to rack up crooked numbers in both affairs. He has yet to play against the Trail Blazers or Pelicans but did put up his second-highest tally of the season with 85.2 fantasy points against the league-worst Washington Wizards (3-21).

Look to

Michael Porter Jr.

(No. 49 with 810.2 TFP) and

Jamal Murray

(No. 77 with 691.7 TFP) for production elsewhere. The seventh-year forward has notched five games in his last six with 30 or more fantasy points, while the ninth-year guard has crossed that threshold in all of the previous four games he’s appeared in.