Fantasy Basketball Trade Targets | Should You Buy Low on Andrew Wiggins, Cade Cunningham or Bradley Beal?

The fantasy basketball season is about a month in the books. That's an ample enough amount of time to judge players and what they might be able to produce for the season.

Some players have surprisingly been really good to start the season. I want to focus on three players who haven’t looked all that great so far.

Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins and Phoenix Suns’ Bradley Beal have all underwhelmed this season. It’s still early enough where they can get things turned around, but their values are pretty low right now. After taking a look at each player’s numbers so far, we’ll determine if they are guys you should target as buy-low players in trades.

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Cade Cunningham Fantasy Outlook

Cunningham has a lot of expectations after being taken as the first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He finished third for the Rookie of the Year award in his first season after averaging 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

Cunningham’s second season ended after just 12 games because of an injury. He had a stress fracture in his left leg.

In his first 12 games this season, Cunningham hasn’t been nearly as efficient as he was as a rookie. He is averaging 21.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.3 blocks across 36.2 minutes - which is nearly four minutes more than his rookie season.

Cunningham is shooting 40.2% overall, after shooting at a 41.6% clip as a rookie. His 3-point percentage this season is 29.7%, down from 31.4% as a rookie. 

While his percentages aren’t all that much lower and his points and assists are up, usually you see a player’s percentages increase as they get more acclimated in the NBA. That probably has owners of Cunningham in redraft or dynasty leagues worrying a decent amount, which could make him available for a lower price.

FantasySP’s trade value charts have Cunningham as the 50th overall player right now. That puts him a bit below his average draft position (ADP), so maybe he is actually performing just how many expected him to.

Verdict: I still look to Cunningham as someone who has underperformed so far, and if he’s available in your league, you might be able to get him for less than what he’s truly worth. I’d take a chance on Cunningham because I believe his shooting percentages will rise as he gets more game action. It’s not easy to jump right back in and pick up where you left off, and I think it’s only a matter of time before Cunningham gets in a groove. Trade for him now while his value is still low.

Andrew Wiggins Fantasy Outlook

Wiggins’ numbers to start the season are way off his career averages. He’s played in all 13 of the Warriors’ games, but is averaging about six minutes less than a season ago.

Wiggins is currently averaging 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1 assist and 0.4 steals and blocks. He’s at 26.1 minutes and 1.8 turnovers per contest.

Wiggins hasn’t averaged 20 points per game in several seasons, but he’s been between 17.1-18.6 the past three seasons. The significant dropoff is definitely a concern.

He is shooting 40.1% from the floor, which is way lower than his career average of 44.9%. Wiggins’ 3-point percentage is an abysmal 13.5% despite being a 35.1% shooter for his career. His free-throw percentage is even down (50% this season; 71.8% for his career).

The numbers simply aren’t great for Wiggins, and he’s not doing much else to provide much fantasy production. His trade value is 150th after being a top-90 fantasy pick in all formats.

Verdict: Wiggins’ value doesn’t seem like it can get much lower, so it’s possible he is available for really cheap. If you can acquire him for what you believe is very little, I don’t see much of a downside to things. He still starts and plays plenty of minutes for the Warriors. He’s too talented to continue struggling this much for much longer. He might not be the player he’s been the past few seasons, but he is better than the 150th-best fantasy player in the NBA. If you can’t acquire Wiggins for really cheap, I’d wait until he produces a few solid showings in a row before paying up for him.

Bradley Beal Fantasy Outlook

You might be thinking that it’s not fair to have Beal on this list because he’s only played three games, but injury concerns are exactly why he’s here. Beal had only played 90 games over the past two seasons coming into this one, and he hasn’t topped 60 games since the 2018-19 season.

Injury concerns aren’t new for Beal, and the fantasy owners that drafted him are probably annoyed they’ve only gotten three games out of him in a month. That might mean Beal can be acquired for cheap.

When he’s been on the court, Beal has also underwhelmed, averaging just 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks across 28.7 minutes. More games and minutes should help Beal be a much more productive player, but the injury concerns definitely cloud his future.

Beal is currently the 106th-ranked player in our trade value charts. That’s a far cry from his ADPs, which were in the top 65 in all formats.

Verdict: Much like in Wiggins’ situation, unless you can land Beal for basically nothing, he’s not one I would try to trade for. His injury history concerns me and he might be the team’s No. 3 option when everyone is healthy. The reason I wouldn’t be completely against adding him is because when Beal is on the court, he can be one of the top fantasy assets in the league. Adding one of those players, for however many games it might end up being, is never a bad thing.