Fantasy Basketball Trade Thought: Should You Deal 76ers' Joel Embiid Away?
Discussing if fantasy basketball owners should trade Joel Embiid away.
We’re already past the halfway point of the NBA season, which means the All-Star Game and trade deadline are approaching quickly. Before long, it’ll be time for the fantasy basketball playoffs.
With that in mind, I wanted to cover something that’s been a hot topic around the league lately. Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid has looked like the MVP for most of the season, but he continues to miss games, and he’s getting close to missing the 65-game threshold for NBA honors.
We can cover whether or not I like the 65-game rule (I do) at a different time, but with Embiid taking so many nights off, it got me thinking whether or not it would be crazy to consider trading Embiid away. Let’s dive into the discussion.
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Embiid’s Season Numbers
The 76ers were 29-16 and sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference at the time of this publication. Embiid has played in 33 games, with the team going 26-7 in those contests. That means the team is just 3-9 without him (which typically was a number that worked in favor of potential MVPs in the past).
Anyways, Embiid is averaging 36 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.1 steals across 34.2 minutes per game. He’s shooting 53.9% overall, 36.8% from 3-point land and 88.3% from the free throw line.
He’s posted 27 double-doubles this season and two triple-doubles. Embiid has scored at least 20 points in every game, with 28 games over 30 points. He’s only failed to pull down at least 10 rebounds in seven games. Embiid has gone over five assists in 22 contests, while having a steal in 24 games and a block in 27 contests.
Embiid is about as dominant a player as there is in the NBA right now. The FantasySP trade value chart loves Embiid too - he sits in fourth despite having missed a couple games recently.
These are all very positive things regarding Embiid, so you’d be crazy to put him on the trade block, right?
Even with missing 12 games already, Embiid still sits eighth among the fantasy leading scorers at ESPN. So we can say Embiid is pretty easily the best fantasy player in the league this season. If you have a well-rounded team, maybe you can still win without Embiid always playing, but there’s probably a good amount of fantasy owners out there that can’t afford to have the big man miss any games.
I could definitely understand wanting to trade Embiid, as him missing so many games would be frustrating. Let’s next talk about what fantasy owners should be looking for in return for Embiid if they want to move him.
Embiid Trade Options
If you are simply looking to swap Embiid for another elite fantasy player, there’s only so many guys that make sense.
Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic is the most comparable player to Embiid, but I have a hard time believing many Jokic owners would move him for Embiid straight up. I’d guess that deal would need to include more players.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a name that possibly could work in moving for Embiid. SGA is having a special season, but Embiid is definitely the better fantasy asset when on the court. Maybe Embiid’s missed games would make up the difference and make a one-for-one deal doable.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo is another fantasy star every night he’s on the court. Embiid is definitely the better fantasy asset of the two, but because of availability issues (similar to SGA and the other players coming up), I don’t think Antetokounmpo owners would want to swap the two players. Another thing working against Embiid owners in this trade possibility is that the Bucks just hired Doc Rivers, and we don’t have any idea yet on what it might do to Giannis’ fantasy value.
Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic is a fun name to mention in this conversation. He’s also missed several games this season, so that lines up a bit more with Embiid’s season. Maybe this is a simple guard-for-big man swap that works for both teams. This hypothetical deal is probably the one that makes the most sense so far.
Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis and LeBron James are a couple more interesting names to throw out there.
Davis has been a guy known to miss a bunch of games every season, but he’s only missed two so far this season. James has missed just five games. You might not get quite as much production on a nightly basis from Davis and James as you would Embiid, but the Lakers’ duo has been more available this season, and that’s big in the fantasy world. They might also be fighting for playoff positioning late in the season, while the 76ers could have things locked up, and that could mean bigger fantasy outings out of them.
Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis is the seventh player that sits ahead of Embiid in total fantasy points this season. Initial thoughts say that this is still not enough to land Embiid, and maybe you could land another fantasy asset with Sabonis as a result. While Sabonis isn’t the scorer that Embiid is, the Kings’ big man is actually a better rebounder and passer, so there’s a bit more stability in his fantasy production.
If you are instead looking to move Embiid for multiple pieces, you could go in a bunch of different directions. The best way to figure out if your deal is fair or not is to run things through the FSP trade analyzer. You’d be surprised what kind of two-player packages you could get in return.
Good luck trading!
