Answering Popular Fantasy Basketball Trades With Help of FantasySP Trade Analyzer

Fantasy basketball league trade deadlines are closing in, so it’s time to answer some of the most popular trades currently on the FantasySP Trade Analyzer.

I’ll give my thoughts on each deal and offer some advice on how to proceed if I’m not accepting a trade. I’ll stick to the one-for-one deals in this article.

Be sure to use the trade analyzer before proposing or accepting a trade in your league. 

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy basketball trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Jonas Valanciunas for Nikola Vucevic

At first thought, I believed Vucevic to be the better fantasy option. The numbers back that up.

Vucevic is averaging 17.9 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.9 blocks. Those marks (besides blocks) are better than the ones Valanciunas has.

Valanciunas is averaging 13.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.4 steals and 1 block. He’s got a higher field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, but Vucevic is better on his free throws.

The trade analyzer favors the Vucevic end of the deal by over five points.

To make this a more even trade, a player would likely needed to be added on each side of the deal, with the better second player being shipped out with Valanciunas.

Luka Doncic for Nikola Jokic

Over the course of the season, polarizing names like this have appeared atop the popular trades section. Some might wonder why you’d want to part with either player, but if you were lacking a guard or big man, this deal makes a ton of sense.

Doncic has a big advantage in points per game (34.4-25.8) and a slight advantage in assists (9.7-9.3) and steals (1.5-1.2), while Jokic holds the edge in rebounding (12.3-8.8) and blocks (0.9-0.6).

Jokic is a far more efficient shooter than Doncic, while Doncic is better from 3-point land.

Their numbers are really pretty similar across the board, with the big difference being points (toward Doncic) and rebounds (toward Jokic). Doncic’s bigger edge in points helps him have a slightly higher player rating, but they are separated by just 1.57 points, and that can fluctuate with a big game or two.

They are close enough from a fantasy perspective to accept this trade from either side of things. Like I mentioned earlier, the reason you’d want to make a deal like this is if you were loaded at guard or center and needed help at the other spot. 

Myles Turner for Brandon Ingram

My initial thought on this one was that Ingram is the better fantasy player between the two, mostly because Indiana has more talent top to bottom. That was confirmed with some deeper digging.

Ingram has higher averages in points (21.6-17.3), assists (5.8-1.3) and steals (0.8-0.6), while Turner had better marks in rebounding (7.1-5) and blocks (1.7-0.6).

Turner has the higher overall shooting percentage, with Ingram having better marks from 3-point land and the free-throw line.

The trade analyzer confirmed my thoughts, with the Ingram side of the deal coming out 4.56 points ahead. This feels a touch closer, but I would still try to expand this deal to a two-for-two swap, with a better player being sent with Turner to even things out a bit more. I could understand a center-needy fantasy team thinking this return is enough for Ingram, but I’d try to expand things personally.

Kyrie Irving for Jalen Brunson

I covered Brunson in a trade story a couple weeks ago, but this offer wasn’t part of that article. Brunson has been having an incredible season, while Irving has been his stellar self most of the way, so this feels pretty even at first glance. The numbers back that up.

Brunson holds the edge in points (27.7-25.9) and assists (6.7-5.2) while Irving leads the way in rebounds (5.1-3.8), steals (1.3-0.9) and blocks (0.5-0.2). Irving has better shooting percentages overall, from deep and at the free-throw line. One thing to note is that Brunson has played 56 games to just 37 for Irving.

Irving hasn’t missed a game since early February, so if you are comfortable taking some injury risk, this deal is pretty even. The trade analyzer says the Brunson side of the deal comes out 2.07 points ahead. You could try to expand the deal to offset some of the injury concerns with Irving, but as is, this is close enough to accept on both sides.