Fantasy Basketball Drop Candidates: Time to cut this highly drafted rookie

By Kirien Sprecher and Alex Barutha, RotoWire

Special to Yahoo Sports

With the Christmas spirit officially out of our systems, it’s time to get pessimistic. There are plenty of players hanging out on fantasy managers’ benches who don’t deserve such nice treatment after the holidays. Below is a list of six players who have underwhelmed for too long and who should be sent back to the waiver wire.

Ausar Thompson, Detroit Pistons (61% rostered)

With the Pistons close to full strength, Thompson played just nine minutes in a 118-112 loss to the Nets, marking Detroit’s record-breaking 27th straight loss. The No. 5 overall pick has flashed at times during his rookie season, especially defensively, but his ongoing offensive struggles have him at the back of coach Monty Williams’ rotation. He’s scored in double figures just four times over the past 18 games (12 starts), averaging 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 stocks during that stretch. Williams has been shaking up the starting lineup and rotation nearly every game, but barring numerous injuries, it’s difficult to envision a scenario where Thompson is consistently making contributions worthy of a roster spot in 12-team leagues.

Herbert Jones, New Orleans Pelicans (61% rostered)

Jones has scored in double figures just once over the past eight games, averaging 6.3 points on 31.0% shooting to go along with 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists during that stretch. What’s even more concerning is his lack of defensive production. Jones averaged at least 2.4 stocks in each of his first two NBA campaigns, and he’s still eclipsing that mark on the season (1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game across 27 appearances), but over the aforementioned eight-game stretch, Jones has averaged just 0.6 steals and 0.3 blocks. Jones should be able to bounce back defensively eventually, but he’s currently doing more harm than good in category leagues and isn’t producing enough to be worthy of a roster spot in 12-team points leagues.

Wendell Carter Jr., Orlando Magic (64% rostered)

After missing about a month and a half with a broken finger, Carter has returned with underwhelming results. In his four latest appearances, he’s averaged 5.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 20.3 minutes. The center was also struggling at the beginning of the year before his injury. Mo Wagner and Goga Bitadze did a great job filling in for WCJ, and I won’t be surprised if the center slot becomes a platoon for the remainder of the season. In 14-team leagues with two starting center slots, I can understand a hesitancy to drop him. But even if he starts seeing 30 minutes with consistency, he’s hardly shown top-100 upside in the past. Unfortunately, managers with Wagner and Bitadze will probably have to move on as well, making it an only-losers scenario in fantasy.

Bruce Brown, Indiana Pacers (62% rostered)

During draft season, hopes were fairly high for Brown. He was coming off a championship season with the Nuggets. The assumption was he’d see more usage playing in Indiana’s offense rather than the Nikola Jokic-dominated Denver offense. But Tyrese Haliburton is dominating the Pacers offense, leaving only scraps for Brown. We’ve waited long enough for Brown to have some sort of breakout. He had a solid stretch in late November into early December, but it still only resulted in 13.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 32.9 minutes across 11 appearances. You can find that sort of production on the waiver wire without too much hassle. I don’t hate the idea of hanging onto him in 14-team leagues, but you can probably still stream the spot.

Kelly Oubre, Philadelphia 76ers (52% rostered)

Maybe instead of dropping Oubre, you can sell high, as he’s coming off a great 25-point performance on Christmas, where he added seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Joel Embiid was out for that game, so Oubre was entrusted with more of the offense. But in his nine prior appearances, he averaged just 10.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 22.3 minutes. Oubre needs about 30 minutes per game to be relevant in standard fantasy leagues. He’s averaging 0.9 fantasy points per minute, and he needed 32.3 minutes with elevated usage to rank 96th in nine-category leagues last season.

Brandon Miller, Charlotte Hornets (53% rostered)

Miller has been solid over the last 30 days, averaging 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 steals in 10 healthy appearances while shooting 40/41/81. He seems comfortable in Charlotte's offense, taking between 13-18 field-goal attempts in each of those 10 games. When the Hornets are healthy, he could have reduced usage, but Charlotte seems to have some of the worst injury luck in the NBA. I don't believe he absolutely needs to be rostered in 12-team leagues, especially when his rostered spot could be used to stream players with favorable schedules instead.