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Fantasy Basketball Mailbag: Is Myles Turner worth keeping?

Hopefully, you are having a ton of fantasy basketball success. We are more than a month into the season, and there are still multiple questions popping up regarding NBA teams day after day.

Before Week 7 tips off, I took your questions from Twitter and Instagram to try and provide some clarity to the confusion. Let’s get to it.

@hustlehard822 Is it worth it to pick-up Tyus Jones?

With Ja Morant on a week-to-week timetable for Memphis, Tyus Jones is the starter for that period of time. Given what we’ve seen for Jones over his career we know he can be a solid option for fantasy production, but in a standard points league, I wouldn’t go breaking the bank for him.

We may have two weeks of solid value, but even in that time, he may not crack the top 100 or average over 30 fantasy points a game.

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He is more of a 25-28 points per game type of guy who has more value in category leagues, but given his value seems to have a short-term limit, I’d be careful who I drop.

However, if you have a streaming spot available he is a strong addition.

@gel_man Is Myles Turner a drop?

This is a good question, which I am highlighting because it shows the impatience some fantasy managers have.

Yes, Turner has been struggling and is barely a top 100 player this season averaging just 27.81 fantasy points per game.

Myles Turner throwing his hands up in the air for the Indiana Pacers.
Myles Turner for the Indiana Pacers. (Getty Images)

That’s down from 33.42 he averaged last season. His usage has dropped playing with Domantas Sabonis and he is struggling to grab rebounds.

But a player like Turner has value. Even if he maintained his current production, which isn’t great, your league would have to have fewer than eight teams for Turner not to be useful.

So, no, he isn’t a drop. He should improve, but expecting last season’s numbers probably won’t work out well for you.

@duffykoe Who benefits from Al-Farouq Aminu’s injury? Any pick-ups?

I have been baffled by the number of people asking me about what happens with Aminu’s injury. If you haven’t heard Aminu has suffered a torn meniscus, which will keep him out months.

But I don’t get the interest. He is the 245th ranked player this season, playing 21 minutes a night.

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This isn’t last year’s Aminu, a starter for the Blazers. This is a guy who was out of the Magic’s rotation before Michael Carter-Williams and then Aaron Gordon got hurt. Wes Iwundu will step into Aminu’s role, but he is a do-nothing fantasy option, so unless your league is 20 teams deep, you can safely ignore this.

@sftwofive How do you see the Suns’ rotations when Deandre Ayton gets back and how do you think the fantasy breakdown will work for Ayton/Aron Baynes?

Baynesy has been great for Phoenix as the starting centre since Ayton was suspended for a PED violation. No-one can deny that.

Baynes is the 92nd ranked player in standard fantasy leagues in 24 minutes per game. But, when Ayton comes back, I see no reason why the Suns change things from opening night when Baynes barely played and Ayton saw 33 minutes.

Deandre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns during the NBA.
Deandre Ayton #22 of the Phoenix Suns during the second half of the NBA game against the Sacramento Kings. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Now, I do think Baynes will get all of the centre minutes that Ayton isn’t playing, but I doubt we see a 24/24 minutes split or that we see Baynes and Ayton playing together more than a couple of minutes per game.

I would be surprised to see Baynes play 24 minutes when Ayton is back and that will make him tough to continue to roster in fantasy basketball. What I would be doing is trying to ship Baynes off in a trade for another top 100 player now, before the spectre of Ayton returning becomes a reality.

There are plenty of people who believe Baynes could start over Ayton or next to him, but I am not one of those.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and keep an eye out for the next mailbag tweet to gather your questions.