NBA Draft Winners and Losers: Which rookies can make a fantasy impact and who will have to wait?

Round 1 of the 2024 NBA Draft is over, but we’ll get another dose of draft season on Thursday as the second round gets underway at 4 p.m. ET. With several surprises in the first round, we’ll see what value slipped into Day 2 and which team will potentially draft Bronny James.

As analysts continue to dole out their initial draft grades, I’ll provide the fantasy basketball draft winners and losers and assess the impact of some trades that went down before or during the draft. Here we go!

Draft winners

France

France is becoming the new mecca for basketball prospects. The first two picks this year were French, with F Zaccharie Risacher going first overall to the Atlanta Hawks and F/C Alex Sarr going second to the Washington Wizards. Four Frenchmen were selected in the top 25 (a new record), with PF Tidjane Salaün going sixth to the Charlotte Hornets and G Pacôme Dadiet going 25th to the New York Knicks.

Of the four Frenchmen selected on Wednesday, Sarr has the most potential to contribute right away for fantasy managers as the Wizards are approaching a full-scale teardown.

Zaccharie Risacher (right) and Alex Sarr (left) were the top two picks in the 2024 draft. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

The Washington Wizards

Trading Deni Avdija was a deal I didn’t see coming, but it makes sense after seeing Washington’s corresponding moves. That move cleared the deck for Bilal Coulibaly. Coulibaly’s play in the offseason (Summer League or Paris Olympics) will likely dictate how high he’s drafted in fantasy leagues ahead of next season. Still, a late-round pick is reasonable, considering his stock potential and an expanded role in the offense.

I envision a similar opportunity for second-overall pick Alex Sarr. He said he wanted to play in DC over Atlanta because he’d get more playing time as a rookie. He also has some late-round appeal due to the Wizards’ extremely thin frontcourt, and his athleticism and versatility help fantasy managers in the stocks and boards department.

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Back to the Avdija trade for a moment, in going to Portland, the Wizards received buyout candidate…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-27 14:09:07

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