NBA

Staff Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap: How Far Did Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry Fall?

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Round 1

PickOverallPlayerTeamPositionWriter
11Russell WestbrookOKCPGMike Comerford
22James HardenHOUPG/SG/SFR.J. Walsh
33Karl-Anthony TownsMINCShae Cronin
44Stephen CurryGSWPG/SGDerek Lynch
55Giannis AntetokounmpoMILPG/SG/SFJordan Sharp
66Kevin DurantGSWSF/PFBrett Oswalt
77Kawhi LeonardSASSG/SFSam Hauss
88Chris PaulLACPGBrad Leibfried
99LeBron JamesCLESF/PFBrandon Gdula
1010Anthony DavisNOPPF/CRussell Peddle
1111DeMarcus CousinsSACPF/CJay Kim
1212Paul GeorgeINDSF/PFDale Redman


Mike Comerford got the ball rolling by selecting Russell Westbrook with the first overall pick. Some years, there is a clear and obvious selection at the top of the draft, but this season, you could make a case for at least three to four different guys. Westbrook is definitely one of them, considering what he's capable of now that Kevin Durant is out of town and he's the clear-cut alpha dog in Oklahoma City. We're projecting Russ to average 27.8 points, 1.7 triples, 8.6 rebounds, 10.6 assists, and 2.1 steals per contest, and there's no denying that a line like that justifies a first overall pick.

Westbrook is only fourth in our projections, however, trailing Stephen Curry, the aforementioned Durant, and James Harden. People might be hesitant to draft Curry or Durant at the top out of fear that they'll concede too much playing with each other, but they'll both still have sky-high usage rates and more category juice than you'll know what to do with. As for Harden, he fills up the box score in so many places that he always belongs at or near the top of draft boards. Picking between those four is going to come down to a matter of preference.

The trendy first-round picks this year are Karl-Anthony Towns and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and they went 3rd and 5th to Shae Cronin and Jordan Sharp respectively. Towns was huge in his rookie season, finishing 12th in nine-category leagues and he's a fine pick up in this range, particularly in keeper and dynasty formats. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, had a bona fide breakout last year, finishing 28th in nine-category leagues last year, but ranking 14th after the All-Star break. We have Towns at 9th and Giannis at 11th in our projections.

People seem to be bored of drafting guys like Chris Paul and LeBron James these days, but they make super solid late-round selections this year. CP3 has finished ranked in the top-six in nine-category leagues for nine years running (and we have him projected at sixth again) and shouldn't be overlooked for his value in absolutely every single category outside of blocks (game on if you're punting them). There's always talk of LeBron missing oodles of time, but he's played in 76 or more games in three of the last four seasons. I'm not that concerned.

My pick: It wasn't that long ago that Anthony Davis was viewed as an obvious first overall pick in fantasy hoops, but people are growing tired of his injury history and the fact that he's never topped 68 games in any of his four seasons. Still, we're projecting him to average 25.4 points, 0.6 threes, 10.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.4 blocks, and 1.9 turnovers per contest, while shooting 49.6% from the field and 75.8% from the charity stripe. I'll take that all day at the 10th pick and hope for the best.