Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg recorded his best fantasy game of the season in a win against the Lakers.
The penultimate week of the regular season continued to deliver some noteworthy individual fantasy performances as teams began their final push for playoff positioning. While one mainstay in our top five, Luka Dončić, missed the cut due to a one-game suspension and subsequent serious hamstring injury, we still have a star-studded upper echelon this week.
The following players averaged the most fantasy points per game last week (one-game minimum):
#1. Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
Last Week: 78.60 FP/G Season Rank: 5 (55.0 FP/G)
Wembanyama has increasingly made himself a constant presence near the top of the heap as the season has unfolded, with the 2023 first overall pick fully blossoming into a force at both ends of the floor in his third NBA campaign. Wemby put together another well-rounded array of elite numbers in Week 23, churning out a trio of double-doubles and averaging 38.7 points, 17.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 blocks per contest across 33.0 minutes per game. The highly versatile seven-footer achieved that stellar scoring average largely through 62.1% shooting, including 38.9% from behind the arc, and he also converted 93.1% of his 9.7 free-throw attempts per game. Wemby also pulled down at least 16 rebounds and recorded at least three blocks in each contest, including five in Saturday’s 136-134 loss to the Nuggets.
#2. Nikola Jokić, Nuggets
Last Week: 69.5 FP/G Season Rank: 1 (69.2 FP/G)
Jokić was another big man that brought his A game in Week 23, and he saved his best for the just-mentioned showdown against Wembanyama and the Spurs. The Joker impressively tallied 40 points alongside 13 assists, eight rebounds and a trio of blocks in the tough matchup, going 13-for-25 from the floor and 13-for-15 from the line. Jokić was much more of a facilitator in his one other Week 23 game, as he posted a 15-point, 17-rebound, 12-assist triple-double and took a scant 10 shots in a 130-117 win over the Jazz on Wednesday, a reminder of how much he still impacts a game when finding teammates for good looks.
#3. Jayson Tatum, Celtics
Last Week: 63.8 FP/G Season Rank: 19 (46.5 FP/G)
Tatum is perhaps the most intriguing name on this week’s list from a big-picture standpoint, as these past three games may have finally cemented the fact the star forward’s lightning-fast recovery from a torn Achilles is a rousing success. Moreover, Tatum seems to be fully capitalizing on the unique advantage of having much more cumulative rest and less wear and tear at this point in the season than most of the players unsuccessfully trying to slow him down, as he’s looked dominant in every facet. He sat out the Celtics’ first game of the week for injury management purposes, but JT returned to average 23.7 points, 14.0 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 2.7 steals across 34.0 minutes per contest over Boston’s subsequent three contests. Not only did Tatum help spearhead wins in all of them, but he played a key role in vaulting his team to 133- and 147-point tallies in lopsided wins over the Heat and Bucks.
#4. Cooper Flagg, Mavericks
Last Week: 56.7 FP/G Season Rank: 31 (43.2 FP/G)
Flagg grabbed some headlines in his own right this week, one that might be looked back on as the one where he fully arrived as a pro after building up plenty of momentum since the All-Star break. The rookie No. 1 overall pick became the youngest player in league history to score 50+ points in a game when he hung 51 on the Magic in a 138-127 loss on Wednesday, and he followed that feat up by pouring in another 45 in Sunday’s 134-128 win over LeBron James and his short-handed Lakers. Flagg put the offense on his shoulders in both games, going a whopping 33-for-57 from the floor – including 8-for-13 from behind the arc – and an outstanding 22-for-24 from the free-throw line. Additionally, with the latter effort, he became the first rookie since Allen Iverson to post consecutive 40-point-plus tallies, while his 96 combined points in the two games were the most by a rookie in back-to-back games since Wilt Chamberlain.
#5. Deni Avdija, Trail Blazers
Last Week: 56.0 FP/G Season Rank: 13 (48.5 FP/G)
The Blazers had an abbreviated two-game week during the just-completed scoring period, but the 2020 first-round pick made good use of his opportunities. Avdija wasn’t at his sharpest from the floor (42.9% shooting), but he partly made up for it by converting on 84% of his free-throw attempts. He ultimately delivered 27.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.0 steals across 35.5 minutes per contest, generating one double-double and leading Portland to another pair of important late-season victories over the Clippers and Pelicans.
This week’s preview:
The following players are top fantasy point producers and play at least two games next week with fewer than two matchups against top-10 defenses:
James Harden, CLE (49.3 FP/G) – @MEM, ATL, @ATL, WAS
Donovan Mitchell, CLE (49.1 FP/G) – @MEM, ATL, @ATL, WAS
Kawhi Leonard, LAC (48.4 FP/G) – DAL, OKC, @POR, GSW
Kevin Durant, HOU (46.0 FP/G) – @PHO, PHI, MIN, MEM
Jayson Tatum, BOS (46.5 FP/G) – CHA, @NYK, NOP, ORL
