Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we pose a question to a panel of ESPN fantasy basketball experts to gauge their thoughts on a hot topic.
Today's contributors are ESPN Fantasy's Jim McCormick, Kyle Soppe, Joe Kaiser and André Snellings.
The trade deadline in standard ESPN leagues is noon ET on Wednesday, Feb 21. Name a player you recommend trading away prior to the deadline because you think he will fail to live up to most people's expectations during the stretch run.
Kyle Soppe: Blake Griffin. Yes, I'm aware of how good he has been since joining the Pistons, but so is everyone else ... and I believe there is too much optimism surrounding his fantasy stock. The counting numbers are encouraging, but Griffin's shift to a perimeter-oriented role scares me enough to capitalize on his trade value.
Did you know that Griffin (a lifetime 31.1 percent 3-point shooter) has attempted four more 3-pointers than Klay Thompson (42.3 percent) during his past six games?
I worry that his distancing from the rim hurts his rebound numbers and puts into question the stability of his scoring, two negatives that are enough for me to field offers, given the excitement surrounding him right now.
Jim McCormick: I think the Timberwolves' surge masks disappointing statistical campaigns from both Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague. Even with heavy minutes and touches for each player, the results are undoubtedly sub-par.
It's fitting to find Teague just behind Ricky Rubio on the Player Rater at 19th among point guards during the past month and 21st at the position for the full season. Teague simply isn't aggressive as a scorer in this scheme; he's attempted 45 percent fewer free throws per game than last season.
There is still likely some name value worth marketing for both veterans, particularly with Wiggins. Your peers might not fully grasp how hollow Wiggins' production has proved to be this season -- he's 97th on the Player Rater over the past month -- thus there remains a solid window to deal him.
Trade targets such as Dario Saric, Nikola Mirotic or even Michael Beasley make sense in my opinion.
André Snellings: The player whom I would trade away is LaMarcus Aldridge, based on the strength of the recent "vote of confidence" that Kawhi Leonard will return "sometime before the season ends".
While this might mean that Leonard doesn't return until late in the season, that would actually be potentially worse for Aldridge managers, since that return timing would be right in the midst of the fantasy playoffs.
During the past seven games that Aldridge played with Leonard, he averaged 17.9 points on 44.1 FG%, with 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists. During his other 47 games this season, Aldridge averaged a more impressive 23.1 points (50.9 FG%), 8.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
Joe Kaiser: The player whom I'd trade away is Joel Embiid, as he has yet to prove that he can hold up over the course of a full 82-game season.
After sitting out his first two NBA seasons and playing only 31 games last season, the talented big man has appeared in 44 of Philadelphia's 54 games this season and is putting up numbers impressive enough to be considered a top-25 fantasy player.
What that means is his fantasy value is high, and he is sure to bring back a solid haul in any trade he's involved in, whether it be two top-50-type players or a different top-25 talent.