Shaq Traded to Suns? Fantasy Impact
If the rumor becomes reality and Shaquille O’Neal gets traded to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks, this will be a huge trade in the NBA and a huge trade for fantasy basketball.
Looking at it from an NBA perspective, the Suns are doing this trade to try to win a championship this season. They’re small ball formula simply wasn’t going to get them past teams like the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers with Pau Gasol. Now, with O’Neal on their side, the Suns suddenly have a chance to win a championship. It was a risky trade by general manager Steve Kerr because of Shaq’s age and health, but it was a trade that improves the Suns’ chances of winning a championship this season.
In the fantasy world, the most important player being moved is Shawn Marion. On the run and gun Suns, Marion was one of the best fantasy players in all the land. Will he still be great on the Miami Heat? He should still be very good but there’s a chance that his fantasy numbers come tumbling down. The good news is he should get more touches in Miami. The bad news is he doesn’t have Steve Nash to spoon feed him easy baskets and he’ll join a team that is going nowhere fast.
Overall, you simply have to take a wait and see approach with Marion. He’s played well without Nash in the past so all hope isn’t lost. But this is a bad situation in Miami. If you can trade him and get good value for him, go ahead and trade Marion now because he’s not going to become a better fantasy player. At best, he’ll remain at the same level.
In fantasy basketball, O’Neal has become a bit of an outcast in recent years due to his horrible free throw percentage and high turnovers. However, you might take a look at him now that he’s in Phoenix. His field goal percentage should go through the roof playing with Nash and he should be motivated to finish the season of strongly. If you want to take a risk, betting on vintage Shaq performances from here on out is a decent bet to make. Injuries would probably be your biggest enemy.
The sleeper of this trade is Marcus Banks. Pick him up immediately if you have the roster room. He should start in Miami before long and could produce pretty well. He was a bad fit in Phoenix but he has the ability to beat out Jason Williams for the starting job and is a player who could put up 14 points and five assists a night.
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POSTED IN: NBA News, Player Analysis, nba trades
1 opinion for Shaq Traded to Suns? Fantasy Impact
Jason
Feb 12, 2008 at 2:32 pm
It’s interesting to see how much of an impact Shaq has been to the different teams he’s been on. I look to the Suns to be a dangerous team come playoff time!
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