No matter how extensive you prep for your Fantasy basketball draft, there's always at least one player on your roster each season who inevitably disappoints relative to expectations. The reasons are plentiful – injuries, unexpected role changes, and age-related decline are among the most common – and being saddled with multiple busts in one draft haul can easily derail your season. Therefore, taking heed of where some of the red flags exist can help you avoid disaster.
As the 2020-21 campaign gets set to tip off, here are seven players to consider downgrading in drafts this season:
Kemba Walker, Celtics
Walker's first season in Boston was marred by knee issues that have carried over into the start of the 2020-21 season. In fact, the veteran guard won't make his debut until mid-January at the earliest, and word is he won't play on any back-to-back sets. Factor in the presence of a reliable backup in Jeff Teague, and you have a recipe for what sets up as likely the most underwhelming campaign of Walker's career. Walker will come at a discount on draft night, but be sure not to pull the trigger too early.
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Kyrie Irving, Nets
The argument for Irving as a bust is similar to Walker's: It all comes down to games played. Irving is healthier than Walker coming into the season, but he's racked up a concerning track record of lost time over the last several seasons. Irving bottomed out with just 20 appearances last season, but he'd already missed at least 15 games in three of the previous four campaigns. When healthy, Irving is one of the best Fantasy guards in the NBA, but he has to be treated as a significant injury risk until he proves otherwise.
Marcus Morris, Clippers
Morris returned to the Clippers this offseason on a four-year, $64 million deal, but he may have some trouble living up to both contractual and draft expectations. The 31-year-old is already dealing with a knee issue that's caused him to miss the first two preseason games and has no official timetable for return. He'll also have a higher-usage and more versatile frontcourt partner in Serge Ibaka this coming season, which could easily result in Morris' overall production taking a hit.
Zion Williamson, Pelicans
Even after an injury-riddled rookie campaign, the Zion hype has not subsided in the least. To his credit, Williamson was an ultra-efficient scorer for the 24 games we saw him last season, averaging 22.5 points on better than 58 percent shooting. But he didn't do a whole lot else. Williamson's 6.3 rebounds per game were good-not-great for a player with his size and athleticism, and his passing (2.1 APG) wasn't quite to the level most expected. Defensively, Williamson accounted for just 1.1 combined blocks and steals per game -- a far cry from his elite production at the college level. With another year to prepare and recover, it's quite possible Williamson will look even better in Year 2. But based on what he's shown so far, his real-life basketball value far exceeds his fantasy value. On a per-game basis, Williamson ranked outside the top 90 last season.
Danilo Gallinari, Hawks
Gallinari slides into a second-unit role with the Hawks, which could very well lead to a drop in production after another rock solid -- 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game -- season. The veteran sharpshooter will operate behind John Collins, who should see a significant workload as long as he's healthy. Lloyd Pierce will still carve out a sizable role for Gallinari off the bench, but on a Hawks team that added a ton of depth in the offseason, his opportunities will likely be more sparse.
Caris LeVert, Nets
LeVert is a fine player with a versatile skill set, but he'll have the misfortune of frequently sharing the floor with a pair of usage monsters in Irving and Kevin Durant. In the nine games LeVert and Irving played together at the beginning of last season, LeVert had a couple of single-digit point tallies and averaged 16.8 points per game overall. In the 40 games LeVert played without Irving, that figure jumped up to 19.3 points per game. LeVert also held a 31.4 percent usage rate playing without Irving, compared to 22.2 percent in that nine-game sample alongside him. Adding Durant into the mix should only result in a further hit to those numbers.
Draymond Green, Warriors
Green played in 43 of the Warriors' 65 games last season due to an assortment of injuries. The veteran forward turns 31 in March and has been limited throughout the preseason. Even with Klay Thompson's injury, Golden State is also in exponentially better shape than a year ago with the return of Stephen Curry and addition of Kelly Oubre. Green has never been a score-first player, but he'll be the Warriors fourth option, at best, on most nights. While Green should remain a strong source of out-of-position assists, his defensive production isn't what it once was, and he hasn't been a legitimate three-point threat for a few years now.
