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In another trade before the fast approaching deadline the New Orleans Hornets acquired Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and DeVon Hardin from Oklahoma City Thunder for Tyson Chandler.
What impact will this trade have on your fantasy teams?
Joe Smith and DeVon Hardin won't make an impact at all so that leaves it to Tyson Chandler and Chris Wilcox.
Tyson, who missed the last 13 games with a sprained left ankle has a significant drop in productivity thus far compared to last season.
I even drafted him in one of my leagues as I expected him to be a force this season, having accounted for 11.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game the previous year. After a month I dropped him and he hasn't tickled my fancy ever since. That won't change even after this trade.
Up to this point Chandler recorded 8.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He won't have the same understanding with Russell Westbrook as he had with Chris Paul. Remember the alley-oops? In fact, I'd be surprised if Chandler could hang on to the numbers he has right now. He may well be able to score about as many points as he did for the Hornets but he will have fewer rebounds, seeing that opponents are usually more accurate when they play the Thunder.
The big winner is Chris Wilcox. His season has been pretty disappointing so far. He's averaging 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in a little more than 19 minutes. That is certainly below the expectations you may have had and it comes to no surprise that I saw him on virtually every waiver wire in my leagues. This should change rather sooner than later.
I do expect Wilcox to become a starter and I most certainly expect him to log more minutes per game. I would not be surprised if he scored 12 – 12.5 points per game and a little less than 8 rebounds during his tenure with the Hornets.
If you’re in a deep league you should seriously consider acquiring Chris Wilcox. He has double eligibility as PF and C and Centers don’t come by easy this year.
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