Mark C Dynasty Rankings – August 2023

Here it is – my first full-set of Dynasty Rankings! These rankings are for standard 9-cat leagues.

Keep in mind these rankings are not one-size fits all! Rankings can and should be adjusted depending on whether your team is contending, rebuilding, or somewhere in-between; they are not meant to be set in stone. That is the reasoning of the color shading, representing the tiers I have ranked players. Players within a tier are relatively closer in rank than players in separate tiers and can help you adjust the rankings to your team situation.

Mark C’s FREE Dynasty Category Rankings – August 2023

Rank	Player	Age	Team	Notes
1	Nikola Jokic	28.5	Denver	King of Fantasy. Rare combination of elite boards, assists, FG% at center spot. Doesn't hurt you really in any categories. Plenty of years left in the tank for elite contribution.
2	Luka Doncic	24.5	Dallas	Hurts in FT% but can build around that. Elite triple double stats and has improved FG% and steals to be positives. Luka still hasn't entered his prime years yet.
3	Victor Wembanyama	19.6	San Antonio	Should enter a near-perfect situation in San Antonio. High-value fantasy stat set with blocks, FG%, points, boards. Most likely will develop a relialbe 3. Some mild concerns with injury history and rookie. Should be solid contributor to rosters early on.
4	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	25.1	Oklahoma City	Elite bucket-getter who gets it done with points and FT%. Chips in across board with great steal rate and out of position blocks, with some boards and assists. Room to improve his deep ball and round out his game further.
5	Tyrese Haliburton	23.5	Indiana	One of the elite passers in the league, bringing elite assists and low TOs. Great FG% especially with volume of threes. Needs to up scoring usage to climb even higher.
6	Jayson Tatum	25.5	Boston	Uber-consistent player with both stats and playtime. High volume of threes keeps FG% down a bit. Great all-around game with little fantasy holes.
7	Joel Embiid	29.4	Philadelphia	Injuries and career longevity a concern, but played 68 and 66 games last two years. Elite big man stats (boards, blocks, FG%) with great FT% and points is an amazing combination. I'd expect a few more elite years.
8	LaMelo Ball	22.0	Charlotte	Fantastic assists and threes, along with solid points, boards, and steals. Some minor injury concerns. I do have some FG% concerns due to poor midrange and interior finishing and not elite FT%, but you can build around both.
9	Anthony Edwards	22.1	Minnesota	Still only 22 yet already has a 14th finish in 9cat total-game value. Durability and minutes played huge pluses for someone this young and talented. Great scorer who has improved deep ball and steals. Efficiency should continue to rise as he ages into prime. Lack of high-end assists is my only major concern and may led Ant to be a top-10 or 15 player rather than a top-5.
10	Trae Young	24.9	Atlanta	Category winner in assists and FT% keeps Trae high for me. Solid points, steals, threes as well. Hurts in FG% and blocks, but a good stat combination for punt builds.
11	Giannis Antetokounmpo	28.7	Milwaukee	Defensive stats and FT% dropped heavily compared to previous years. Still a fantastic source of points, boards, FG%, and out of position assists. Will have to see if defensive stats and FT% can jump back up.
12	Jaren Jackson Jr.	23.9	Memphis	Can single handedly carry blocks category. His potential to up scoring (points, threes, and efficiency) will be true key for Jaren to be fantasy superstar. Still decent in those cats today, but that's the improvement area.
13	Chet Holmgren	21.3	Oklahoma City	Has the profile to be strong in blocks and boards. Can do a little bit of everything from a fantasy perspective and shouldn't ding you anywhere. A strong flexible building block in fantasy, and I'm not overly concerned with future injuries yet.
14	Donovan Mitchell	27.0	Cleveland	An elite scorer who made some strides in efficiency and steals to round out fantasy game. Those improvements may not stick fully but allows for upside compared to other shooting guards.
15	Karl-Anthony Towns	27.8	Minnesota	Towns' injury and Wolves' season are masking what Towns brings to fantasy. Playing on perimeter more with Gobert could limit blocks which limits the ceiling slightly from top-10 to top-20 player.
16	Darius Garland	23.6	Cleveland	Youth and assists help push Garland up the rankins. Has room for a little growth in usage and efficiency but perhaps not as much as you would think. A reliable fantasy player who isn't even 24 nor in his prime yet.
17	Devin Booker	26.8	Phoenix	Should get chances for greater assists with Chris Paul being traded away. Great in points and efficient on his volume and just entering prime.
18	Bam Adebayo	26.1	Miami	Well-rounded big whose only fantasy flaw is lack of threes. A chance his blocks and assists could bump up, but if not Bam still has a solid floor.
19	Cade Cunningham	21.9	Detroit	Has shown he can provide counting stats with the usage, but I'm worried about subpar self-creation holding back his usage in the coming years. This year will show a lot for me. Still has a solid fantasy floor.
20	Scoot Henderson	19.6	Portland	In case you can't tell, I value high-usage creators a lot. Scoot has franchise player potential; improvement in shot will determine fantasy ceiling. I'd expect Scoot to develop into a Ja Morant-type fantasy stat line - points and assists with other goodies.
21	Evan Mobley	22.2	Cleveland	Offense hasn't come along as we'd expect and is such a disciplined rim protector may not see uber-elite blocks. But future projected time at center should yield more block opportunites and boards. Mobley is young enough that he could see big offensive growth in the coming years.
22	Kevin Durant	34.9	Phoenix	Shouldn't need to score as much in Phoenix but could provide more secondary stats, namely blocks and assists. A well-rounded fantasy game should exist for at least one more year for win-now teams.
23	Damian Lillard	33.1	Portland	Arguably just had his best offensive season yet. Perennial top-10 fantasy player barring injury. I'm not that worried about a trade because Lillard is too good to not see the usage he has seen.
24	Stephen Curry	35.4	Golden State	Another win-now player and top-10 fantasy player. Expect 1-2 years with typical Steph fun. The departure of Poole means Warriors may rely on his scoring more.
25	Anthony Davis	30.5	LA Lakers	Only injures push him down. AD provides everything you want from a big man along with great scoring on top.
26	Paolo Banchero	20.8	Orlando	Paolo is on the path to provide great counting stats, and FG% should improve as finishing gets better. Questions on 3pt shot and FT% could limit ceiling and lock managers into punt build with him.
27	Domantas Sabonis	27.3	Sacramento	Consistent hub of the offense for years. Deficient in stocks and 3s but gives everything else nicely. Extension locks him into role on the Kings, and I'd expect similar production going forward.
28	Lauri Markkanen	26.3	Utah	His percentages may have been high, but I didn't really see anything unsustainable about his performance last season. If he continues to score this efficiently, he'll demand the usage. Efficient scoring with high points and boards.
29	Kristaps Porzingis	28.1	Boston	New team change could lower usage some. Boston needs some bailout offense though, which is what KP can provide. Another big man stats + high points total here. Early career injury concerns mask how good he's been. I am slighlty concerned about recent plantar fasciitis but believe he'll be ready and cleared for start of season.
30	Kyrie Irving	31.4	Dallas	Off-court...concerns...and injuries are worrisome aspects. But per-game he's a top-10 player with elite efficiency and volume scoring. Should still have some prime years ahead, and Dallas needs his scoring and usage.
31	Mikal Bridges	27.0	Brooklyn	The quintessential roto player suddenly stacked scoring with increased usage. Nothing about it seems super flukey and with a similar roster in Brooklyn, we could see similar level of production the entire season.
32	Zion Williamson	23.1	New Orleans	Hyper-efficient volume scorer but has glaring holes in FT% and little in 3s. FT% punt is one of the easier punts; the much larger concern is injuries. Another troublesome year could see Zion's value plummet. Epitome of a boom-bust player.
33	Ja Morant	24.0	Memphis	Another player who brings the elite points-assists-usage trio. Has his warts (games missed due to injuries and off-court reasons) but still brings solid fantasy game. Nagging injuries are a little worrisome.
34	Desmond Bane	25.2	Memphis	A rare fairly efficient shooter who has shown great strides increasing his playmaking game. Additional modest gains in steals and assists can push his fantasy game even higher. Extension ties Bane to a Memphis system that utilizes him well.
35	Myles Turner	27.4	Indiana	A lot of Turner's value may be tied up in blocks, but playing more center helped his points, boards, and FG% to increase. Playing next to an elite table-setter in Haliburton can't hurt as well.
36	Jaylen Brown	26.8	Boston	Brown may be close to maxed out with his limited handles and vision, but nothing wrong in fantasy with a high scoring fairly efficient wing who chips in boards threes and steals as well.
37	Scottie Barnes	22.1	Toronto	I'm skeptical if Scottie will ever be an efficient driver of offense. But his well-rounded fantasy game will keep his floor high. If he continues to tap into his defensive ability, he could be a 9cat monster.
38	Dejounte Murray	26.9	Atlanta	Even with a high usage player in Trae Young, Murray still produced top-40 numbers on a per-game basis. No real reasons to be concerned about his game going forward. New contract ties him to Hawks for the near-term.
39	De'Aaron Fox	25.7	Sacramento	In a system finally geared towards his strengths, Fox took a leap in his play, with major gains in efficiency. While those gains could be a high water mark, anything close to it leads Fox to be a consistent top-45 option for the foreseeable future.
40	Jalen Williams	22.4	Oklahoma City	With Mikal Bridges' ascension, Jalen Williams is taking the roto king title vacancy. A versatile wing player who can provide value across the board and should see his room grow alongside a fun OKC core. Not concerned with all the bodies there - Williams is good enough to be a part of it.
41	Jalen Brunson	27.0	New York	First year fully at the reigns and produced top-45 value. Game may not have much room for growth but locked into a lead creation role.
42	Zach LaVine	28.5	Chicago	Slow first month last year hid yet another high-scoring efficient LaVine year. You know what you're getting from him at this point - strong points and 3s.
43	Jamal Murray	26.5	Denver	Scorching playoff run but hasn't always put it together in regular season. Should have full complement of games fully recovered from ACL, and I'll be watching to see if Playoff Murray can keep it up.
44	Walker Kessler	22.1	Utah	Already an elite source of blocks and a top rim protector as a rookie. Should lead to more playing time and thus more points and boards. Will most likely never be a high usage player but Gobert-lite/even is quite apt.
45	Fred VanVleet	29.5	Houston	While VanVleet may not approach the same scoring levels with all the mouths to feed in Houston, he was still brought in to help initiate the offense and provide stout defense. Expect some losses in counting stats but gains in efficiency without FVV needing to press as much.
46	Alperen Sengun	21.1	Houston	I am down on Sengun relatively due to my belief he won't be a great real-life center, keeping his minutes down. We know what he can bring if he gets the minutes and love the per-min stats; I just struggle to see he fully actualize on it.
47	James Harden	34.0	Philadelphia	Scoring has dipped from peak but has been more efficient in seasons late; not as much a drag. Still an uber elite source of assists and should give you that for two seasons. With recent news, have to factor in Harden coming into the year unfit and not conditioned for NBA basketball.
48	OG Anunoby	26.1	Toronto	Consistent source of steals. On-ball offense never materialized but can still contribute some 3s and other stats adequately. Enjoy the production but don't expect any major gains.
49	Pascal Siakam	29.4	Toronto	Starting to get out of prime years and the stocks on decline places Siakam here for me. Still provides solid all-around counting stats on not too damaging efficiency, which is a very useful fantasy player.
50	Josh Giddey	20.9	Oklahoma City	Another counting stats player who needs to improve efficiency and defense to continue seeing the usage he does. He has improved on both aspects but needs to continue doing so on an ascendent Thunder team.

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August 25, 2023, 9:17 pm