NBA free agency is just around the corner for 2023 and, as always, it will be the most fun, chaotic period of the league calendar. It presents an opportunity for teams to improve their rosters, whether through signings or via the trade market, and some big names could be on the move through either channel. The fantasy values of players will be affected one way or another and in this piece, we’ll be looking at notable players who could be looking at a wild swing in value depending on how things go.

Kevin Porter Jr.

PG, Houston Rockets

This one is going under Kevin Porter Jr., but it might as well be the entire Rockets team. Houston is one of the few teams with ample money to toss around and all rumors indicate that they’re ready to do so. The big one is their alleged pursuit of James Harden, though that has cooled in recent weeks. Now the talk of the town is that Houston is considering a run at Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Brook Lopez, with Austin Reaves also a name of note. The Rockets aren’t shooting for bargains, there — VanVleet and Lopez are probably the top available names at their respective positions while Reaves is going to get a Lakers-related bump in value around the league on top of him already being quite good in his own right. Consider that the Rockets are already entering the season with:

Kevin Porter Jr.
Jalen Green
Amen Thompson
Cam Whitmore
Alperen Sengun
Jabari Smith Jr.
Tari Eason
Jae’Sean Tate
Kenyon Martin Jr. (for now)

That’s nine players who have strong claim to regular minutes; you could expand it to younger players who need playing time like Usman Garuba, TyTy Washington and Josh Christopher. Someone, or two, is already going to get the squeeze in terms of minutes, and we don’t know how Ime Udoka values these guys to begin with. He also didn’t take this job to steer another lengthy rebuild; Udoka was brought in to channel some of this talent into wins, with veteran help being brought in accordingly. This has the potential to be a big mess for fantasy purposes.

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