Despite his age and wear, Marc Gasol joining the show in Toronto creates a wave in the fantasy world -- especially if you happen to roster Gasol in season-long.
For starters, Gasol moves from a slow, grinding team in Memphis that ranks dead last in pace to a potent and proficient Raptors squad that ranks in the upper third in the league in offensive rating, points per game, and pace. It’ll be a sight to see given how accustomed we’ve become to watching Gasol in a slow-burn system, but count it as a plus for his fantasy value moving through the rest of the regular season.
The North also provides Gasol with a strong supporting cast which not only helps his own scoring stats by way of tempo and space, but also his numbers as a passer and facilitator. From the looks of things, Gasol should slide into Toronto and see an uptick in nearly every fantasy category.
As for price in daily fantasy, a jump into the $9,000 range would be less than ideal, but we’ll monitor and gauge it before bashing it or running for the hills. Gasol is averaging just shy of 40 FanDuel points over his last nine games, and assuming the improved outlook, rostering him in the $8,000 range seems more than fair.
The Raptors take on the Knicks tomorrow night before facing the Nets and Wizards next week.