Welcome to the 2022-23 Fantasy Basketball Week 7 Planner!
Hopefully, you can rouse yourself from your Thanksgiving coma to prep for the week ahead. We will start with an overview of the schedule, take a look at which teams and players to target and avoid, and try to plan around the injury list.
2022-23 Fantasy Basketball Week 7 Planner
Week 7 Overview
The upcoming week is filled with four and three-game schedules. Seventeen teams have a four-game slate, twelve teams have a three-game schedule, and just one team, the Miami Heat, has a two-gamer.
In Daily Leagues it is important to pay attention to Tuesday and Thursday, with three and one-game schedules, respectively. Tuesday will host the Warriors, Knicks, Mavericks, Trailblazers, Pistons, and Clippers. Thursday's lone matchup is between Detroit and Dallas. The Pistons, therefore, look like the team to focus on in order to optimize both low-volume game days. Cade Cunningham is looking down the barrel for potential surgery, and there are recent injuries to Sadiq Bey, Bojan Bogdanovich, and Isaiah Stewart. Waiver wire grabs abound, such as Alec Burks who has been a top 65 player in the past 7 days, while Marvin Bagley is putting up 7th-round value during that time. Both are rostered in under 35% of Yahoo leagues.
Status alert: Bojan Bogdanovic (knee) helped to locker room Friday.
— Underdog NBA (@Underdog__NBA) November 26, 2022
For Weekly Leagues, there's an abundance of four-game streamers that can be had. Bruce Brown, Thaddeus Young, and Torrey Craig are the top four-game waiver wire grabs for week 7. Be aware of the back-to-back rest risks. Particularly Golden State, with a 3-game week and back-to-backs on Friday/Saturday. Klay Thompson should be assumed to sit one of those, as has been the case all year, giving him just 2 games. The Clippers have a back-to-back on a 3 game week as well, and if Paul George or Kawhi Leonard are cleared to play this week, it would likely be for just 2 games, as well.
Week 7 Schedule Grid
| TEAM | GAMES | SUN:W6 | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY | MON: W8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # Games Played | 9 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| Atlanta Hawks | 3 | MIA | @PHI | @ORL | DEN | OKL | ||||
| Boston Celtics | 4 | WAS | CHA | MIA | MIA | @BRO | @TOR | |||
| Brooklyn Nets | 4 | POR | ORL | WAS | TOR | BOS | ||||
| Charlotte Hornets | 3 | @BOS | WAS | MIL | LAC | |||||
| Chicago Bulls | 4 | @UTA | @PHX | @GSW | @SAC | |||||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 4 | @DET | @TOR | PHI | ORL | @NYK | ||||
| Dallas Mavericks | 3 | @MIL | GSW | @DET | @NYK | PHX | ||||
| Denver Nuggets | 4 | HOU | HOU | @ATL | @NOP | |||||
| Detroit Pistons | 3 | CLE | NYK | DAL | MEM | |||||
| Golden State Warriors | 3 | @MIN | @DAL | CHI | HOU | IND | ||||
| Houston Rockets | 4 | @DEN | @DEN | @PHX | @GSW | PHI | ||||
| Indiana Pacers | 4 | @LAC | @LAL | @SAC | @UTA | @POR | @GSW | |||
| Los Angeles Clippers | 3 | IND | @POR | @UTA | SAC | @CHA | ||||
| Los Angeles Lakers | 4 | IND | POR | @MIL | @WAS | |||||
| Memphis Grizzlies | 3 | @NYK | @MIN | PHI | @DET | MIA | ||||
| Miami Heat | 2 | @ATL | @BOS | @BOS | @MEM | |||||
| Milwaukee Bucks | 3 | DAL | @NYK | LAL | @CHA | @ORL | ||||
| Minnesota Timberwolves | 3 | GSW | @WAS | MEM | OKL | |||||
| New Orleans Pelicans | 4 | OKL | TOR | @SAS | DEN | |||||
| Team | Games | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Mon: W8 |
| New York Knicks | 4 | MEM | @DET | MIL | DAL | CLE | ||||
| Oklahoma City Thunder | 3 | @NOP | SAS | @MIN | @ATL | |||||
| Orlando Magic | 4 | PHI | @BRO | ATL | @CLE | @TOR | MIL | |||
| Philadelphia 76ers | 3 | @ORL | ATL | @CLE | @MEM | @HOU | ||||
| Phoenix Suns | 4 | @SAC | CHI | HOU | @SAS | @DAL | ||||
| Portland Trail Blazers | 4 | @BRO | LAC | @LAL | @UTA | IND | ||||
| Sacramento Kings | 4 | PHX | IND | @LAC | CHI | |||||
| San Antonio Spurs | 3 | @OKL | NOP | PHX | ||||||
| Toronto Raptors | 4 | CLE | @NOP | @BRO | ORL | BOS | ||||
| Utah Jazz | 4 | CHI | LAC | IND | POR | |||||
| Washington Wizards | 4 | @BOS | MIN | @BRO | @CHA | LAL |
Team to Target
Denver Nuggets
Denver has a four-game schedule, no back-to-backs, and light-weight matchups against Houston twice. They also have competitive matchups against Atlanta and New Orleans which should ensure the starters get their full allotment of minutes. This should make for a potent week for all members of the Nuggets. However, it's most appealing for Bruce Brown and Bones Hyland, who sit under 58% rostered in Yahoo leagues. Both have played extremely well over the last two weeks and are assured minutes in both blowouts and close competitions.
Bruce Brown with a TRIPLE-DOUBLE tonight! 🔥
17 PTS, 13 REB, 10 AST pic.twitter.com/Ys37Zf5NyY
— Nuggets Nation (@NuggetsNationCP) November 24, 2022
Team to Avoid
Miami Heat
The Heat have just 2 games this week and are the only team in the NBA to have such a light schedule. To make matters worse, both games are against the Boston Celtics. Jimmy Butler is dealing with a knee injury while Tyler Herro is coming off an ankle sprain that he seemingly aggravated in his first game back. It would be difficult to justify starting any Heat player aside from Bam Adebayo this week, though Kyle Lowry has turned the clock back a decade over the past two weeks. Strongly consider an alternative 4-game streamer over any member of the Heat.
Injury List
New: Rob Williams' agent Kevin Bradbury told @wojespn that he expects the #Celtics will have their starting center back by Christmas https://t.co/5QGr6221LA
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) November 24, 2022
Short Term
Isaiah Stewart, C, DET - Stewart should be making his return early next week.
Kawhi Leonard, SF, LAC - Kawhi is now dealing with an ankle sprain on top of his ACL recovery. Don't expect much from him before 2023 begins.
Paul George, SF, LAC - News on PG's hamstring tendon strain has been minimal and vague. He is day-to-day and hopefully returns early in week 7.
Desmond Bane, SG, MEM - Bane is recovering well and is expected to be back around November 30th. That could leave him with 3 games next week if he returns on time.
Jimmy Butler, SF, MIA - Butler is expected back around November 30th as well. With the weak Heat schedule, I wouldn't bank on more than 1 game from Butler.
Khris Middleton, SF, MIL - His return remains murky but there is some hope he will be back by the middle of next week. Nothing concrete has come out lately to verify this.
Joel Embiid, C, PHI - Embiid's foot injury may hold him out just for another game. If so, he'll play a full slate next week.
Long Term
Robert Williams, C, BOS - Timelord has begun ramping up activity and is now expected to make his return just before Christmas.
Lonzo Ball, PG, CHI - Lonzo may be back early in 2023. He will be ramped up slowly but is available in 62% of Yahoo Leagues.
Cade Cunningham, SG, DET - Cade is currently considering surgery, which would likely extend his absence considerably.
Tyrese Maxey, PG, PHI - Maxey's timetable of 3-4 weeks would have him back December 11th at the earliest.
James Harden, PG, PHI - Harden will likely miss all of week 7. However, he should be back for week 8 with an expected return around Dec 5th.
Cam Johnson, SF, PHO - Cam should return sometime between December 11th and Christmas.
Good luck in the week ahead, and thanks for reading the 2022-23 Fantasy Basketball Week 7 Planner!
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