2024 NBA Fantasy Playoff Schedule March 18th to April 7th
Well, we made it folks! Time for the all-star break! We are at the stage of the NBA season with about 65% complete and we only have about 35% to go! And it means the NBA fantasy playoffs are on the way soon! For standard yahoo public money leagues those playoffs are March 18th to April 7th and will be my focus here. It is widely played by many fantasy managers so hopefully this helps out managers win their league. This article can be used for trades you are considering or streaming pickups right now or in the future. Most leagues still have not reached the trade deadline. (March 7th, 2024 is the default setting) So there is still time to trade for the players you want/need with beneficial schedules. It's also important to quickly mention that the teams with the most games from Wednesday, February 14th to March 17th are Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, LA Clippers, Washington Wizards, (all with 15) so players on these teams are more likely to "get you into the playoffs". More important if you are already struggling to make a playoff seed. Of course each week can bring its own unique set of benefits (quality games) or negatives that would also require a breakdown, but for this article, I'm putting a direct focus on standard playoff weeks.
Teams to focus on if you have March 18th to April 7th playoffs:
All of these NBA teams have 12 games each: Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings, and Golden State Warriors. So you have your superstars like Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid (if healthy), Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Domantas Sabonis, De'Aaron Fox appear set to be leaders for fantasy managers. However not all of these 12 games are created equal. I will dive into that in this article. Atlanta Hawks have a nice schedule. As do Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans. It's not always about how many games, but the QUALITY of the games. If a game is played on a night where the NBA has only a few games scheduled it is a "quality game". If you keep reading though this you will find out Cleveland Cavaliers (and Los Angeles Lakers) might be a tad more risky championship week. Various other teams have some back-to-backs mixed in so you would expect more rest for top players and injured players. Players we have already seen miss time are the biggest rest candidates, but other injuries will undoubtedly pop up. The mid-level players might actually see increased usage and other streamers become useful/strong in those games too. It also helps to scroll ahead to these dates to see if you have "fringe" players sitting on the bench on high volume days and maybe you are better suited to trade them away or replace with quality streamer. Let’s break all of this down week by week.
For the week of March 18th:
Careful of the back-to-backs that Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz where extra rest might occur. (Any player who might be nursing an injury might get extra time off and tanking teams. You want players on teams that "need to win". I usually check the NBA standings page which can be found here: https://global.nba.com/standings/)
Something to mention regarding the back-to-backs is it often opens up a valuable streamer during one of those games so pay attention for that.
The very best 4 game teams without back-to-backs worries are Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers. Again please make sure you scroll ahead to those dates to view your roster to ensure they will actually be in your starting lineup. Brandin Podziemski is still available in numerous leagues. Some other streamers are: Ausar Thompson, Simone Fontecchio, Marcus Sasser, Isaiah Jackson (depending on the health of Jalen Smith), TJ McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Benedict Mathurin, Paul Reed (depending on the health of Embiid), Buddy Hield, Caris LeVert, Isaac Okorro. It's also very important what stats you need in your matchup. I could write a whole other article on ways to decipher that. There are also sites that do the projections for you. I do wonder if Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are strong for this week since there are no back-to-backs? I reckon they should be? It is the Heat though and they like to pull some resting stunts. Trade for many top players on these teams to gain advantage in this week.
For the week of March 25:
For the week of April 7th:
In Summary:
Overall there are various positives and negatives all over. For your trade considerations, I would say that if you have "two similar players" the tiebreaker goes to the one with the better schedule. One of the hardest aspects of this is trying to predict what sorts of rest we will see on back-to-backs and also where teams will be at in the standings if they "need to win games" or not. Injuries will be important to adapt to as well. And by adapt, what I mean is adding replacements who can step up to do fairly well, sometimes enormously well. (Many years I have won championships with "a bunch of waiver wire warriors") All of this may open up some streamer options too... (It is advisable to have at least one spot on your roster as your "streaming spot" to get 5 games or sometimes 6 even 7 games from that single roster spot) Remember to be targeting some of these back-to-backs to use only one add to get two games from a streamer who can be quite useful. This is how you can gain 7 games from a single "streaming spot". It's also very important to consider what week you will be entering playoffs and if you are likely to have a first-round bye. I think the best plan is to have an overall strong schedule, but also (maybe more important) is to plan ahead for the particular week that you are most likely to be facing elimination. Plan it out folks. “If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail”. -Benjamin Franklin. Hope this helps! Save and bookmark for future or when you are considering a trade. Enjoy the many all-star break festivities!
