A week after Stephen Curry moved up to No. 4 in the rankings behind a barrage of 3-pointers, Golden State's star point guard slides down to No. 7 on the updated rankings and three others -- including LeBron James -- move past him.
Kevin Durant (5) and Karl-Anthony Towns (6) are the other two, the latter continuing to work his way up the rankings after a slow November.
James, who averaged 26.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 11 assists, 1.4 steals, 1 block and 2.6 threes in his last five games, replaces Curry at No. 4 while the top three of James Harden (1), Russell Westbrook (2) and Anthony Davis (3) remains intact.
As great as James has played of late, his usage and shot attempts are likely to rise while Kevin Love is out of the lineup for the next six weeks, increasing his fantasy value even more. Speaking of Love, who came in at No. 30 last week, we dropped him all the way to 140 because in all likelihood, he won't be able to play until the final days of March with only 1-2 weeks of the fantasy playoffs remaining. That makes him too risky to roster in leagues without an IR spot.
Denver's budding star center Nikola Jokic leaps all the way to No. 14, his highest spot all season and one spot ahead of Hassan Whiteside, after another monstrous week that saw him score a career-high 40 points against the Knicks on Friday and rack up three double-doubles while averaging 6.6 assists in his last five games.
It's going to be interesting to see how Jokic is drafted next season, but he looks like a high second-round pick at this point.
Newcomers this week include Jusuf Nurkic (110), who is expected to play big minutes as Portland's starting center after coming over from Denver in the trade for Mason Plumlee. When Nurkic plays, he produces, which is the reason he jumps from unranked to where he's at this week.
Channing Frye (144) and Terrence Ross (146) also appear on the list, for different reasons. Frye will start in place of Love on Tuesday in Minnesota, and could very well be the fill-in starter for the next six weeks, making him valuable as a 3-point specialist. Ross moves to Orlando, which acquired him in the deal for Serge Ibaka on Tuesday, and should see more minutes as a likely starter next to Evan Fournier and Elfrid Payton in that backcourt.
Milwaukee's Jabari Parker (out for the season) is the one big notable to fall off the list, while D'Angelo Russell (70) and Reggie Jackson (92) are two high-profiles guards who slide down the rankings following an underwhelming stretch of games.
Here is the full rundown of the updated Top 150 rankings:
