Click here for rest-of-season roto-league rankings and reaction.
Read below for rest-of-season points-league ranks.
The rankings were very stable at the top this week, with no player in the top 20 moving more than two slots in either direction, and 16 of the top 22 players staying at the same ranking. This makes sense, as we are now far enough into the season that the superstars have established their level of play, and only big events like injuries or trades would be likely to cause a big change in value.
Once you get out of the top 20, though, we start seeing more of the volatility that I discussed last week. It's there, among the non-superstar potential fantasy starters, that a savvy manager can do the most to improve her or his team by identifying and acquiring value. To that end, let's dig into the changes in the rest-of-the-season rankings in points-based leagues.
Rest-of-season points-based rankings breakdown by position
Point guard
De'Aaron Fox is still finding his level this season, this time with a cooler stretch after a scorching start to November. He's averaged only 12.8 PPG on 36.5 FG% during his past five games after going for 20.7 PPG on an unsustainable 53.3 FG% during the first seven games of the month, so his ranking is correcting a bit towards the mean.
Mike Conley Jr. has been playing outstanding basketball this month, averaging 24.3 PPG on 47.2 FG% with 7.2 APG and 3.3 RPG during his past nine games to drive his way up the rankings.
Derrick Rose has stepped largely into the departed Jimmy Butler's role as the main perimeter creator for the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 24.8 PPG during the past 10 games that he has completed. The question mark with Rose is always injury, as he has two DNPs and one five-minute effort during that stretch as well.
Shooting guard
Jimmy Butler is settling in with the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 21.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.5 SPG and 0.7 BPG during his past six outings. He also has knocked down two buzzer-beaters with the 76ers, clearly establishing himself as the team's new closer.
Devin Booker's production has fluctuated this month, as he's tried to find the correct mixture of team setup and individual production. He has averaged 31.5 PPG and 6.5 APG during his past four outings and has also earned PG eligibility to further add to his value.
Donovan Mitchell was projected to build upon his explosive rookie effort, but thus far has been in a bit of a sophomore slump as he continues to deal with a series of small injuries and lackluster performances.
Small forward
Otto Porter Jr. had an outstanding week, averaging 19.0 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.3 APG and 1.7 SPG to show that, despite his very cold start to the season, the player we expected to see is still in there somewhere.
Andrew Wiggins and Robert Covington seem to be having trouble co-existing statistically for the Timberwolves, as both of them had poor weeks while ceding perimeter scoring duties to Rose and Jeff Teague.
E'Twaun Moore has stepped up big time as a perimeter offensive threat for the New Orleans Pelicans, taking on a larger share of the offense with Elfrid Payton sidelined. Moore has averaged 20.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.5 APG and 1.1 SPG during his past eight outings and seems to be establishing a role that he would be able to fill even after Payton returns.
Power forward
Domantas Sabonis has clearly established himself as the man in the middle for the Indiana Pacers, supplanting Myles Turner from that role. During his past eight games, he is averaging a double-double with 15.1 PPG, 10.9 RPG and 3.8 APG while shooting an eye-popping 70.4 percent from the field.
LaMarcus Aldridge has been very consistent with his production this season, as an upper-teens scorer and a double-digit rebounder. This has led to fantasy point totals that are slightly lower than projected, but it appears to be his permanent role with DeMar DeRozan taking over as the clear top scorer.
Julius Randle continues to play at a scorching level, even picking it up of late with averages of 20.8 PPG, 11.7 RPG and 4.5 APG during his past six games. It seemed that the Pelicans' frontcourt would eventually have to slow down since it was so packed, but they've found a balance where all of the frontcourt guys can get theirs by just scoring an absurd number of points as a team.
Center
Dwight Howard has continued to struggle with his lingering back/gluteal injury and now seems to be mired in off-court issues with the Washington Wizards and in his personal life. These, combined with his attenuated production to date, are causing him to slide in the rankings.
Brook Lopez is, effectively, a 3-point role player for the Milwaukee Bucks. He has more value in roto leagues than in points-based. When his shot his off (like his 0-of-12 effort from 3-point range on Friday), he doesn't have a backup way to contribute.
Pau Gasol has been listed as "day-to-day" with a foot injury for the last several weeks but has now missed 11 games in a row. It's unclear how long or how much this foot injury will continue to bother Gasol, but it's now affecting his long-term ranking.
Methodology
I calculated preseason projections for more than 320 players to feed the fantasy draft kit, and we now have in-season player data to give feedback on how players are performing. The rest-of-season rankings are influenced by my projections, current player performance, injury and player situation factors to quantitatively estimate the rest-of-season rankings with more precision.
Also, our rankings include arrows to indicate whether a given player made a notable move up or down the rankings since last week. This helps keep you up to speed with how player values are changing during the course of the season.
Note: These rankings reflect the expected player value for the remainder of this season.