Five weeks before the surging NBA tips off the 2016-17 season and all eyes are on the Golden State Warriors. Last year the Steph Curry-led Warriors didn’t lose a game till the last leaf had fallen on the East Coast — going on to a record-breaking 73-win season before surrendering to LeBron James in June. But the 73-win campaign isn’t the reason for this year’s fierce Golden State scrutiny, of course. It’s the addition of Kevin Durant to the Warriors lineup. Will it work? Are there enough shots for Curry, Durant, Klay Thompson, et al?
Fantasy NBA is one place to get unadulterated insights: it’s a no-spin zone, all stats-driven — nothing can hide there. The NBA calls Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball its official fantasy game, so the Yahoo fantasy rankings are as close as we can come to the NBA’s real player rankings. At this juncture in the preseason, Yahoo puts Steph Curry in the third slot, with Russell Westbrook at the top followed by James Harden. Kevin Durant is No. 4 with Anthony Davis rounding out the top 5. The only other team with two players in the top 20 is the LA Clippers, with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
