NBA Central Division Fantasy Basketball Outlook

When looking at which players can impact fantasy basketball from the Central Division, there are top-end players across a couple of teams, but you also see older production that will rely on health to produce. This division’s best assets for the 2023-2024 season should be Tyrese Haliburton and Giannis Antetokounmpo. After that, it’s about hoping for a continued rise in Darius Garland or a return to form for Donovan Mitchell. The Pacers and Pistons are building around youth and drafting well. However, those young players may still find themselves behind players such as Bojan Bogdanovic, Bruce Brown, or Obi Toppin.

The Bucks and Cavaliers will compete for top seeding from this division, and both return very secure rotations. The Bucks were even able to make a savvy addition in Malik Beasley, while the Cavaliers were able to add a strong wing in Max Strus. Neither move may impact fantasy production too much, but we should feel good about the expected production from those two teams.

The Pacers are on the rise, while the Pistons will be hoping Cade Cunningham returning healthy will accelerate the growth of guard Jaden Ivey and center Jalen Duren. The Bulls have a good top end of the roster but didn’t do much outside the addition of Jevon Carter at point guard. There is talent in this division; it only needs time to fully realize its potential. Let’s see who may produce sooner than later for this upcoming 2023-2024 season.

Chicago Bulls

Projected Starting Lineup

G Jevon Carter

G Zach Lavine

F Demar Derozan

F Patrick Williams

C Nikola Vucevic

Bench: Coby White, Torrey Craig, Andre Drummond, Ayo Dosunmu, Dalen Terry, Alex Caruso

Breakout Candidates: Patrick Williams, Jevon Carter

Jevon Carter was a smart offseason acquisition for the Chicago Bulls to make. Unfortunately, outside of re-signing Nikola Vucevic, they didn’t do much else besides adding Carter to improve the team. Carter had his best pro season last season, starting 39 games for the Bucks and playing in 81 overall. Carter stepped up during injury spells for Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton last season, providing some playmaking and three-point shooting (1.8 made per game, shooting 42.1% from three).

If Carter can step up further into a starting role and remain efficient, he will hopefully be a top 150 value player. Hopefully, we will see an advancement in Patrick Williams, who needs more opportunity in Year 4 as the Bulls figure out his placement in the franchise.

This team needs to compete and get off to a good start. Otherwise, they may become quick sellers by the deadline. Demar Derozan can still return on his third-round average draft position (ADP), as he should remain efficient. Even if he finds his way out of Chicago long-term, his game should crossover gracefully due to his scoring and other counting stats. Besides Williams and Carter, this team will hope for further progression from point guards Coby White and more from re-signed youngster Ayo Dosunmu. Zach Lavine, Derozan, and Vucevic can find top 60 value this season, but it’s hard to picture anyone else as a top 100 or 120 asset from this team.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Projected Starting Lineup

G Darius Garland

G Donovan Mitchell

F Isaac Okoro

F Evan Mobley

C Jarret Allen

Bench: Caris LeVert, Max Strus, Georges Niang, Dean Wade, Isaiah Mobley, Emoni Bates, Craig Porter Jr.

Breakout Candidates: Isaiah Mobley, Evan Mobley

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a disappointing season end against the New York Knicks, but there are reasons for fantasy managers to be excited. Their core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen can all be top 40 players any night. For fantasy, having one of Mitchell or Garland is knowing you have volume security and offensive initiators, which is especially useful in points leagues. They also have the inside presence, with Allen providing rebounding and blocking while remaining efficient, even providing respectable free throw numbers (70.4% career average).

Between those three players and Mobley, a lot of rebounding, passing, and scoring becomes consumed for fantasy purposes. That means other players have lower offensive usage but may still be able to provide steals, shooting percentage, or other defensive stats. Caris LeVert reverted to a sixth-man role and still remained productive, even shooting a career-best 39.2% from the three-point line. The team has questionable depth, so the signing of Max Strus was important, and the possible emergence of players such as Emoni Bates or Isaiah Mobley would be welcome.

This is a good team to invest in because they can all score, create, and offer separate skills. Seeing exactly how it all works in winning basketball is the question. The Cavaliers may end up moving a piece to further accelerate the team’s upside or to open up more time for certain assets.

Detroit Pistons

Projected Starting Lineup

G Cade Cunningham

G Jaden Ivey

F Bojan Bogdanovic

F Isaiah Stewart

C Jalen Duren

Bench: Monte Morris, Ausar Thompson, James Wiseman, Killian Hayes, Joe Harris, Isiah Livers, Marcus Sasser, Marvin Bagley

Breakout Candidates: Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren

The Pistons are in the midst of a rebuild, but with the signing of Monty Williams as head coach, they likely feel they are closer to the end of that window than the beginning. They’ve shown confidence in their young picks and talent, having re-signed forward/center Isaiah Stewart to a four-year extension this offseason and taking talented wing Ausar Thompson at fifth overall this season.

Thompson may have to wait until the second half of the year to begin starting. Whether it comes from moving Bogdanovic to the four or having to move him on completely, expect Thompson to see the minutes at the three for this team in the future.

Jalen Duren has been developing a mid-range game, as seen at this year’s summer league, and Jaden Ivey will hope to improve on his efficiency in his second year. Ivey would have an impressive rookie season passing, registering 5.2 assists per game for the Pistons last year, the highest amongst qualified rookies in 2022-2023. The Pistons’ goal in 2023-2024 should be foremost getting Cade Cunningham comfortable playing with the combination of Thompson, Duren and Ivey on the court.

With his assists and creation in this offense, Cunningham has legitimate top-30 value, even top-20 upside. He’s a scorer, but projecting high-end fantasy production from other areas is unlikely. Sure, Duren or Ivey may find themselves as top 90 assets, but they could just as easily struggle in their second year. This team is hard to trust for fantasy purposes, but they do seem to be growing.

Indiana Pacers

Projected Starting Lineup

G Tyrese Haliburton

G Benedict Mathurin

F Bruce Brown

F Isaiah Jackson

C Myles Turner

Bench: Buddy Hield, Aaron Nesmith, Jalen Smith, Daniel Theis, Andrew Nembhard, Jordan Nwora, Jarace Walker, TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin

Breakout Candidates: Andrew Nembhard, Benedict Mathurin

Tyrese Haliburton will be happy with defensive help in acquiring Bruce Brown on the wing. Shoring up the team’s defensive side should allow Haliburton to focus on leading this team’s offense. Last year, we saw names such as Aaron Nesmith and Jordan Nwora play reasonable roles for the Pacers, but both are likely to see a diminished role in 2023.

This team acquired superior talent, and its shape finally seems to be setting up for the future. Andrew Nembhard and Benedict Mathurin both seemingly have the scoring to stick around the NBA and provide. At the same time, the perennial will they/won’t they move Myles Turner intensifies as this team would like to compete sooner rather than later.

Turner can be a top center with his shooting and blocking and had a career year for field goal percentage in 2022 (54.8%). Turner can return value as a top 60 player, and that’s evident to managers with his ADP right at 61.3 on the year. He can provide a lot in category leagues, especially, but with Haliburton and Mathurin starting, there aren’t many scoring opportunities for Turner.

This team will likely relegate Buddy Hield to a bench role and expect him to take an even more specialized scoring role. Obi Toppin may get some rebounding numbers, and we’ll see exactly how he fits, but at most, hoping for top-150 production is likely Toppin’s upside. He won’t score much more than in New York and doesn’t provide a lot defensively. Haliburton and Turner are the assets to roster here; hoping someone like Mathurin or Nembhard can continue to provide more in their games.

Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Starting Lineup

G Jrue Holiday

G Grayson Allen

F Khris Middleton

F Giannis Antetokounmpo

C Brook Lopez

Bench: Bobby Portis, Malik Beasley, Pat Connaughton, Marjon Beauchamp, Jae Crowder, Andre Jackson, Robin Lopez

Breakout Candidates: Malik Beasley, Marjon Beauchamp

The Milwaukee Bucks are pretty much running it back in 2023-2024, of course, with a change at the top with Adrian Griffin taking over as coach. Brook Lopez was a fantasy basketball revelation in 2022-2023, mainly due to a career-high in blocks with 2.5 per game. He was shooting well from outside while maintaining an overall shooting percentage of 53.1 for the Bucks. Lopez would also see his most minutes per game since the 2016-2017 season, proving that availability can be a fantasy manager’s best friend. He had to step in nightly for Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo injuries and was able to provide both offensively and defensively.

Unfortunately, now everyone is healthy, and we may see a slight regression in Lopez’s fantasy stature. He may not return top 60 value again most nights, but his ADP of 91.8 at this time is about what managers should expect. Expect Lopez to be a back-end center in the teens who should be a back-end top 100 player.

Of course, Antetokounmpo is the highest upside asset for this team. He provides scoring, assisting and rebounding at a level that can’t be found in most players. For Giannis, it’s all about staying healthy for the Bucks. This may lead to hopefully 70 games for him, but he should be a rock-steady asset for managers when he plays. His ADP is at 4.2, signifying confidence in the health of Antetokounmpo and knowing how much he’s a difference maker. The team lost Jevon Carter, so Holiday will be even more relied upon in this backcourt.

Malik Beasley was brought in for some depth wing minutes, but those minutes would be going to Marjon Beauchamp in a perfect setting. The Bucks need the cheaper players to step up, whether they start or come from the bench. Beauchamp could be that two-way player who fits in this team’s future lineup, but right now, the only players worth rostering for fantasy here have been discussed.

The four starters and bench piece Bobby Portis provide for fantasy, but they also consume a lot of the usage and vital stats. More of the same for the Bucks here in 2023-2024, likely with a team focus on more aggressive defending.

Conclusion

The NBA Central Division does have talent, and some of it is at the top level for fantasy. However, the names do seem to run out quickly, and some names are huge injury question marks. We rely on talent and knowing who can contribute when the team is healthy, so this article was a depiction of the current outlook. A couple of these teams are towards the end of a rebuild.

The Bulls could be influx very soon, while the Cavaliers or Bucks may see themselves needing drastic changes to reach their ultimate goal. The point is this division is good, but a lot of the teams’ structures are quite fragile for fantasy. The talent is here, but they all need to pick each other up to provide for fantasy managers, particularly in the case of the Bulls and Pistons.

If that could happen across a season with healthy assets, this division could provide and make fantasy managers satisfied.

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