Assists are hard to find later in fantasy basketball drafts and you should target NBA guards early who dish at least six to seven assists per game. Minnesota Timberwolves Point Guard D’Angelo Russell and Oklahoma City Thunder Guard Josh Giddey were both multi-category fantasy basketball producers last season who contributed six-plus dimes per battle and both are solid options to consider when in the fifth and sixth rounds of fantasy hoops drafts. Let’s look at what to consider when deciding who to draft between Russell or Giddey in your fantasy basketball draft.

 

The Case For D’Angelo Russell

D’Angelo Russell PG, Minnesota Timberwolves: ADP 59: Russell is a quick guard that can play efficiently both on and off the ball. He took 15 shots per game last year and should be the Timberwolves 3rd scoring option behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. Russell also dished a career-high 7.1 assists per game last season and with new arrival Rudy Gobert to help him operate the pick and roll and with how nightmarish of a matchup Towns will be for opposing power forwards, Russell should see his assists increase. He’s also grabbed steals consistently as he swiped one ball per outing a season ago. 

The Case For Josh Giddey

Josh Giddey PG, Oklahoma City Thunder: ADP 61: In the 2021-2022 NBA season, Giddey ranked 3rd among guards in rebounding pulling down 7.8 boards per contest. He’s aggressive on both sides of the ball and will attack the lane with force and not fear drawing any contact. He can play three different positions on the floor and when he brings up the ball, he’s often a matchup problem against opposing point guards being that he’s six feet and seven inches tall. Giddey dropped 6.4 dimes per game and grabbed nearly 1 steal per battle. He took 12-13 field goals per game last season and if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t fully healed up from his sprained MCL by the start of the season, he'll have even more time with the ball and his shots will go up.

Verdict

Josh Giddey: While D’Angelo Russell did score about six more points per game than Giddey and averaged more assists than him last year, Giddey will have a higher scoring ceiling being that the Thunder don’t have reliable frontcourt scorers and his rim-attacking will be needed very badly. It’s very hard to find a guard that not only dishes a good number of assists, but also grabs a lot of boards and Giddey will be playing in the paint a lot more than Russell. Russell will hang more on the perimeter as a bailout option once he gets rid of the ball.