yahoo - 2/25/2026 5:51:21 PM - GMT (+2 )
Week 19 means different things depending on where you stand in your fantasy basketball league standings. Playing? Prepping? Still grinding? Three scenarios, three different plans. Let’s go!
Day | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
Games | 4 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 10 |
Quality of games | Stream | Crowded | Stream | Crowded | Moderate | Stream | Crowded |
To view the team matchups for each slate, check out Hashtag Basketball’s Advanced Schedule Grid.
Are you trending toward a playoff spot?Whether it's accumulating more total points than your opponent or winning at least five categories, the moves you make (or don’t) determine the result of your matchup.
Quality meets quantityThere are 16 teams who play four games this week, 12 play three, and two play two. Of those 16 four-game teams, not all schedules are created equal — it’s not only about quantity, but it’s also about when those games fall.
4 games: BOS, CHA, DAL, DET, HOU, LAC, LAL, MIA, MIL, NOP, NYK, ORL, PHX, SAS, UTA, WAS
3 games: BKN, CHI, DEN, GSW, IND, MEM, MIN, OKC, PHI, POR, SAC, TOR
2 games: ATL, CLE
The teams I’m prioritizing for streaming are:
Clippers
Bucks
Jazz
Three of their four games land on the lightest slates of the week — Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. The Clippers are the best of the three — all four of their games fall on lighter slates. Light slates mean they’re guaranteed to get into your lineup (unless they’re ruled out in advance).
Players like Brook Lopez, Brice Sensabaugh, John Konchar, Kris Dunn, Kyle Filipowski, Ace Bailey, Jordan Miller and Cam Thomas are all worth targeting this week, specifically because of this schedule alignment. I’ll even throw Kyle Kuzma into the mix if Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t back yet.
The Wizards are another early-week streaming target worth mentioning. The Wizards play three games in four nights from Monday to Thursday, starting with a Monday-Tuesday back-to-back. That’s a lot of production crammed into the first half of the week, and with this roster in full development mode, it could lead to some counting stats. Tristan Vukcevic, Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly are widely available options on waivers.
Who to avoid — and when: The Hawks and Cavs are your obvious two-game teams to fade, but the timing of when other teams play matters just as much. The Hawks, Pacers, and Blazers don’t play until Wednesday — if you’re streaming them for early-week production, you’re leaving dead roster spots Monday and Tuesday when you could be getting streaming numbers elsewhere. The Cavs are a different kind of trap — they play Tuesday and then go dark until Sunday. That’s a five-day gap in the middle of your playoff week. Don’t let a big Tuesday night from a Cavs player like Jaylon Tyson or Sam Merrill lull you into keeping them rostered for the rest of the week.
Streaming plan: Start with a Wizards player on Monday since one pickup can net three games before Thursday. Or target the teams that play four games with automatic starts. Wednesday and Saturday follow the same logic. On Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, when 10-plus teams are playing? Trust your established guys.
Got a bye week? Now, stay one step aheadYou’re in, so start planning and scouting.
Look at the Week 20 schedule outliers: Philadelphia could have a monster week ahead. In deeper leagues, Andre Drummond, Quentin Grimes and one of Dominic Barlow or Trendon Watford are worth considering in 9-cat leagues — Embiid is a near-lock to sit out the Sixers’ two back-to-back games, which means Drummond steps into starter minutes with volume. You want him rostered before everyone else figures it out. The Pelicans play two games, so you can drop most of the Pelicans except Trey Murphy III and Zion Williamson.
Study opponents in your bracket: For 9-cat leagues, pull your opponents' last few matchups to see how they’re winning (or losing). For High Score, play the wire and see if any leaguemates got desperate and stress-dropped a good player.
Audit yourself: What categories are you consistently losing? Don’t fix everything — pick one or two you can realistically flip. That’s your target for roster moves this week, or assessing any value that hits the wire to snatch up. If you can, make at least one or two spots at the back of your bench available for streaming. Things are already getting weird in silly season, so you have to be ready to scoop up those replacement-level guys who can potentially become league-winners.
You’ve got time — and the fantasy basketball trade deadline hasn’t closed yet. Do something!
Make a move before March 5: Depending on whether your playoffs begin in Week 20 or Week 21 (the Yahoo Fantasy default), look at the schedule to offload players with an unfavorable slate of games or set up who haven’t looked at it. Move them for a four-game week contributor before the deadline shuts.
Stream aggressively this week: Every win matters for seeding or getting in. Monday, Wednesday, Saturday — those are free production nights. Add the best available player on a four-game team and run with it. But also, give yourself some bandwidth to react to unforeseen circumstances.
Scout the next two weeks: Whoever you’re playing in Round 1, start pulling their stats now. Same process as Scenario 2 — find their weakness, find yours and spend the next week building toward the matchup before it arrives.
The schedule is public. Everyone sees the same game counts. The only real edge is moving faster than the other managers. Get ready because Monday will be here before you know it. I’ll be running this column back next week for the fantasy managers whose playoffs begin in Week 20. Stay tuned.
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