The sum of the parts: a handy two-for-one fantasy trade guide

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If you make enough effective incremental trades, eventually you can turn a paper clip into a house. In basketball terms, you can call it the Houston Rockets strategy, because no team has had more success up-cycling their assets into elite talent. That's how you go from Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams to James Harden.

In fantasy basketball, any transaction that moves you closer to acquiring a singular elite fantasy asset should be made, even if that means giving up two "B-plus" fantasy players for an "A-minus".

As a rule of thumb, if you end up with the best player in a prospective two-for-one trade, make the trade. The simplest reason: the NBA is a top-heavy league when it comes to elite talent, and owning two or more of the top 15 superstars is more valuable than having great mid-tier depth.

Remember: leagues with 12 or fewer teams and 10-to-13 roster spots per team have a free agent pool with enough rosterable talent that any two-for-one trade is really a four-player transaction. Don't forget that the owner getting the best player in the deal also gets a soon-to-be-added fourth-best player from the free agent pool.

In giving up the two "middle players" in the deal, you get the higher floor and ceiling that the best player brings, as well as a chance to acquire a new asset from the free agent pool. Then, you start the process again by trying to flip two good pieces for a great piece.

And really, the flexibility to stream players through that vacant roster spot can still yield a breakout contributor on par with one of the mid-tier talents traded away. That was the case last season, when relative unknowns like the Suns' Devin Booker, the Pacers' Myles Turner and the Nuggets' Nikola Jokic ended up being must-own players down the stretch.

Your priorities - weaknesses at specific positions or categories - will impact your decision-making, but you can rest easy when you know that the player you're receiving is more valuable than the two players you're trading away.

Your goal is to acquire one of the truly elite fantasy players - but that doesn't mean your trade partner will be obliged to part with one of their core pieces. You'll be better off targeting elite fantasy players that have slightly suppressed perceptions among fantasy owners - such as those with relative inexperience, attitude concerns or injury histories.

For instance, Anthony Davis is a top-5 fantasy player when healthy, but a panicky owner might be willing to part with the injury-prone superstar for a package featuring two safer options like Al Horford and Carmelo Anthony.

With that said, here is a tiered trade guide to help you with the framework of your two-for-one trades based loosely on theScore's current rest-of-season player rankings. How does it work? Simply take two players from a lower tier and offer them in exchange for one player in the next highest tier.

Tier 1: Acquirable Superstars

Tier 2: Sub-Elite Fantasy Studs

Tier 3: Solid Depth