RADIO
The deeper a fantasy basketball league, the harder it is to hit a winner with your last few picks. It is also harder to find decent help from the waiver wire if your late-round picks don't do you justice. If you picked up a few stinkers, don't lose hope just yet. I will try to help you pick up a winner.
Here are my deeper league fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for Week 2 and your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks rental or a long-term fix to a problem your team is having.
If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 3
Bol Bol (PF/C, ORL) - 13% rostered
Is it finally happening? It is, right? Right? Bol Bol, who Orlando inked to a one-year deal this past summer, has appeared in all six games played by the Magic this season while also starting in one of those. The return has been rather ridiculous given his low 19 MPG and looked at from a per-minute angle.
Bol is averaging a staggering 1.20 FP/min (league average at 0.90) while contributing 10 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and a freakish 2.3 BPG in the baby season. That's absolutely insane.
Nobody in the L is putting up such numbers other than John Collins, Anthony Davis, Brook Lopez, Nicolas Claxton, and Myles Turner. One of them has only played 57 total minutes and the other average at least 27 MPG compared to Bol's sustained (114 total MP) play over a much lower per-game playing time (19 MPG).
Bol Bol is mostly going to play in the Magic second unit, can stretch the floor a bit (0.3 3PM on 1.2 3PA per game), and is on a five-man average 19.6% usage rate through the first six games of play. Bol is one of the most valuable players in the league and definitely one of the most promising and exciting fliers to take this early in the year with a monster upside if he keeps (not literally, please) growing.
Max Strus (SF/PF, MIA) - 11% rostered
Nobody in the NBA has played more minutes than Strus through Saturday while starting fewer than six games. Strus has logged 217 MP already in his seven games (just one start) and the closest player to that tally on one-or-no starts is Bennedict Mathurin with 195 MP.
The equation is clear here: ample playing time + no starting role + Miami Heat = Strus must be doing something very right. And indeed he is. Struss has logged at least 28 MP in all but one game this season (24 MP against Boston more than a week ago) while averaging gaudy numbers.
Strus is currently putting up 13+ PPG, 5+ RPG, and 1.5+ APG in his 31 MPG. He's doing so with a subpar usage rate below 20% with an 18 USG% on average through seven games played. Miami should welcome Victor Oladipo back at some point this week and that might take some more touches/opportunities from Strus' diet but he's been so good that I don't even know if that'd be the case.
It's been three games in a row for Max hitting 11+ points and 3+ treys (he topped at 16 pops and four triples on Oct. 26 against Portland while also pulling down a season-high 9 rebounds). Strus is basically doing it all these days, has shot 11+ FGA in all last five games, and if his shooting gets a bit more consistent (he's had three games below 27 percent FG%), he'll turn into an FP-churning machine on all fronts.
Jaylen Nowell (SG, MIN) - 9% rostered
Nowell had his worst game of the early season against the Lakers of all teams last Friday. Even then, though, he put up an across-the-board contribution packing the stat line to the tune of six points, five boards, five dimes, a steal, and a block on top of everything. No turnovers and only two personal fouls on 20 minutes of playing time... but a putrid 25% shooting from the floor on 12 FGA.
Truth be told, Nowell has not been consistent at all when it comes to banging shots, but that doesn't mean he's been bad at shooting the rock. He's hit almost 44% of all shots he's hoisted and he's gone for 82 FGA through his first six games already, which is far from low volume. He's allergic to the free-throw stripe, though, with only nine trips in six games.
Prior to Friday's game, Nowell had put up at least 13 points in all five games playing off the bench and he hit a season-high 23 pops against the Spurs on the second leg of a home-and-away stint against SAS.
A lot of players averaging (at least) 14-4 lines nightly, yes, but only two (Nowell and Alperen Sengun) are doing it in fewer than 25 MPG. Even removing that MPG filter, just 67 players in the whole league are putting up 14-4-2 outings on a game-by-game basis, and all but two (Lu Dort and Nowell) are rostered in at least 52% of all ESPN leagues.
Nick Richards (C, CHA) - 9% rostered
Richards got drafted by the Pelicans in the summer of 2020 but he only played 430 total minutes in his first two seasons (already with the Hornets after a draft-day trade) while appearing in 68 games and starting five of those. We're barely one week into the 2023 campaign and Richards has already played 127 minutes in six games while averaging a sizable 21 MPG (he averaged 3.5 and 7.3 in his first two years as a pro).
Richards and Hornets starting center Mason Plumlee are virtually the same player this season. They have racked up 145 and 142 FP over the first six games of the year respectively, are playing 21 and 24 MPG, and are both averaging 24 FPPG early. Digging a bit deeper, though, Richards should be the better target and the one with the brighter future and higher upside.
The third-year man out of Kentucky is averaging 1.16 FP/min compared to Plumlee's 1.00. Both are outperforming the league-average 0.90 FP/min, but Richards' figure is way above Plumlee's. That comes down to 1) not turning the ball at all (0.2 TOPG) and 2) putting up tons of points shooting almost 69% from the floor and 82% from the charity stripe.
The only thing Richards might improve on is his paltry assists (five total in six games) but other than that, there is nothing to hate about this young man. Three games of 14+ points (including a 20-burger), two dub-dubs, another 9-8 outing in his most recent game last Saturday against the Dubs (on the second night of a back-to-back), and a very serious chance of usurping Plumlee's starting role if the production of both big men stays the same--that is, Richards outperforming Mason.
Tyus Jones (PG, MEM) - 5% rostered
Jones became a fantasy darling last season backing up Ja Morant. He also became a true sought-after player in the NBA offseason before he decided to re-ink his deal with the Grizzlies to stay in Memphis as Ja's understudy. It made sense for him because he was phenomenal last year, is part of an up-and-coming team, and probably knows his limitations and how the role Memphis is giving him fits his skill like a glove.
Jones has played six games this season, all of Memphis', and is coming off his one and only start of the year last Saturday as Ja was out picking up an illness. That starting gig won't last, of course, but it's not that Jones needs it.
Tyus scored at least eight points in all prior five games and 10+ in four of those five. He went from playing between 22-and-25 minutes in that span to 33 in the start against the Jazz and of course, he exploded for a top-10 finish in the fantasy slate that day. The outcome: his first dub-dub of the year with 23 pops, 10 dimes, two steals, and one rebound to put the cherry on top.
Again, starting doesn't scare this little man just one bit but getting on the court off the pine doesn't drive him mad, either. Jones is averaging 13+ PPG, 2+ RPG, and 4.5+ APG so far this season. It's funny because he's the only player in the league along with his brother Tre Jones averaging those rebounds and dimes per game while hitting fewer than 14 PPG (both at 13.5 exactly).
The difference between the Jones brothers and the other 34 players putting up that nightly line is easy to spot: Tyus is the only one doing so off the pine and playing fewer than 26 minutes per game, and he's also got the fifth-lowest USG% (22.5) of those in that group. Massive talent flying under the radar.
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