Early-Week Fantasy Basketball Category Streamers for Week 8

Thunder Dan Palyo looks at some early-week waiver wire options for fantasy basketball leagues. These players may be free agents to target on waivers in Week 8.

This week, we have probably the best schedule that we've seen so far this year! Games are spread out nicely with only Wednesday and Friday being loaded up with 11 and 10 games, respectively, and we get three games on Tuesday and Thursday so there are no totally dead days either. And the weekend games are split nearly evenly with eight games on Saturday and seven games on Sunday. There are going to be streamable options every day this week!

Most leagues limit how many players you can stream each week in daily leagues. If your league only allows three moves per week, you need to be very efficient with your moves and grab players who will help you maximize your games played and help you win an extra category or two of counting stats.

The goal of this article each Monday morning will be to help you plan out your roster moves for the first half of the week. Planning ahead is important and I always include which teams play on optimal days for streaming in the very first section so you can look for additional players that I don't mention as well. All the rostered percentages used in this article are from Yahoo! Let's see who can help us start the week strong!

Weekly Schedule: Monday to Thursday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, New Orleans, NY Knicks, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Utah, Washington

Teams that play three games (TARGET): LA Clippers, Miami

Only teams that play TUES/THURS (TARGET): Denver, Miami

Shallow League Streaming Options

Andrew Nembhard - PG/SG (27%)

Tyrese Haliburton is out again tonight, so Nembhard should start at point guard and play all the minutes he can handle, especially if T.J. McConnell ends up sitting again, too. He has 18 assists in his last two games, four made triples, and three steals. It might be a one-game stream for him, but he's well worth using tonight as the Pacers take on Golden State in a game with a 240+ point total.

John Konchar - SG/SF (31%)

I am a sucker for Konchar. I love his no-dazzle game, and if you love good percentages, then he's your guy as he shoots a high percentage from the floor. He also rebounds like an animal for a guard. He's ranked inside the top-100 on Yahoo! right now with solid and steady production across the board and he should be rostered in more leagues, at least until Desmond Bane comes back.

Grant Williams - SF/PF (29%)

Williams is a lot like Konchar, almost always steady but rarely spectacular. He's getting a ton of minutes lately for Boston and you can at least count on some threes, boards, and steals from him even if the point totals aren't usually high while maintaining solid percentages. The Celtics play M-W to start the week, so adding him today makes sense.

Joe Harris - SG/SF (24%)

I had Harris as a specialist last Thursday for threes and he made me look good, I guess, as he's now hit 12 triples in his last three games. It's a good sign that his minutes have stayed up in the 30s, even with T.J. Warren returning to the rotation, and with so many minutes, he can help out in boards and steals a bit, too, not just points and threes.

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Terance Mann - SG/SF (18%)

The Clippers are a team I would like to target this week as they are one of only two teams that play three games in the first four days of the week. We don't know if Paul George or Kawhi Leonard will return tonight, but if they are active, they could still easily rest on either the front end or back end of the back-to-back on Wed-Thurs.

LA's best bench scorer, Norman Powell, remains out, too, which really opens up minutes for Mann and a few others. He's usually good for some counting stats, but not much of a shooter. I like his rebounding for a guard and he's usually good for some steals, too.

Robert Covington - SF/PF (25%)

Bob-Cov was a guy that many of us had high hopes for coming into the season based on his career numbers and I thought he could be really valuable even in shallower leagues if he carved out even a 22-24 minute role with the Clippers. But their rotation has been all over the place so far this year and Covington has fought health issues himself, missing a bunch of games. We know what he can do, though, and he's now seen 20+ minutes in four of his last five games. With LA being shorthanded, I think he will continue to get minutes for now and he's worth a stream this week given their favorable schedule.

AJ Griffin - SG/SF (19%)

This rookie is really starting to shine and Atlanta has seemed to figure out that they are better with him on the floor. With injuries to John Collins (he's out a month) and DeAndre Hunter (only a week), the Hawks have needed all hands on deck to man the three and the four spots in their lineup.

Now Bogdan Bogdanovic is finally returning, but he's really more of a combo guard than a wing. We should see plenty of opportunities for Griffin as well as Jalen Johnson and Jared Culver, who both have played really well and put up some solid stats in the short term. Griffin is my favorite, but also the most rostered at 19%. If he's not on your wire, I'd look for one of those other two.

Daniel Gafford - C (14%)

Gafford went from single-digit minutes to 24 and 21 minutes in his last two games all of a sudden and BOOM, sure enough, he produced two massive games, going 10-12 against Charlotte with six blocks and 19-7 against the Lakers with two more blocks. Who knows if this means anything or not, but we have always known that Gafford has tremendous potential. He's worth an add for now until we find out if you happen to have an extra spot.

Specialist Streaming Options

THREES

Corey Kispert - SG/SF (4%)

The Wizards don't play until Wednesday, but Kispert has really caught my eye lately as he's managed 30+ minutes in two straight games, pouring in four triples in both. Washington faces the Bulls on Wednesday, a team that has allowed opponents to shoot a high percentage on threes against them. He's worth a look here as he averaged 1.9 made threes per game on a very efficient 54% from the field.

STEALS

Ish Smith - PG (1%)

We are talking DEEP leagues here, but Ish has rejoined the rotation in Denver and has seen some decent minutes due to their injuries. He's a guy who can help you with assists and steals but he also has five blocks in his last five games, not something you would expect from a smaller guy like Ish. Denver has three games here in the first four days; otherwise, I probably wouldn't have considered him.

BLOCKS

Walker Kessler - C (25%)

Kessler is giving me hope that I perhaps wasn't too high on him this preseason with his recent play. He's earning more minutes in the rotation for Utah as of late, and his last two games have been really impressive as he went 20-11 against the Pacers and 8-8 against the Blazers. He has nine blocks in his last three games and that's across only 64 minutes of action. His per-minute block upside is just nuts, so grab him if you need blocks and just hold tight for a bit to see if his minutes finally stabilize in the high teens or low twenties.

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