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 the upcoming week 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 10
Malik Monk (SG, SAC) - 16% rostered
Malik Monk keeps flying too much under the radar with more than two months of play already in the books. Y'all have to fix this, folks. Seriously. Monk is playing off the pine with Kevin Huerter having overtaken him in the rotation (deservedly) but even then Monk is making wonders in his second-unit role.
Monk has scored 10+ points in 20 of his 28 games played to date. In those eight matchups, though, he still scored 6+ points in all but one and 8+ in four. Monk is averaging 14.5+ PPG on the season while hitting 2+ 3PM per game at it. He had scored at least one 3-point shot in 12 consecutive games before breaking that run last Friday against Detroit.
Nobody in the league is scoring at Monk's pace while playing fewer than 25 MPG. Only four players, including MM, are contributing 14-2-3 lines on a nightly basis playing most of their games off the pine (<50% of games started). Of those, only three are doing it while also hitting 2+ 3PM a pop.
There are voices out there still saying that Monk has never met a shot he's not liked. Well, that might actually be the right approach to his game now, because the guy is hitting them in bunches. Four consecutive games in the last seven days hitting 11+ points and averaging 15+ PPG and 2 3PM per game speak for it.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SG, DEN) - 13% rostered
An under-the-radar player in #thisleague, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope keeps bagging starts in Denver after getting to the Rockies and arriving from Washington this summer. It's been 27 games through Saturday for KCP and 27 starts for the two-guard since becoming an experienced Nugget.
KCP is far from a world-beater, mind you, but he does what he's asked for with smooth precision. If you look at KCP's efficiency you'll hate him with a passion. That's because he's taking on very particular duties while spending a ton of minutes on the court, so the average 0.68 FP/min looks atrocious.
If you're looking for a specialist, though, KCP is your man. The guard does two things at a rate not many NBA players are capable of: hitting 3-point shots and stealing rocks. This season, only 18 players are averaging 2+ 3PM per game and 1+ SPG while keeping up an overall 45 FG% from the field.
KCP's usage rate (13.8%) is subpar at best, but it validates what I wrote above: KCP is just a bonafide 3-and-D player. He also contributes 3+ RPG and 2+ APG while keeping his TOPG below 1.5 on a per-game basis, which is nice to have around in 9-cat leagues.
Kyle Anderson (SF/PF, MIN) - 12% rostered
The Wolves lost Karl-Anthony Towns all the way back on Nov. 28 and he's yet to return to the court. In the meantime, it's been veteran Kyle "SloMo" Anderson who has taken on starting SF duties for Minny with third-year man Jaden McDaniels moving up a slot to the starting PF role.
Anderson has started all games from Dec. 7 on as Wendell Moore was less than convincing at doing it. Since then, SloMo is playing 32 MPG and averaging 10.5 PPG, 5 RPG, 5 APG, and 1.5 SPG. Anderson, mind you, have a ridiculously low USG% as part of the first unit sitting at around 15% in the last six games he's played and started at SF.
On a positive note, though, Anderson is extraordinary at creating plays and opportunities for his teammates with those 5 dimes a night. He's reached 5+ assists in four of the last six games he's started, and he also had five dimes on Nov. 30 when he started at the PF position in the game immediately following Towns' injury.
The rebounds are always at around 6/7 and capped at that ceiling because of a certain Rudy Gobert roaming the paint and eating boards on a per-game basis, so don't expect gaudy numbers on that front.
Anderson scores two-point buckets but won't stretch the floor from you. Keep an eye on the turnovers if he gets more of a playmaking role going forward with D'Angelo Russell banged up of late. More dimes will come if D'Lo stays out for a longer period of time, but the TOPG numbers might lower that upside a bit.
Deni Avdija (SF, WAS) - 7% rostered
First of all, I have to admit that I fell for Deni Avdija before he entered the NBA and ahead of the 2020 draft. I was high on him, and now that hype I built around his name if only inside my brain, might have been a little too big for what the forward has done to date on American soil.
All of that said, Avdija has been improving and he's now a kinda important part of the Wizards, with the upside to become an even larger figure of the franchise depending on which route the organization takes (delusional contention, or obvious rebuild).
Avdija, mind you, is the starting SF for Washington on a nightly basis. Kyle Kuzma has already said that he is entering free agency this summer no matter what. In other words, Avdija is going nowhere. The third-year forward has averaged 34 MPG in the past two weeks and seven games through Saturday.
Of course, the sky-high minutes are basically dropping his efficiency to below-ground levels. Avdija's 0.86 FP/min is below the 0.90 league-average figure, but the positive is that staying for such a large time on the court helps him make up for that on pure volume. Avdija has scored 10+ points in four of his last six games and 7+ points in seven consecutive games through Saturday.
Avdija's appeal comes from the shooting percentages and 3-point prowess more than in his actual points scored (he almost never tops 10 FGA).
The rebounding is quite nice and he also dishes out dimes with a passion while keeping turnovers (mostly) at bay, in case that impacts outcomes in your league. In games with 10+ MP this month, Avdija is putting up a 10-8-4-1 line and he's stolen at least one possession in four of five os seven games in that span.
Moritz Wagner (PF/C, ORL) - 5% rostered
Moritz Wagner keeps starting games nightly for the Magic and it's been eight in a row through Saturday. The minutes aren't gaudy and have dropped of late, but even then and in games played in December (eight, all of them starting), Mo has stayed on the court 29 MPG and only some fouling issues have cut some of those runs a bit short.
Wagner has dropped double-digit points in all but two of those eight games started. He's also pulled down 10+ boards twice, and in those two games, he paired the rebounding with enough points to bring home a couple of double-doubles.
Mo is the classic big man when it comes to his stat lines: the points and the rebounds are always guaranteed to appear in them, but then there is just the odd assist/steal/block adorning the line and not offering much appeal.
The good thing about Wagner is that he knows how to stretch the floor while keeping his production mostly inside the paint, which makes for a good combo of high shooting percentages from the field and 3-point shots made.
Wagner is also shooting 89% (32-of-36) from the charity stripe on the season, which is sublime. Only four players offering a 12-6-2 nightly contribution while hitting freebies at that clip through Saturday: Durant, Steph, Herro, and Mo.
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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
