Chris Duarte (SG/SF, IND) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 16

January 29, 2023

Chris Duarte is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 16 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 4% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Chris Duarte missed more than a month from early November to mid-December but he came back before Christmas and has stayed healthy even since. After spending his first three weeks after returning on a very precarious role (14 MPG in 11 games), he's now played 17+ MP in all last 10 matchups from January 11 on.

Duarte is enjoying his best run of the season by a good mile. You can compare his first eight games (22 MPG starting four of those) to his last 10 (25 MPG starting four more) and see for yourself. He averaged 16 FPPG to start the year but he's put up an average of 22 FPPG in the most recent span.

The changes in Indy's roster (aka Tyrese Haliburton) definitely impacted Duarte's upside and the fact that Buddy Hield is still playing Pacers basketball isn't helping him either. Good for him, he's found a little niche as a forward-tweener between the SF and PF possessions with cameos sizing down to the two-guard slot.

In the last 10 games he's played, Duarte is averaging 12 PPG to go with 1.7 3PM a pop. The full stat line sits at 12-3-2-1 but the shooting percentages have been a bit brutal, as has been the case all season long: 39% from the floor on 9+ FGA in his last 10 games and season-wide splits sitting at 35/30/84. Just for context, 73 players in the NBA have launched as many FGA as Duarte while matching those splits--nothing remarkable, that is.

Duarte's calling card is his steals (1+ in five consecutive games), three-point shooting (2+three-pointers in three straight games), and assists for a big guard (three, five, and six in his last three outings, all of them starting at the SF position).

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