Jalen Williams (SF, OKC) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 20

March 5, 2023

Jalen Williams is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 20 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 44% of leagues

ANALYSIS: What's not to love about Oklahoma City Thunder's rookie Jalen Williams? He started the season playing more guard than wing/forward minutes. He moved on to fill the power-forward spot. He established himself as a nightly starter as early as Dec. 12, and he has yet to relinquish such a role as he's put together 37 (!) consecutive starts for OKC through Friday.

For starters, Williams is one of only 36 players in the whole NBA putting up an average line reading 13-4-3-1 on a per-game basis. He is the only one in that bunch along with Markelle Fultz and Russell Westbrook doing it in fewer than 30 MPG, and only 17 other players in the group have played as many minutes overall as Williams' 1,735 so far.

From Feb. 7 on Williams has been on an absolute heater. The rookie has appeared in 10 games from that day on (four before the ASG break, six after) averaging gaudy scoring numbers with 19 PPG, 1.4 3PM per game, and shooting percentages approaching 55 FG% and 88 FT%.

Only once in this 10-game span has Williams missed on scoring at least 13 points (he had 9 against Utah coming off the break) while dropping 20+ in six of those 10 matchups and also in his last three outings (Feb. 28, Mar. 1, Mar. 3).

Williams is pairing the bonkers scoring with ridiculous steals (2.5 SPG in that span), dimes (4+ APG), and boards (5+ RPG). Even better (although helped by his low 17% usage rate) is the fact that he's only turning the ball over 1.5 TOPG.

Getting back to that aforementioned group of players, Williams and Mikal Bridges (1.4 TOPG) are the only two players putting up their lines while committing very limited turnovers.

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