James Wiseman (C, DET) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 21

March 12, 2023

James Wiseman is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 21 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 17% of leagues

ANALYSIS: It took James Wiseman two games donning Detroit Pistons' threads to become a starter and never again relinquish that role. He got back-to-back 24-minute calls in his first two matchups with the Motown Mob following his trade from Golden State, but it's now been seven consecutive starts at the C for the Wise Man in Detroit. Wise D-cision.

The Pistons are loaded with players capable of playing inside the paint, but Wiseman is definitely one of the most appropriate to take over the center position in a very classic way considering he can attempt, let alone score, a three-point shot to save his life.

That said, Wiseman is fantastic at what he's asked to do: scoring points inside without failing at it, pulling down rebounds, dishing out the odd dime, and swatting some shots. Since arriving in Detroit and becoming a starter (seven such games) Wiseman has gotten two double-doubles while averaging a 13-8-1 line with 1+ BPG on top of that.

The turnovers have sucked a bit, not gonna lie about that (2.1 TOPG in Detroit compared to 1.0 over the full season) but you have to live with the negatives if you want to enjoy the positives. Not the lowest of playing times as he's getting 27 MPG as a starter, though he could be getting a bit longer runs. The per-minute production, though, is easily above average at 1.01 FP/min (league average at 0.90).

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