Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds and Weekly Planner: Week 5 (11/20-11/26)

Thunder Dan's fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for Week 5 (11/20-11/26). Set your optimal lineups with his fantasy basketball weekly schedules planner.

The week of Thanksgiving is a beautiful week when it comes to being a sports fan. The NBA loads up on Wednesday night with a boatload of games, then cedes to the NFL for Turkey Day viewing, only to pick back up with solid slates of games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As always, I am here to break down the schedule for you and make some recommendations for leagues or all formats and sizes, though I will add that my analysis is usually aimed for 9-cat H2H or Roto leagues (points leagues are not my style).

I think it's become conventional wisdom to some extent, but I will restate this anyway. The key to winning fantasy basketball leagues is NOT about how you draft, but what you do afterwards with waiver additions and trades. And while you might make a handful of trades during the course of a season, you're most certainly going to make dozens of waiver adds and drops as you try to cope with injuries to players or just try to maximize your games played each week in H2H formats.

Working the wire is an incredibly important skill and being one step ahead of your fellow league managers means always planning ahead and keeping tabs on players who starting to play better or earn more minutes. Every week I will do my best to help you plan out your week and give you my top recommendations to add off waivers in both standard (10-12 team leagues) and deeper formats (more than 12 teams).

Week 5 Schedule Breakdown

Notes:

Only three teams play just two games this week (DET, DAL, and OKC)

As usual, a loaded Thanksgiving Eve slate on Wednesday night with most teams in action, but then no games on Thanksgiving Day.

The Hawks and Cavs both play the coveted "Sat-Sun B2B" to close out four-game weeks if you are looking ahead for streamers this coming weekend.

Standard League Adds For Week 5

Percentage owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo!

Dyson Daniels - PG/SG (43%)

I expect Daniels to be 50% rostered or higher sooner than later and I am a bit baffled that he's still so widely available. Since entering the starting lineup for the Pelicans six games ago, he's averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals in 34 minutes a game.

With CJ McCollum still out for an indefinite amount of time, Daniels should continue to start and play big minutes. He led all Pelicans with 37 minutes played in their heartbreaking loss to the T-Wolves on Saturday night.

Santi Aldama - PF/C (39%)

Memphis has fallen on hard times with a bunch of early-season injuries that have piled on to their woes of missing Ja Morant during his suspension. But they won on Saturday night and played the Celtics within one possession last night, thanks largely in part to the performance of their young big man Aldama.

Santi Aldama tonight:

28 PTS
12 REB
4 OREB
6 3PM
6 AST
1 STL
+3

Career High. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/ny2L0bhBpI

— GrizzMuse (@GrizzlyMuse) November 20, 2023

The stretch-five entered the starting lineup last night and played 39 minutes after logging 36 minutes off the bench on Saturday. He went for a career-high 28-12-6 against the Celtics with six threes and has clearly earned his spot in the lineup going forward. He won't dominate like that every night, but a big man with double-double capabilities who can also shoot well from behind the arc is always in demand. He's one of the hottest pickups on the wire today, grab him everywhere while you can.

Jordan Hawkins - SG (34%)

Hawkins has moved in and out of the lineup for New Orleans over the last several weeks, but whether he's starting or coming off the bench, the young man is getting up his share of shots on a nightly basis.

While a lot of rookie shooters in this league can struggle out of the gates, Hawkins has not and his shot-making, especially from downtown, is why he's had such a clear path to big minutes early on for New Orleans. His FG% is still just 39% on the season but has been on the rise over his last few games. He's a gunner who can give you mainly points, threes, and a handful of assists or steals, but he's one of the few guys available on the wire who can score 20+ on any given night.

While McCollum is out, Hawkins is still going to get meaningful minutes and plenty of shot opportunities. In a four-game week, he's a no-brainer if you need points and threes and don't mind some poor FG%.

Lonnie Walker IV - SG,SF (31%)

The Brooklyn Nets are a fun team this year in the East in that they have really no stars in their lineup (sorry Mikal Bridges, you're getting closer...we know) and they manage to compete on a nightly basis. What they do have is a really strong core of young players to build around with Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Ben Simmons, and Nicolas Claxton.

While this group is tremendous on defense, they are more than a bit lacking on offense. And their usual gunner, Cam Thomas, has been sidelined with an injury. That has led to Walker playing more minutes and becoming their main bench scorer. He's put up 23 and 26 points in his last two games and knocked down six triples in his last game against Philly.

Again, you're not getting much here except scoring, but much more efficient scoring than from someone like Hawkins as Lonnie is shooting an impressive 51% from the floor. He's ranked 84th on Yahoo right now with 16.6 points per game, I am not sure how he's still only 31% rostered.

Jonathan Kuminga - PF (24%)

Draymond Green still has two games left on his suspension, which means Kuminga has two matchups (against Houston and Phoenix) here early in the week where he could post some solid numbers. He has started sporadically for the Warriors, but he has done some of his best work off the bench.

He might end up teasing us all season, but the potential is there and we've seen him absolutely go nuts before when given the chance. Not too many big men can do what he can do from the PF position. I like adding him this week and seeing how it goes. He obviously has a role when Green returns, too, but has been kept to around 19-20 minutes a night, which is what has kept him as a borderline player in standard leagues for most of this season.

Deep League Adds For Week 5

Malik Beasley - SG/SF (22%)

When Malik Beasley got to Milwaukee, Bucks fans were excited about a two-way wing player who could really help compliment Giannis and Dame and help out while Khris Middleton was brought along slowly. But Beasley has never really been known for his defense...

Lakers Fans tried to warn Bucks Fans about Malik Beasley on defense pic.twitter.com/rK7NK1vKLd

— 🅿️ainSzn (@cjsweet567) November 10, 2023

That meme circled the internet rather quickly, but since that defensive gaffe, Beasley has really turned it on offensively. He poured in 30 points with 8 threes against the Raptors and followed it up with 20 points and 6 threes against the Hornets.

He scored just seven points against Dallas this weekend but played a season-high 34 minutes and pulled down six boards. With Jae Crowder ailing and Middleton facing limitations still, Beasley should continue to play big minutes and has been given the green light to shoot. The Bucks have the Wizards twice this week and Portland, too, which means three of their four games are against bad teams who play fast but play no defense.

Sam Hauser - SF/PF (20%)

I had Hauser on here last week and look at the week he had! He continues to do what he does - hit threes at an incredibly high rate while not hurting you anywhere out. He's the ideal specialist if you need threes because of his excellent percentages and low turnovers. The fact that he's at nearly three made triples per game in just 20 minutes is amazing and if he can keep it up, he just might stay inside the top 100.

Donte DiVincenzo - SG/SF (12%)

We might be chasing a bit here, but Donte D just had himself a classic pop-off game this weekend as he dropped 25 points and 7 triples on Charlotte while making a spot start on the wing for the Knicks. He had 14 points and 4 threes the night before against the Wizards, so it didn't come completely out of nowhere, but his value is mainly linked to the absence of Quentin Grimes - one of Coach Thib's favorites and the usual starter at the three.

Donte is a solid fantasy player who can rack up steals and some counting stats, too, when given the minutes. But this is likely a short-term add as Grimes will return eventually and Donte will likely go back to a 15-18 minute bench role.

Christian Braun - SG (6%)

Braun was a lot of experts deep sleeper lists this preseason, but had not done much through the first few weeks of the season. But his minutes have crept up lately, as he's seen 20, 30, and 25 in his last three games. He went nuts against the Pelicans with a 25-9-3 line on Friday night and reminded everyone of his potential. Who knows if these minutes stick, but the Nuggets need backcourt scoring right now with Jamal Murray out and Reggie Jackson not doing much in his stead. The Nuggets have three fantasy-friendly matchups this week in Detroit, Orlando, and Houston.

Gary Harris - SG/SF (3%)

Harris missed a five-game stretch earlier this month but has re-entered the rotation and even the starting lineup recently as the Magic continue to miss Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs.

Harris is a classic "3 and D" player who can help out in threes, points, and steals. He has five steals, in fact, in the three games that he's played since returning and he's shooting the ball quite efficiently with a sneaky good 56.5% FG%.

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