RADIO
This week, I am a day late due to Christmas falling on a Monday this year, but with just five games yesterday, we didn't miss too much. And I hope you were able to catch my special Christmas Day edition of NBA betting picks as I went 3-1 on those picks yesterday with the Milwaukee Bucks' loss to the Knicks being my only miss. I tweeted out some winning player props, too, so I hope you tailed those if you were able.
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 afterward with waiver additions and trades. And while you might make a handful of trades during 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 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).
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Week 10 Schedule Breakdown
| TEAM | GAMES | MON | TUES | WED | THURS | FRI | SAT | SUN |
| Atlanta Hawks | 3 | @CHI | SAC | @WAS | ||||
| Boston Celtics | 4 | @LAL | DET | TOR | @SA | |||
| Brooklyn Nets | 4 | @DET | MIL | @WAS | @OKC | |||
| Charlotte Hornets | 3 | @LAC | @LAL | @PHO | ||||
| Chicago Bulls | 3 | ATL | IND | PHI | ||||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 2 | @DAL | MIL | |||||
| Dallas Mavericks | 4 | @PHO | CLE | @MIN | @GS | |||
| Denver Nuggets | 3 | GS | MEM | OKC | ||||
| Detroit Pistons | 3 | BKN | @BOS | TOR | ||||
| Golden State Warriors | 3 | @DEN | MIA | DAL | ||||
| Houston Rockets | 3 | IND | PHO | PHI | ||||
| Indiana Pacers | 3 | @HOU | @CHI | NY | ||||
| Los Angeles Clippers | 2 | CHA | MEM | |||||
| Los Angeles Lakers | 4 | BOS | CHA | @MIN | @NO | |||
| Memphis Grizzlies | 4 | @NO | @DEN | @LAC | SAC | |||
| Miami Heat | 3 | PHI | @GS | @UTA | ||||
| Milwaukee Bucks | 3 | @NY | @BKN | @CLE | ||||
| Minnesota Timberwolves | 3 | @OKC | DAL | LAL | ||||
| New Orleans Pelicans | 3 | MEM | UTA | LAL | ||||
| New York Knicks | 4 | MIL | @OKC | @ORL | @IND | |||
| Oklahoma City Thunder | 4 | MIN | NY | @DEN | BKN | |||
| Orlando Magic | 4 | @WAS | PHI | NY | @PHO | |||
| Philadelphia 76ers | 4 | @MIA | @ORL | @HOU | @CHI | |||
| Phoenix Suns | 4 | DAL | @HOU | CHA | ORL | |||
| Portland Trail Blazers | 3 | SAC | SA | SA | ||||
| Sacramento Kings | 3 | @POR | @ATL | @MEM | ||||
| San Antonio Spurs | 4 | UTA | @POR | @POR | BOS | |||
| Toronto Raptors | 3 | @WAS | @BOS | @DET |
Notes:
Two teams play just twice this week -- the Clippers and Cavs.
Thanks to the Xmas Day slate yesterday, we have a pretty balanced schedule this week with at least six or more games the rest of the week. This is IDEAL for streaming.
Friday is the busiest day this week with 10 games, which oddly enough is actually a relatively small Friday night slate.
The Lakers are off the next two days but are the only team with the coveted back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday.
Standard League Adds For Week 10
Percentage owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo!
Trayce Jackson-Davis - PF/C (45%)
The hype has cooled down a bit on TJD and he may even have been dropped in some of your leagues after playing just 15 minutes yesterday and having his least productive game of the week. But I think he's still a buy for now based on just how toolsy he is and how easily he can put up stats when he gets those minutes.
Steph Curry with a SPECTACULAR DIME to Trayce Jackson-Davis for the finish 🔥pic.twitter.com/3JBdj2Ry1V
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 25, 2023
His per-36 numbers are eye-opening for sure -- 16 points, 11.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and 2.1 blocks. With Draymond Green's suspension set to last another week or two, Jackson-Davis is more likely than not to continue to get some run at the four or the five for the Dubs and he's just oozing upside.
Grayson Allen - SG/SF (44%)
After a season-high 32 points and eight made threes last night, Allen is now averaging 13 points a contest and has moved all the way up to 66 in Yahoo's player rankings.
Grayson Allen tonight:
32 Points
4 Rebounds
4 Assists
54% FG
8/17 3PM pic.twitter.com/Rr6Qqohedj— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 26, 2023
The deadly three-point marksman has been incredibly efficient shooting the basketball and has been a huge asset in steals, too, as he's recorded 10 of them over his last five games. The Suns are giving him huge minutes while Bradley Beal continues to be out and he should be rostered in leagues as shallow as 10 teams with his current role and production.
Jonathan Kuminga - PF (41%)
While it looked like Dario Saric might be the big winner in the Draymond Green suspension at first, it's clearly been Kuminga and then Jackson-Davis. Saric is splitting minutes at center with Kevon Looney, while Kuminga has moved into the starting rotation and has seen a nice bump in playing time as a result.
Kuminga's fantasy game isn't all that exciting, but he's giving us some nice points and rebounds right now on solid shooting percentages. The production is boring without many defensive stats, but he's certainly worthy of being rostered in all standard leagues.
Alex Caruso - PG/SG (37%)
Caruso is not the kind of fantasy player that is attractive to the masses, but as soon as he got healthy and back into the starting lineup, I added him to a bunch of my teams. What you won't get from Caruso is a lot of scoring, but the scrappy guard will give you some solid production in other categories. He's in the top 100 on Yahoo right now due to his excellent FG% (54.7%), low turnovers (1.4), and defensive prowess (1.2 STL, 0.8 BLK).
If your team is built around big men (as many of mine are), then Caruso is an excellent complementary piece as he will never hurt your FG% or TOs while delivering solid defensive stats from the guard position. With Zach LaVine's status in Chicago continuing to be up in the air indefinitely, Caruso is a strong add.
Gary Trent Jr. - PG/SG (29%)
Trent has fallen on hard times this season as he has been the odd man out in the Toronto rotation and has had to try to carve out a new role as a bench scorer. His production has been anything but consistent, and he's really only contributing in points and threes right now, which has likely led to him being cut in your league.
But he's on a nice little run right now, scoring 22, 12, 17, and 16 points in his last four games and his minutes have been trending up, too. He was a very borderline pick for the article this week, but the tiebreaker was that Toronto faces both Washington AND Detroit this week -- the two absolute worst teams in the NBA who are bleeding points and production to opponents this season.
Nick Richards - C (25%)
I have been holding onto Richards as long as I possibly can where I have him as Charlotte's usual starting center Mark Williams continues to be listed as doubtful daily and then gets ruled out by mid-afternoon. Something seems weird about that and perhaps we get an announcement about Williams suffering another setback during recovery sooner or later.
Nick Richards tonight:
12 Points
15 Rebounds
3 Assists
3 Blocks
1 StealHeld Jokic to just 18 points in a close loss 💪 pic.twitter.com/ISyzMGqKMI
— HornetsMuse (@CHAHornetsMuse) December 24, 2023
All I know is that Richards has put up some stellar numbers as the starting center when given the opportunity, including two double-doubles last week and 10 blocks over his last five games.
Deep League Adds For Week 10
Derrick Jones Jr. - SF (18%)
DJJ makes his return to the article this week as he's now up to 18% rostered from 13% last week. That still puts him in the deep-league territory, but I would not blame you for taking a shot on him even in a 12-team league right now.
With DJJ, you have to be willing to ride the roller coaster. There are going to be some seven and eight-point games but he will eventually reward you with a performance like he had last night when he went for 23 points on 50% shooting with three treys, an assist, and a steal.
DERRICK JONES JR. AYAAAAAAAAA pic.twitter.com/S8AdeQDD2y
— The Daily Dunk (@dailydunkfr) December 26, 2023
The lack of depth in Dallas makes me think DJJ is going to continue to get opportunities to play solid minutes on a nightly basis. His game lends itself well to playing with Luka Doncic as he doesn't need the ball in his hands at all in order to be productive.
Rui Hachimura - SF/PF (15%)
The Lakers continue to experiment with their starting lineup and rotations as they are looking for the right mix of players that will best complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Hachimura appears to be winning the battle for minutes among the Laker forwards (Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Jaxson Hayes) as he's now played 33, 30, and 29 minutes over their last three games.
His ability to score and shoot from distance gives him a big edge on Vanderbilt, and Wood has been so unimpressive that he is having a hard time even cracking the rotation. Hach's fantasy game is a lot like Kuminga's -- mainly points and rebounds, though he will deliver more threes (1.3 per game on the season).
Day'Ron Sharpe - C (9%)
For all of you punt-FT% enthusiasts, let's talk about Sharpe a bit here. The Nets' backup big man has finally started to get some consistent minutes behind Nic Claxton at the five and is producing in a big way -- like we have seen him do before on a per-minute basis.
Beautiful connection @SDinwiddie_25 ➡️ @dayron_sharpe pic.twitter.com/ZoNCny9XFU
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 24, 2023
Sharpe is giving us seven points and seven boards a night in just 16 minutes a game. He adds 0.8 blocks per game in addition to only 1.1 turnovers and a solid 55% field goal percentage. He's not the shot-blocker that Claxton is by any means, but he's arguably a more efficient rebounder and the two of them make a solid pairing. Claxton only needs 30 minutes to put up solid numbers, and if Sharpe gets the other 18 minutes as the only other center to play, he can put up very usable numbers for deeper leagues, too.
Craig Porter Jr. - PG (7%)
I am a huge fan of this guy and his game. I watch every Cavs game and I have developed a real appreciation for CPJ and how he plays the game. As an undrafted rookie, he's exceeded everyone's expectations and has been forced into action more often than Cleveland wanted with injuries to Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Caris LeVert piling up.
Craig Porter Jr. is an old, short, undrafted rookie on a two-way. None of that matters, this dude knows ball.
Superb feel when playing off ballscreens. Had 19/8/7 last night in a win. Bulls threw Caruso on him late, you never see guys having this much success against him. pic.twitter.com/xakR58kKvw
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) December 24, 2023
The Cavs play Dallas tomorrow and we have no updates on any of their top three guards right now, other than Garland is definitely out another week or so. I am holding CPJ everywhere until we see how things play out. He's definitely worth an add, too, as he can be productive in a bench role even if he's not starting.
Chimezie Metu - PF/C (1%)
One of the crazier stat lines you will see this season came from Metu last night against Dallas. The big man has averaged only 12 minutes a game for Phoenix this season, but came off the bench and played 34 minutes last night, racking up 23 points and 19 rebounds.
The sixth-year player has never cracked more than 21 minutes a game in his career, and that was back in 2021-2022 when he finished with nine points and five boards a game in a reserve role for the Sacramento Kings. Phoenix starting center Jusuf Nurkic is set to return to the team this week, but you have to wonder if Metu's performance has now pushed him ahead of Drew Eubanks as the backup center. Phoenix has been willing to try out a number of guys at the position while Nurk was out, including Udoka Azubuike, who double-doubled last Friday in relief of Eubanks.
Even if you don't add Metu, he's worth watch-listing!
That's it for this week, good luck in your leagues, and thanks for reading!
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