Only the best of the best are left in most fantasy leagues that involve playoffs. Streaming becomes a a large part at this point, and if it's coming down to a block or two in these last couple of days, not even your first string player is safe from a cut.

We will take it a bit differently this week, as we will not be picking out three players to target based on their % Owned. Instead, we will be looking into two teams where injuries to their centers, both born in my neighbor country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will open up some frontcourt minutes for the rest of the season. Guys who should benefit from this unfortunate turn of events will be the focal point of our story today, since all of them are sitting on most waiver wires.

So if you made it this far into the fantasy post-season, and are looking to add some help from the free agent pool, welcome to Rotoballer's Week 23 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams.

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Jusuf Nurkic Injury Waiver Wire Adds

Portland Trail Blazers frontcourt

Jusuf Nurkic was insane since his trade from the Nuggets and it's a real shame that his injury will keep him out for the rest of the regular season, and in turn, the rest of the fantasy season. But one man's lose is another man's gain as there are a few players on most waiver wires who stand to profit from the extra minutes coming their way. The obvious beneficiaries are deeper league targets Noah Vonleh and Meyers Leonard, with Maurice Harkless being a much more attractive target, looking at a small bump, too. Portland plays one more game this week, on the five-game Saturday.

Meyers Leonard, PF/C (2% Owned)  is hard to trust with him playing more than 20 minutes only four times since Nurk arrived and scoring in double-digits just once in those 19 games, he is still the same player that averaged 8.4 points with 5.1 boards and 1.4 threes in 22 minutes per game last season. He is still the 11th overall pick from the 2012 draft who signed a four-year, $41 million deal just this past off season. With around 30 minutes up for grabs, Meyers might get a chance to hit a few threes and grab a few rebounds in around 20-25 minutes per game, so if you're in a really deep league and need those stats, he might be a good fit.

Noah Vonleh, PF (7% Owned) had a decent couple of games here and there in the last three weeks, even posting a double-double on March 18 against the Hawks. If Vonleh can get minutes at around the 30 minute mark, as he has done in the recent past even with The Nurk Alert around, you can count on him to produce decent rebounds on solid field goal percentages and a few steals too. He might hurt your FT% though. Anyway, he is a safer add than Leonard, but it depends on your team's needs.

Maurice Harkless, SF (29% Owned) won't necessarily directly get more playing time in this situation, since he doesn't play that much frontcourt minutes to begin with, but with Nurk out, Portland will certainly play more small ball and shift some players around to fill the void, so he should see a boost too. Harkless has been decent for the most of the season, flirting with top-100 value, but has slowed down in the last couple of weeks. But, in addition to more minutes and offensive touches being available sans Jusuf, Maurice's last game on March 30 against the Rockets looks promising to fantasy owners. He hit 8-of-13 from the field for 17 points with one three-pointer, six boards, two steals, three blocks and no turnovers in 32 minutes. If he can repeat that performance for his owners, I'm sure they would really appreciate it.

 

Ivica Zubac Injury Waiver Wire Add

Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt

Ivica Zubac was just coming into his own and getting used to the tempo of the NBA when disaster struck. He suffered a high ankle sprain which will keep him out for the remainder of the season. Zubac was playing over 20 minutes per game in the previous month, so his frontcourt teammates will have to pick up the slack. Furthermore, the Lakers play on both Saturday and Sunday, so they make for a great streaming option for the end of this, in most leagues Playoff Finals week.

Larry Nance Jr. PF (27% Owned) has already been given a larger role in the last four. He hasn't really been brilliant, but hasn't been too bad either with averages of 7.5 PTS on 40.0 FG% and 54.5 FT%, 6.8 REB, 1.8 AST, 0.3 STL, 1.0 BLK and 1.3 TO in 29 minutes per game. The absence of Brandon Ingram did help out a bit and he should be back on Saturday April 1, but with Zubac being out, his return shouldn't impact Larry's playing time much. Nance Jr. is a decent producer of rebounds and steals, so if you could use those stats and you don't mind his free throws he could be a good streaming option for your fantasy team.

Tarik Black, PF/C (9% Owned) is a per minute stud. His per 36 minutes season averages are 12.8 PTS on 50.8 FG% and 73.3 FT%, 11.6 REB, 1.3 AST, 0.9 STL, 1.3 BLK and 2.1 TO. He is averaging 14 minutes per game in the last month, so if a majority of Zubac's minutes were to go to him, he would be worth taking a flier on if you need elite rebounds and defenisve stats along with a few points on decent field goal efficiency.

Thomas Robinson, PF/C (1% Owned) has only played in 41 games this season but is, quite similarly to Black, a decent per minute producer. In just under 11 minutes per game he has averaged 4.3 points on 54.2 % from the field and 48.9% from the line, 4.3 boards, 0.6 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.2 blocks and 0.8 turnovers. Robinson is the least likely to contribute to your fantasy teams, but if you're in a deep league and don't mind the low FT% and high turnovers, his boards and steals might prove vital to your last fantasy championship push.

 

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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.