PJ Washington (SF/PF, CHA): Week 19 Waiver Wire Pickups

Charlotte Hornets forward PJ Washington is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 19 of the NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add In 14+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 39% of leagues

ANALYSIS: There are overlooked rookies, and then there is PJ Washington. The first-year player of Charlotte is one of the best newcomers of the season, has played 49 games and started 48 of them at the time of this writing while putting up top-70 numbers, and even with that, he's owned in fewer than 40% of Yahoo leagues. Some things one just doesn't understand.

This is the best moment to acquire/buy Washington low. While I love his full-season work, it must be acknowledged that Washington has dropped his performance levels a bit during the last month (he's gone from a 13-6-2-1-1 line to a 9-5-3-1 since Jan. 24). Nothing substantial, though, and he's had three games of under 25 minutes of playing time in that last span which definitely skews his numbers down. You should take advantage of this little slump and add him to your roster without much hesitation.

At the end of the day, PJ Washington is still a starter. His true-talent level is closer to scoring 10+ points per game than fewer than double-digits, and he's shown enough as to consider him a nightly threat in the boards averaging 5.5 rpg on the season while dishing out a fair amount of assists given his position. Washington has also come back from the break with back-to-back games of getting to at least 16-5-4-1 lines against Chicago and Brooklyn, which is more in line with what he did during the first two-thirds of the season. That is the real Washington and the player you'll be acquiring if you pick him up from waivers.