Carmelo Anthony (SF/PF, LAL): Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

October 31, 2021

Carmelo Anthony is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 3 of the NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12-Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 51% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Remember when Melo got signed by Oklahoma City a few years ago, and a media member asked him if he was going to come off the bench? You might not remember the question but surely remember the answer: "Ayo P, they say I gotta come off the bench". Delightful. Good old days, though, as Melo is a bonafide pine-rider these days and has accepted his new reality, something we can't actually hate given his production.

Melo and the Lakers have been together for all of six games, and so far so good for the former All-Star. Anthony is playing 28 MPG and although he's not commanding heavy touches in the second unit (USG% of 20.7) he's still attempting 10+ FGA and scoring plenty of points (15.6 PPG) and treys (3.2 3PM per game). Melo has hit at least 13 points or 4+ triples in four games this season, and he has scored 1+ long-range shots in all but one outing (fluky game against the Spurs in which he shot a putrid 14%).

Nothing about Anthony's role and situation as a reserve in the Lakers will change any time soon, but it is not that you can find such productive players out there in half of Yahoo leagues for free. Melo will always give you buckets (very high buckets), the triples are surely coming his way, and the rebounds are also a lock to fall around 4 BPG nightly. And for those in 9-cat formats, the truth is that Anthony has been able to limit his TOs a lot with just 1.3 per game (against 1.0 APG) this season.

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