De'Anthony Melton (SG, PHI) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 16

January 29, 2023

De'Anthony Melton is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 16 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 34% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Let's all give a round of applause to Tyrese Maxey for his candid concession to our boy De'Anthony Melton. The former got injured in late November, returned on December 30 and started six games, but then communicated to coach Doc Rivers that he preferred to play a sixth-man role as part of the Sixers' second unit. The main beneficiary? Of course, De'Anthony Melton.

Melton swung from starting to coming off the pine through the first month of the campaign, and the injury suffered by James Harden definitely helped him at racking up starts earlier this season. With Maxey out of the way by his own decision, Melton is (at least for now) safe as the starting two-guard of the Sixers.

The shooting guard/small forward tweener has recovered from a recent shooting slump in which he only hit 12-of-41 FGA from January 8 through January 19. In the last three games, though, Melton has bounced back to reality and he's gone 15-of-26 from the floor, finishing his last three outings with 14, 19, and 13 points while scoring 2, 3, and 3 3-point shots in those games, respectively.

Melton has never lost his all-cats appeal, though, keeping up a season-long (nearly) 11-4-3-2 line. I say nearly because I'm rounding up to make things simpler, but just a hair. Melton is missing on that line by just 0.1 dimes and 0.1 steals, so you get it.

This year, in the whole NBA, only three players are stealing more rocks per game (Jimmy Butler, OG Anunoby, and Delon Wright). Similarly, through Saturday and getting all the way back to the season's tip-off day in mid-October, only four players along with Melton are putting up a nightly 11-4-3 line with 1.5+ SPG and 0.5+ BPG on top of that: Shai, Luka, VanVleet, and Anthony Edwards.

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