Early-Week Fantasy Basketball Category Streamers for Week 10

December 19, 2022

Thunder Dan Palyo looks at some early-week waiver wire options for fantasy basketball leagues. These players may be free agents to target on waivers in Week 10.

After a few really nice weeks in the NBA schedule we have officially arrived a Christmas week, which means we have a front-loaded schedule and a funky second half of the week where we only have two games on Thursday, no games on Saturday (Christmas Eve) and then just the five feature matchups on Christmas Day. So streaming properly early in the week during Week 10 is imperative!

Most leagues limit how many players you can stream each week in daily leagues. If your league only allows three moves per week, you need to be very efficient with your moves and grab players who will help you maximize your games played and help you win an extra category or two of counting stats.

The goal of this article each Monday morning will be to help you plan out your roster moves for the first half of the week. Planning ahead is important and I always include which teams play on optimal days for streaming in the very first section so you can look for additional players that I don't mention as well. All the rostered percentages used in this article are from Yahoo! Let's see who can help us start the week strong!

Weekly Schedule: Monday to Thursday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): Memphis, Miami, Indiana, LA Clippers, Brooklyn, Boston

Teams that play three games (TARGET): Utah

Only teams that play BACK TO BACK (TARGET): Utah, Phoenix, NY Knicks, Golden State, Detroit, Chicago

Shallow League Streaming Options

Thomas Bryant - C (47%)

This is simply a public service announcement at this point. Go get Thomas Bryant now, and hurry. He's still available in half of Yahoo leagues despite the fact that Anthony Davis is out indefinitely. He's going to be a top-100 player with starter's minutes and is going to pile up points, boards, steals, and blocks with solid percentages. Run, don't walk to the wire in all your leagues, and double-check if he's available!

Onyeka Okongwu - C (50%)

He got the start last Friday for the ailing Clint Capela and should continue to start until he gets back. While his final line wasn't all that amazing (7 PTS, 7 REB, 2 BLK), he made every shot he took and is a guy that we know can pile up stats based on his per-36 numbers over the first three years of his career. He's still available in half of Yahoo leagues, which is just silly given his potential and opportunity.

Royce O'Neale - SG/SF (47%)

As the wire gets thinner, I tend to focus more on the less-rostered guys, but O'Neale is a guy who still interests me as he's back in the lineup and playing solid minutes (32 in two straight) again. The shots won't be there too often, but the ancillary stats are what we are chasing here and O'Neale can rack up steals, blocks, boards, and assists and maintain some value without having to score.

Dennis Schroder - PG (12%)

The Lakers are officially a mess and Schroder is one guy who's going to have to pick up some of the slack left behind by AD's injury. He's playing 30 minutes a night and providing some useable points, threes, and assists you just have to be okay with some lousy FG% that goes with it.

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Josh Okogie - SG/SF (6%)

The Suns have a nice back-to-back pairing of the Lakers (tonight) and Wizards (tomorrow). Okogie has stuck in the rotation with some solid play and is a guy who can contribute across the board in multiple categories. As long as Phoenix continues to give him 20+ minutes, Okogie should be useable in deeper formats.

Isaiah Joe - PG (2%)

Here's a guy who's available nearly everywhere that could help you out tonight. The Thunder have already ruled out their top two scorers and passers in SGA and Giddey, leaving OKC with a whole bunch of minutes and shots to go around. Joe is pretty much a one-dimensional gunner who contributes mainly in points, threes and steals but he hit five treys in his last start on the way to 23 points. He should see a lot of run again tonight in a decent matchup with Portland.

Kenrich Williams - SF/PF (1%)

After missing six games, Williams returned and played 32 minutes off the bench for the Thunder in a surprise win against the Grizzlies on Saturday. Who knows if he will play many minutes again tonight, as OKC tends to change rotations on who is playing well each night, but he was a varied skill set for a wing player as we saw in his performance on Saturday when he went 11-8-5 in that game.

Aaron Wiggins - SG/SF (1%)

Want another Thunder guy? How about Wiggins? He's posted two straight 14-point games in a row now after being buried on the bench for two weeks. We know Wiggins can shoot and if he's going to play 25 minutes or so tonight, he could be another solid option for points, threes, and boards.

Nathan Knight - PF/C (1%)

Another 1% guy, Knight could be very viable tonight if both Rudy Gobert and his replacement, Naz Reid, were to miss this game against Dallas. Reid left last night's game early and Gobert hasn't played in nearly a week. Knight came in and played 26 minutes, scoring 16 points to go with 2 boards and 3 assists. Keep an eye on the Timberwolves' injury report!

Specialist Streaming Options

THREES

Max Strus - SG/SF (31%)

You've seen his name here before, but Max is a steady contributor in threes even if the rest of his game is rather mediocre. He's making 2.7 long balls per night is a fixture in this Miami rotation as he's playing 31 minutes per game whether he starts or comes off the bench.

STEALS

Immanuel Quickley - PG/SG (15%)

His shot hasn't been falling lately, but Quickley has retained his spot in the rotation as one of the main bench players for the Knicks and has seven steals over his last four games. With a solid back-to-back coming up against the Warriors and Raptors on Tues-Wed, he's worth a look and hopefully, he can get his shot right before then.

BLOCKS

Bismack Biyombo - C (8%)

Deandre Ayton is still questionable ahead of tonight's game with the Lakers and Biyombo's other competition for minutes is Jock Landale, who has already been ruled out. I mentioned how nicely this schedule lines up for Phoenix to begin the week already, and Biyombo is an above-average shot-blocker who should continue to see minutes now whether he starts (if Ayton remains out) or comes off the bench.

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