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The deeper a fantasy basketball league, the harder it is to hit a winner with your last few picks. It is also harder to find decent help from the waiver wire if your late-round picks don't do you justice. If you picked up a few stinkers, don't lose hope just yet. I will try to help you pick up a winner.
Here are my deeper league fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for the upcoming week and your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks' rental or a long-term fix to a problem your team is having.
If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 10
Thomas Bryant (C, LAL) - 18% rostered
Thomas Bryant returned to the court on Nov. 18, slightly over a month ago, but he didn't feature prominently in the Lakers' lineups until last week when Anthony Davis (who has been playing center all year) went down injured. Since then, and in the last five games (the last four as a starter), Bryant has seen the doors of fantasy heaven widely open in front of him.
Bryant enters Christmas having played 24, 33, 27, 29, and 34 minutes in the last five games he's appeared in. He's scored at least 16 points in four of those and grabbed at least 10 boards in three. The average line in those five outings is nearing a 15-9-2-1 per game line. No joke, folks. And Anthony Davis is expected to be out at the very least for one more month.
Stop reading this. Go grab some Bryant shares. (...) Okay, now let's keep discussing this man's upside for a minute.
The Lakers lack a bit of everything and big bodies are not something they have quite a surplus of. Bryant will keep eating big-time minutes on a nightly basis until mid-January at the very least, if not after that if/when AD comes back, and the Lakers use him at the four instead of the five to prevent more health issues hitting Davis.
Bryant is always going to dump buckets inside and pull down boards in bunches, but the most interesting thing comes from beyond the arc as he's scored at least one shot from three-point range in his last five games and two long-rangers in each of his last four matches.
Jalen Duren (C, DET) - 16% rostered
The youngest player in the NBA, Jalen Duren has finally been given a starting gig in Detroit with the Pistons pretty much waving the white flag just two months into the season. It's now been eight consecutive starts for Duren.
Judging by the minutes he's playing and how incredibly productive he's been so early in his career, the rookie should stay on the court more often than not ROS. Duren has played an average of 30 MPG in the last eight games (all of them starting) and he's pulled down 99 rebounds in that span.
He also grabbed 13 more boards one game before becoming the Pistons' starting big for a total of 112 boards in his last nine games. In the past two weeks and a half (nine games), he's averaged 10 PPG and 12+ RPG to go with 1+ APG.
Of course, Duren has enough to handle those pops and rebounds, so let's not demand him to assist buckets on top of everything. Duren is hitting almost 70% of his attempted field goals (low-volume shooting, though) and 73% of his freebies.
Moritz Wagner (PF, ORL) - 12% rostered
The Wagner Brothers have been doing it for more than a while now in Orlando. Entering Christmas, both have shared the court starting games for the Magic on a nightly basis since the start of the month and actually getting back to Nov. 25 when they did so for the first time this season.
Mo is rostered in 12% of leagues compared to his brother's rostership of 85%, though. Moritz Wagner, the bigger of the two, has started all 12 games he's played this month while staying an average of 29 MPG on the floor. In those two games, he's failed to score 10+ points just twice while he's hit at least a triple in 10 of the 12 contests, too.
Wagner is averaging 14.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 1.5+ APG this month and has yet to miss a single free throw starting to count from Dec. 5 (included). Seriously. Mo has hoisted 38 FTA in the last 10 games and he's hit all of them without mistake. It's been insane, as insane has also been his shooting percentage from the floor, sitting at 52% in that same span.
Mo is so perfect that he's attempted exactly 100 shots in the last 10 games. No more, no less. Also: Wagner is one of only five players in the NBA with PF/C eligibility hitting 0.9+ 3PM per game and contributing 0.9+ SPG and 6.9+ APG nightly along with Joel Embiid, Kristaps Porzingis, Pascal Siakam, and Paolo Banchero.
Onyeka Okongwu (PF/C, ATL) - 11% rostered
It could be said that it's been a tale of two seasons for the young Onyeka Okongwu split into pre and post-Dec. 1st. From the start of the year to the start of December, the young big was averaging a measly 19 FPPG (21 games), but since we entered the last month of the calendar year, he's putting up a respectable 25 FPPG (11 games) on a nightly basis.
There has been an increase in the playing time of around 3+ MPG for him, yes, but even looking at his production on a per-minute basis, the improvement is clear: he's gone from averaging a league-average 0.92 FP/min to a much better 1.03 in the last 11 games through Christmas.
In December, Okongwu played 11 games, averaging 10+ PPG, 8+ RPG, and 1.7+ stocks (1.2 BPG). The minutes have not been egregious as to consider them unsustainable, mind you, with Okongwu averaging 24 MPG this month and only topping 25 minutes in four of those 11 games.
There is a very strong possibility that Atlanta (once and for all) moves on from either John Collins or Clint Capela before the deadline, and that could come with an enlarged role for the younger Okongwu. In five starts this season, all of them from Nov. 25 on, Okongwu averaged an 8-8-1-1-2 line (2.4 BPG) on a meager 12 percent USG%.
Naz Reid (C, MIN) - 3% rostered
It is true that Naz Reid's upside was high for a few games only because Rudy Gobert missed time, but that doesn't mean Reid is exclusively a no-Gobert option for fantasy GMs managing in deeper leagues and formats.
Reid is one of the most efficient players in the NBA playing off the bench and that has paved the way to present-day stars-in-the-making, such as Robert Williams III a couple of seasons back. Why couldn't Reid be on the same ascendent path himself? The kid just turned 23-years-old last August!
Reid started three consecutive games a little over a week ago, playing a contrasting 37, 12, and 40 minutes. In the two large outings, he put up back-to-back 52-DKFP pieces. In the other one, even though he just played 12 minutes, he still found a way to reach a 10-3 with a couple of three-point shots made and a steal.
The thing with Reid is that he's so efficient that he's a per-minute machine in the fantasy realm. He's averaging 1.18 FP/min on the year (league average at 0.90) while playing 17 MPG through 27 games. For a young big man, the truth is that Reid can do pretty much everything.
He's averaging one 3PM per game while shooting 56% from the floor. Only Reid, Aaron Gordon, and Kevin Durant are doing that this season while attempting at least 7+ FGA per game.
He's averaging 10 PPG + 4 RPG in under 20 MPG. Only Reid, Thomas Bryant, and Brandon Clarke are doing that this season.
Don't take Reid for what he's not, but consider him a very solid off-the-bench player with chances to retain some of his upside and minutes with Gobert back at the very least until KAT returns and is fully fit and available. Reid is doing more than enough to merit minutes and the Wolves' coaching staff should have realized that.
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