RADIO
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 19
Daniel Gafford (C, WAS) - 14% rostered
It's been a tale of two very different seasons for Daniel Gafford in DC this campaign. From tip-off day to December 19, he appeared in 31 games, averaging 15 MPG while not starting even one of those outings. From December 20 through the All-Star break, though, he's played 25 games, starting all of them and logging a much healthier 24 MPG.
Gafford is a limited big man that only knows how to operate inside. Good for the Wizards, though, they happen to have Kristaps Porzingis around to stretch the floor even at his high altitude. In other words, it's not that they will ever demand Gafford to do more than he knows how to.
The center entered the break on a bit of a slump more because of a lack of usage (lower than his already usual low) than playing bad basketball. It only spanned three games, though, so it's not a real reason for concern.
In the two months since Gafford took the starting C role for himself, he's put up a nightly 11-6-1 stat line to go with 1.6 BPG added to that. In the NBA, considering stats from December 20, only 10 players including Gafford have put up all of those numbers together and only the Wiz and Onyeka Okongwu are rostered in fewer than 84% of all ESPN leagues.
Gafford boasts impressive FG% (obviously) but his volume of FGA is not going to give you more than four or five shot attempts a pop. The freebies are bouncy and the TOPG sits at nearly 1.0 through the season.
The massive shot-blocking numbers more than make up for everything and bring most of Gafford's upside to the table--he's swatted 23 total shots in his last 10 games before the break.
Kyle Anderson (SF, MIN) - 12% rostered
Love him or hate him, Kyle Anderson has seemingly found his game in Minny this season. Circumstances (read: injuries to teammates) have genuinely helped him experience that breakout, of course, but that doesn't take from what he's been able to do through the ASG break and what most probably is ahead for him ROS.
Anderson has appeared in 48 games through the break and he's actually started 32 of those. From November 30 on, Anderson has started all but two games, racking up 28 consecutive starting gigs between December 7 and February 10. He got off the court after playing just six minutes at the start of the month but he was already back at it by the time we got to the break.
Slomo has scored at least 12 points in each of his last three outings, two starting and one coming off the pine. He's averaged a ridiculous 31+ FPPG in those three matchups while posting an even crazier 1.33 FP/min in that little run right before the break, February 10 to February 16.
Through the break, Anderson is averaging a low 8.6 PPG but he's paired that scoring outcome with all-across-the-board contributions sitting at 4.7 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 0.8 BPG. In the NBA as a whole, only seven players are currently posting all those per-game numbers: Anderson, Draymond Green, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Kyrie Irving, Scottie Barnes, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. None of them other than Anderson (26.1) has done it in fewer than 31.7 MPG.
Terance Mann (SG, LAC) - 9% rostered
The Los Angeles Clippers have entered uncharted territory and moved to a full no-point-guard rotation with no natural no. 1 in their roster. Yes, you can consider recently acquired Bones Hyland a point, or Terance Mann one himself, but there is no real point guard as we know them in the Clips' squad right now and there won't be one until/unless they bring Russell Westbrook to the Crypto.
It is still early to know if Russ will sign with the Lakers' neighbor, although he will meet with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard ahead of the March 1 buyout-signing deadline. Anyway, meanwhile, the Clips have been running with two-guard Terance Mann at the point with great success.
In fact, it's been like that for more than a month as Mann has started 20 games in a row through the break and 22 of his last 23 getting all the way back to January 2, the first Clippers game of the 2023 calendar year.
Since he started at the point for the first time on January 8, Mann is averaging an 11-4-3 per-game stat line to go with 0.4+0.4 stocks nightly. He's also been able to improve his shooting percentages mightily, going from hitting 48-of-104 (46.1%) field-goal attempts in his first 13 games in that span to 40-of-62 (64.5%) in his last seven, all of them played in February.
In February alone, Mann has averaged 15 PPG, nearly five RPG, and three APG, and he's shot the ball an average of nine FGA per game, hitting 1.8+ 3PM a pop. The steals and the blocks are definitely not in his nightly stat lines, but the scoring is terrific and the rebounding is so good for a two-guard masquerading as a point guard.
Talen Horton-Tucker (SG, UTA) - 6% rostered
The Jazz finally decided to sell the house, or at least some of it, before the deadline and into the home stretch of the season. Too bad (good?) for them, their starting shooting guard went down injured in their last game before the break on February 15 and that might mean more minutes and a bigger role for Talen Horton-Tucker if he's forced to miss time after the break.
Even if Collin Sexton doesn't have to stay on the shelves for long, THT had already started to get an increase of minutes following his return to the hardwood on February 8 after missing time before that. THT has now played at least 19 MP in all five of the games he played right before the All-Star Weekend and more than 25 in four of those five matchups.
Horton-Tucker has averaged a 13-3-6 stat line in that five-game span, adding one block per contest to that. He's been either extremely great or horrid on the shooting front, though, with the last three games at an FG% of 30 percent preceded by four outings shooting at a gaudy 59% clip.
THT is not the most adept guy at hoisting three-point shots (2.6 3PA per game), let alone hitting them (26.1 3P%). That said, THT still boasts an average of 7+ PPG over the full season to go with 2.5 RPG and nearly three RPG along with 1.0 stocks per game.
The good thing about THT is that he's now the first guard/wing off the pine depending on (and no matter) who the Jazz start at the PG/SG positions. Even with Sexton and Jordan Clarkson starting, he would still come off the pine first and get some 20+ MPG through the remainder of the season easily.
Shaedon Sharpe (SF, POR) - 3% rostered
You knew Shaedon Sharpe is serious about his NBA career the minute he got snubbed from the Rising Stars event at the All-Star Weekend. The consequence: he informed the league he was dropping out of the Dunk Contest. It seems it's the package or nothing for Sharpe.
Sharpe has seen his role grow after the turn of the calendar page and mostly through the last month of play. He's gone from playing 21 MPG in the first month of the season to 19, then 19 again, and finally 23 MPG in the past 13 games from January 22 through the break.
The rookie has not started for the Blazers since all the way back on November 21 when he did on the wings, playing 27 minutes against the Bucks and finishing with a mediocre 2-4-2 line. He's been great coming off the pine as of late, though, mostly in his most recent four games right before the break.
In the February 8-14 span, Sharpe appeared in four matchups, logged 22, 29, 26, and 28 MP, and averaged 13-4-2-1 stat lines nightly while also nailing at least one three-point shot in each game for a total tally of nine. He shot a ridiculous 21-of-34 from the floor in those four outings for a 61.7 FG% on top of everything.
The upside isn't incredibly high because the Blazers have loaded the wings before the trade deadline, landing Cam Reddish, Matisse Thybulle, and Kevin Knox... while already having Jerami Grant occupying one of the forward slots. That said, Sharpe should be the clear no. 1 player off the pine and there is a chance he ends up snatching a starting role if Cam Reddish flops.
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