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 9
Andrew Nembhard (PG, IND) - 13% rostered
While Bennedict Mathurin is obviously the most rostered and most appealing player coming off the Pacers pine, it's worth checking on Andrew Nembhard's availability if you are managing a deeper-league squad in fantasy basketball.
Nembhard has taken on primary combo-guard duties for Indy and he's actually started 13 of the last 14 games he's played. Even if we focus on the first half of that run, in which the rookie played only 25 MPG compared to 34 MPG of late, he still was good to put up 8-2-3-1 nightly lines.
The bulkier playing time has unlocked Nembhard's next-level numbers, though, as he's put up 11-4-6-1 lines in his last seven games/starts. We should expect something in the middle or actually closer to the first line than the second one ROS, but the upside is definitely there and the minute everyone goes down (and even if everything stays the same on the health front), Nembhard will be poised to eat big time.
Nembhard had a melting-lava-hot start to December (20-6-10 per-game averages with two double-doubles and a 31-burger) but that was totally unsustainable. Some GMs might have grown tired of "bad" Nembhard after his next (and most recent) three games fell from those gaudy standards so you can take advantage of that.
Shake Milton (PG, PHI) - 12% rostered
With the news of James Harden getting back to the court and having already appeared in a couple of games through Saturday (both of them played this week), it makes sense to find Shake Milton available in a few more leagues than the last time we checked.
Milton is now back to the pine with Harden available, but at least in the two games they have played with the Beard back, Milton has retained some of his production. That should remain the same at least until both Harden and Tyrese Maxey are back, with the latter expected to remain out of commission for a bunch of days and until mid-to-late December.
The minutes have gone down from 38 MPG as a starter to just 27 and 24 in the last two games playing off the bench. Milton finished those two by putting up 11-3-4-1 and 6-4-3 lines. Obviously, the scoring is way down from his double-digit figures in the past two weeks but that's reasonable as he won't be hoisting more than 10 FGA daily going forward.
Milton will keep up his assists and rebounds (almost 3.5+ in each category) most probably as the leading man on the second unit. He should take on more of a spot-up shooter role but that won't hurt him that much as he hit them from all places and distances.
Milton's shooting splits are terrific at 51/36/86. Even lowering the bar to a more reasonable 50/35/85, Milton makes the cut along with only five other players matching those percentages and shooting 8.5 FGA per game: Steph, Bojan Bogdanovic, Beal, Butler, and Brogdon.
Jose Alvarado (PG, NOP) - 7% rostered
Is this Josanity? What do we call it? Whatever name we choose, what is clear is that Jose Alvarado is more than a flash in the pan and a clear staple for the no. 1 seed in the Western Conference, your New Orleans Pelicans.
Alvarado might have entered the Association as a lottery, first-round, or even second-round draftee. He might not have come with the gaudiest of track records. He might not have figured in most people's lists of up-and-coming talents. But oh boy has he reached those heights already.
Alvarado has started six games through the season to date but that's not really what we care about when it comes to Jose. Alvarado, starting games or playing off the pine (which I'm sure he actually likes more), is a walking menace. He's stolen more rocks than you can even count (32 through Saturday) and has the 17th-most steals to date even though he's only playing 21 MPG.
The shooting is kind of crazy because sometimes Jose hoists four shots, and in others, he goes for 10 or more. When he shoots them, he hits them, though. Alvarado had a ridiculous 38-point explosion on Dec. 4 that included eight (!) treys to go with a 3-2-1 rest-of-line.
In the past four games (all in December), Alvarado has scored 75 total points and put up an average 17-1.5-2.5-2 per-game line. That includes a stinker (that can be considered a fluky outlier at this point) against Detroit last Wednesday of just 8.5 FP, so you see how impressive the rest of his play has been and how you can bet on him before it's too late.
Jaylen Nowell (SG, MIN) - 6% rostered
If this was, say, Anthony Edwards we were discussing, then it might be seen as a risky bet. With it being Jaylen Nowell and the youngster being available in nearly 95% of all ESPN leagues, not so much. I say that because Nowell's minutes went down to 21 and 16 in a back-to-back series played Friday and Saturday.
This could actually be an interesting moment to land some shares, precisely because of other fantasy GMs worrying about that downtick in playing time. In the five games before that back-to-back, Nowell had actually dumped 14+ points each time, scoring 21+ pops in three of those games. He had hit at least one 3-point shot in six consecutive matches before Saturday's.
Nowell pulls down a good number of rebounds (almost 3 RPG over the full season, 3.5+ in the last two weeks) considering his position and role in Minny. He's shot above 37.5% from the floor in eight consecutive games, attempting at least eight FGA in each of them, and he barely turns the ball over.
Only eight players this season have logged at least 450 minutes of playing time through Saturday while keeping up averages of 2+ APG and <1 TOPG, Nowell among them. Of those, only Nowell, Al Horford, and Derrick White are also scoring 10+ PPG this season.
Moritz Wagner (PF, ORL) - 5% rostered
Mo Wagner had to wait until Nov. 25 to finally play for the first time this season but he's hit the ground more than running. Mo found a window of opportunity after Wendell Carter Jr. got injured at the end of November and he is starting daily this month. Not that fantasy GMs can complain.
WCJ was a game-time decision last Friday but ultimately missed that matchup. Orlando went ahead with deploying their Monster Jumbo Package featuring all of Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Bol Bol for the fifth game in a row entering the weekend.
Wagner is usually handling the center position and he's been absolutely great at it. In his five games this month (all of them starting), he's logged 31 MP in all but one (fouled out after 22 minutes) and has averaged a 14-8-2-1 per-game line. He's got to grab a couple of dub-dubs in that span with 19-12 and 20-13 outings against the Bucks and the Clips no less.
Wagner's days of logging tons of minutes might be over with the comeback of Carter Jr. around the corner but he's done more than enough to merit more chances ROS and he's still super raw and young for Orlando to stop betting on him.
Wagner's shooting has been great with the big man hitting 51% of his shots from the floor while scoring three total treys over the five games played this month. The fouling sucks and the turnovers are kind of high for a big boy (2+ in each start), but other than that, he's a fantastic under-rostered player these days with a lot of upside.
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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
