Fantasy Basketball Mid-Week Streamers: Week 21

March 16, 2023

Thunder Dan Palyo looks at some mid-week waiver wire options for fantasy basketball leagues. These players may be free agents to target on waivers in Week 21.

I don't know about you, but I am in a few nail-biter matchups this week and I am currently wringing my hands over the last few adds I make this week. There are three teams you can target for three games in the final four days (DEN, ORL, TOR) and two teams that have the coveted back-to-back set on Saturday and Sunday (MIA, LAC) so definitely give players on those teams a look first if you looking to maximize your number of games played total this week.

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 Thursday morning will be to help you plan out your roster moves for the remainder of the week. By this point of the week, you should start to get an idea of what categories you may need help with and where your weekly opponent is the strongest and weakest (in H2H formats). If you're playing roto, you don't have to gameplan quite as much, but you'll still want to maximize the stats your team can accumulate during the week. All the rostered percentages used in this article are from Yahoo.

Weekly Schedule: Thursday to Sunday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): CHA, CLE, DAL, UTA

Teams that play three games (TARGET): DEN, ORL, TOR

Teams that play Back-to-Backs (TARGET): BOS (Fri-Sat), CHI (Fri-Sat), GSW (Fri-Sat), LAC (Sat-Sun), MEM (Fri-Sat), MIA (Sat-Sun), MIN (Fri-Sat), PHI (Fri-Sat)

Shallow League Streaming Options

Jalen Suggs - PG/SG (45%)

With three games to finish out the week, Suggs tops the list here, even if he did slow down a bit in his last game. The scoring will be uneven, but he continues to produce steals and can help you win that category this week while probably boosting your assists a bit, too.

Austin Reaves - SG/SF (41%)

Finally, Reaves is over the 40% threshold. I'm not sure what took so long, he's been fantastic for two straight weeks. He went off with AD out last night, but he should still be very useful when AD plays tomorrow and Sunday in two pretty decent matchups against Dallas and Orlando.

Matisse Thybulle - SF/SG (25%)

I ended up cutting Thybulle loose earlier this week in one league and immediately regretted it when he went 15-8-3 with three steals, one block, and two treys against the Knicks. If you need help with defensive stats, there simply isn't a better guy out there on the wire.

Moritz Wagner - PF/C (20%)

Mo Wagner keeps chugging along and producing useable lines even when he's coming off the bench. He's mainly good for points and boards, but he does have three-point range and can add some defensive stats. The Thursday-Saturday-Sunday schedule is IDEAL to finish the week and maybe we get lucky and the Magic rest Wendell Carter Jr. on one of those back-to-backs.

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Jordan Nwora - SF/PF (11%)

Indiana has been a bit of a mess and they seem like they're willing to rest some guys and play some of their younger players down the stretch. Nwora hit 30 minutes last game and dropped 20 points. He feels pretty safe for at least 15-20 minutes even if coming off the bench and can produce enough value to warrant an add in deeper formats.

Eric Gordon - SG/SF (11%)

Gordon has settled into his sixth-man role with the Clippers quite nicely and has been solid for them while Norman Powell is out. You're really only getting points, threes, and a few steals but Gordon shoots a solid percentage from the field and won't hurt you with turnovers either. The Sat-Sun back-to-back is nice, grab him for the final two days of the week if you're trailing in threes or points.

Malaki Branham - SG/SF (11%)

Branham was tossed to the curb after Vassell came back and it's been DeVonte Graham who has been the Spurs' bench guard to own lately. But Branham returned to action last night and scored 20 points on 66% shooting from the field in 29 minutes and he's a compelling option for the final two games this week against Memphis and Atlanta.

Sandro Mamukelashvili - PF/C (2%)

Mamu time in San Antonio has begun! He started and played 33 minutes last night for the Spurs as Zach Collins was rested. With Charles Bassey now out for the year, it should be Mamu who is backing up Collins and despite his mediocre line last night (10-7-2 with two threes), this guy is a pretty solid per-minute producer typically.

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