Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds and Weekly Planner: Week 17 (2/12-2/25)

Thunder Dan Palyo gets you set for the upcoming week of Fantasy Basketball with a schedule breakdown and his top players to add off the waiver wire for Week 17.

Welcome to the mega-week that is Week 17 as most leagues lump together the half-week of NBA games before and after the NBA All-Star break together.

The key to winning fantasy basketball leagues is NOT about how you draft, but what you do afterward with waiver additions and trades. And while you might make a handful of trades during a season, you're most certainly going to make dozens of waiver adds and drops as you try to cope with injuries to players or just try to maximize your games played each week in H2H formats.

Working the wire is an incredibly important skill and being one step ahead of your fellow league managers means always planning and keeping tabs on players who starting to play better or earn more minutes. Every week, I will do my best to help you plan out your week and give you my top recommendations to add from waivers in both standard (10-12 team leagues) and deeper formats (more than 12 teams).

Week 17 Schedule Breakdown

Notes:

The Warriors are the only team with SIX games during Week 17 - three before and after the break.

The Heat have easily the worst schedule for pick-ups/streamers with only THREE games total.

Memphis, Golden State, and Utah all play back-to-backs on the final two days before break.

Orlando is the only team that plays a back-to-back on the final two days of the scoring period (Sat 2/24 and Sun 2/25)

Standard League Adds For Week 17

Percentage owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo!

Precious Achiuwa - PF/C (45%)

I hope you added Precious last week when he was only 30% rostered, but if for some reason he is still floating around out there on your wire, grab this guy fast! This week the Knicks play just four games, but Precious is looking at at least a few more weeks of heavy minutes with both Julius Randle and OG Anunoby out indefinitely.

Precious Achiuwa with AUTHORITY 💥

pic.twitter.com/pprHI5pfa4

— Knicks Nation (@KnicksNationCP) February 11, 2024

He's played 40+ minutes now in six straight games and is producing across the board. There's absolutely no reason he should be on the wire in any type of competitive league.

Amen Thompson - SG/SF (36%)

It sounds like Fred VanVleet is going to sit out until the break at least, so we could get two more games with Thompson in the starting lineup for the Rockets. In four games as a starter, he's averaged 12 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. The rebounding from the guard position is phenomenal and the counting stats are solid, just don't expect many threes, and be ready to deal with some turnovers.

GG Jackson II - PF (32%)

The Grizzlies have been a disaster this season and the only regular starter they have left who is still playing at this point is Jaren Jackson Jr. There will come a time when they will probably shut him down, too, but Jackson is well worth an add NOW as he's getting plenty of minutes as Santi Aldama can't stay healthy and Memphis just dealt away Xavier Tillman to the Celtics.

The youngster has been the most exciting player on the court for Memphis and has shown some range from deep in addition to some explosiveness at the rim. He easily has the most upside of any player who's 40% rostered or less right now in my opinion.

Kelly Olynyk - PF/C (29%)

The former Gonzaga big man has been traded yet again and finds himself back in Toronto where he grew up and was very much involved for the Raptors in this debut, playing 22 minutes and posting 11-6-3 with three steals and a block. We know Kelly O is a standard league player with around 25 minutes per night and it looks like he could see close to that in Toronto off the bench. His game is so fantasy-friendly that he doesn't need big minutes and he usually thrives playing with second units as he can have a larger role there.

Corey Kispert - SG/SF (23%)

The Washington sharpshooter finally saw his ridiculous run come to an end with just five points against the Sixers on Saturday, however, he was absolutely red-hot for over a week with three games where he scored 20+ points. Washington is a team that is going to emphasize developing the guys they view as part of their future going forward and it seems likely that Kispert should continue to see solid minutes going forward as he's their best shooting wing. Perhaps he heats back up this week and if not, then just cut him for a different hot hand.

Deep League Adds For Week 17

Simone Fontecchio - SF (17%)

The Italian wing had shown signs of being roster-worthy in Utah when he got enough minutes, but his rest-of-season outlook just got even brighter after being dealt to the Pistons who promptly played him 32 minutes in his debut.

Simone Fontecchio last night:

20 PTS | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL

In 10 mins, the line-up of Cade-Ivey-Fontecchio-Ausar-Duren was +15.7--VERY small sample size, but a positive trend.

Can't wait for game two with @simofonte13. pic.twitter.com/I1SvMdF0NI

— Jack Kelly (@jack_kelly_313) February 11, 2024

Fontecchio was excellent with 20 points, 9 boards, and three treys and it certainly seems like he might get the chance to lock down a starting spot in Detroit. He's a strong add in all formats.

Grant Williams - PF (13%)

I'm not a huge Grant Williams fan, but he played 32 minutes in his first game for Charlotte and produced 15 points and 8 rebounds with three triples. The Hornets are tanking hard and it sure seems like the minutes will be there for some of their trade deadline acquisitions.

Rui Hachimura - SF/PF (13%)

Hach has played 37 and 38 minutes for the Lakers as a starter in his last two games and should be locked into major minutes going forward with Jarred Vanderbilt out for at least 2-3 weeks. He's going to post some duds occasionally, but he can also pour in buckets when he gets hot as he did against the Pelicans on Saturday when he had 21 points on 9/13 shooting. He's mainly a points, rebounds, and threes contributor, but he's playing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis which means he's going to have plenty of open looks.

Tre Mann - PG/SG (12%) and Vasilije Micic - PG (10%) 

Mann is one of the more compelling adds for deep leagues. He is a pretty talented scorer and managed to rack up nine assists and two steals in his Charlotte debut. There will be some poor shooting nights, but Mann has some solid upside in scoring, assists, threes, and steals.

I don't think we see much of LaMelo Ball the rest of this season, and for that reason, Micic (who also came over from OKC in the Gordon Hayward trade) is also an interesting pickup. He's a 30-year-old European player with a ton of experience and a smooth game. He won't put up 18-9 often like he did in his debut, but there is certainly some potential for regular production there with the Hornets having so few solid guards and ball-handlers on this team.

That's it for this week, good luck in your leagues, and thanks for reading!

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