Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds and Weekly Planner: Week 24 (4/8-4/14)

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 24.

It's the final week of the NBA regular season and while many leagues have already wrapped up their playoff brackets, there are still some that play things out until the final day on Sunday. This week the schedule gets weird with two games that have no games (Monday and Saturday). Every team still has 3-4 games left so the remaining days of the week are loaded up with games, especially Friday and Sunday where every NBA team is in action.

These last two weeks are incredibly challenging, which is why so many leagues have just chopped them off entirely. I'm going to dig deep and see if we can't find a few really good additions that you can make to help you finish the season strong.

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 are 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 24 Schedule Breakdown

Notes:

No Games Monday OR Saturday make for a very condensed schedule this week.

Monday-Tuesday B2B = NONE

Tuesday-Wednesday B2B = ATL, CHA, DAL, DEN, LAC, MEM, MIL, MIN, MIA, OKC, ORL, PHX, SAS, TOR

Wednesday-Thursday B2B = NONE

Thursday-Friday B2B = BOS, CHI, DET, GSW, HOU, NOP, NYK, POR, SAC, UTA

Friday-Saturday B2B = NONE

Saturday-Sunday B2B = NONE

Standard League Adds For Week 24

The percentage of owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo!

Luguentz Dort - SG/SF (36%)

It remains to be seen as to whether or not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams return before the playoffs, but in their absence Dort has been pretty darn productive. The Thunder are still trying to win games and have been rolling with Dort, Giddey, and Chet Holmgren in the starting lineup. His role on offense has increased with more shot attempts and he's always a solid rebounder and defender when given the minutes.

Grant Williams - PF/C (35%)

With four games this week, Grant Williams might be the best player on the wire under 40% rostered. Believe it or not, he's playing at at top-85 level over the last two weeks, delivering 15 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, and 1.9 threes on 56% shooting.

Vasilije Micic - PG (30%)

Another Hornet here who is making his case for "Silly Season Hero of the Year" is Micic. He has three double-doubles (points + assists) over the last two weeks and is averaging an impressive 9.3 assists over that stretch. With Tre Mann moving over to shooting guard, it's Micic who is running the offense and getting the majority of potential assists on a nightly basis. Make sure he's not still on the waiver wire for Charlotte's four-game week!

T.J. McConnell - PG (26%)

McConnell continues to excel off the bench for Indiana and on nights when he gets extended run (minutes into the low or mid-20s), he's posting some serious stats. He's coming off a 22-point, 5-assist game against Miami last week in which he shot 78% from the field! Indiana plays only three games, but it's possible they could lock up the 6th seed before the weekend and we get 1-2 starts from McConnell if Indiana chooses to rest their star Tyrese Haliburton.

The best FG% against the Miami Heat this season (minimum 20 attempts):

84% — TJ McConnell
73.3% — Obi Toppin
69.6% — Nic Claxton

I’m not sure what the Heat did to you, but on behalf of the entire city of Miami, we deeply apologize @TJMcConnell pic.twitter.com/CA7xu8ztFs

— HeatMuse (@Heat_Muse) April 8, 2024

Jabari Walker - SF/PF (19%) 

Early in the year, I had predicted that Walker would have a big finish to the season. However, it was an inconsistent final few months for him as the Blazers never officially shut down Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton (though both players have missed a lot of time).

Walker has been playing alongside Ayton lately and thriving at the PF slot. He's averaging over 10 points and 10 boards over the last two weeks and playing solid minutes. The downside is his shooting percentages, but the upside is that he can pile up counting stats in a hurry and knock down a few threes.

Chimezie Metu - PF/C (13%)

Metu has been cast off from several different teams in his young career but is getting a chance for an extended run in Detroit to finish out the season. He's coming off a season-high 43 minutes of playing time in his last game in which he shot 9/9 from the field for 20 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 three-pointers!

Chimezie Metu masterclass @ Brooklyn today:

20 PTS
9-9 FG 👀
7 REB
3 AST
3 STL
2 3PM
39.9 FPTS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wasMdzKiO7

— Jacob Dunne (@AintDunneYet) April 7, 2024

The Pistons are content rolling out whatever healthy bodies they have left and Metu could continue to see an increased role in the final week. He has shown the ability to produce in his career and is a guy who can help out across the board with multiple stat categories.

Deep League Adds For Week 24

Brandon Clarke - PF/C (12%)

With four games this week, Memphis is going to be a major source of value. They have been playing all their bench players lately and virtually no one from their regular rotation. Clarke is a bit of an exception as he would have been a sixth man this season if he had been healthy. It appears they want to get him some run here at the end of the season as he's playing around 20-25 minutes. That's plenty of time for him to produce. My only concern is that he could sit out one of the games on the B2B that Memphis has on Tues/Wed.

Scotty Pippen Jr. - PG (10%)

I don't have enough time or energy to go through the entire remaining roster for Memphis, but Pippen Jr. is one of the guys who I like the most. He drew the start last time out and in 30 minutes, produced 24 points and 5 assists on 56% shooting. He can score in bunches and is a major asset in steals, too.

Malaki Branham - PG/SG/SF (8%)

Branham has seen a big uptick in minutes down the stretch for the Spurs as they have been sitting out some of their regulars. His minutes last week were 31-37-31-44 and he finished that 44-minute game against the Sixers with 22 points and 5 made threes. I would expect him to keep logging heavy minutes in the final three games for the Spurs and producing plenty of counting stats.

Tristan Vukcevic - C (4%)

This is probably my favorite deep league add this week. The rookie big man has flashed a nice NBA skill set as the Wizards have finally decided to give him minutes over Richaun Holmes and Marvin Bagley. The Euro big has an outside shot, but also some impressive length to grab boards and block shots. I'm intrigued, and I think Washington is as well which is why I would expect him to start for the final few games of the year.

Tristan Vukcevic's Last Four Games:
14.3 PPG
6.5 REB (1.5 OREB)
2.5 AST
1.3 BLK
1.3 3PM

Every Player To Hit Those Marks:
Victor Wembanyama
Tristan Vukcevic pic.twitter.com/QCkxp2Nw1O

— WizardsMuse (@WizardsMuse1) April 8, 2024

Noah Clowney - PF (4%)

Clowney and fellow Brooklyn big man Trendon Watford are both interesting players here for the final week. Clowney has flashed some impressive rebounding numbers in his last three games, piling up 26 boards in that stretch to go with 46 points. It would make sense for Brooklyn to keep him on the floor this week to see what they have in the rookie big man.

Marcus Sasser - PG (4%)

Sasser is the starting point guard for Detroit and while he's been wildly inconsistent, he's still producing 12 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.6 threes per game over the last two weeks. His backup, Malachi Flynn may have had a 50-point game off the bench, but he has done absolutely nothing since then, proving it was nothing but a fluke. Sasser is the guard to own in Detroit, just don't expect too much from him, the ceiling is low.

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

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