RADIO
One of my favorite things about following the NBA and covering it for fantasy/betting content is that the players who matter on a nightly basis are constantly changing and those who stay dialed into these ebbs and flows are rewarded by winning their leagues (or bets) or whatever. We are only three weeks into the season, but nearly every team has had to deal with a major injury of some sort or has shaken up their rotation. Young players are getting their chances on nights when veterans are resting, and a major trade (the Harden deal) has already been made. If you are not following what's happening in the Association on a daily basis, you are simply going to be left in the dust!
I think it's become conventional wisdom to some extent, but I will restate this anyway. The key to winning fantasy basketball leagues is NOT about how you draft, but what you do afterwards with waiver additions and trades. And while you might make a handful of trades during the course of 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 ahead 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 off waivers in both standard (10-12 team leagues) and deeper formats (more than 12 teams).
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Week 4 Schedule Breakdown
| TEAM | GAMES | MON | TUES | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
| Atlanta Hawks | 3 | @DET | NY | PHI | ||||
| Boston Celtics | 4 | NY | @PHI | @TOR | @MEM | |||
| Brooklyn Nets | 3 | ORL | @MIA | PHI | ||||
| Charlotte Hornets | 3 | MIA | MIL | NY | ||||
| Chicago Bulls | 4 | @MIL | ORL | ORL | MIA | |||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 4 | @SAC | @POR | DET | DEN | |||
| Dallas Mavericks | 4 | @NO | @WAS | @MIL | SAC | |||
| Denver Nuggets | 3 | LAC | @NO | @CLE | ||||
| Detroit Pistons | 3 | ATL | @CLE | @TOR | ||||
| Golden State Warriors | 3 | MIN | OKC | OKC | ||||
| Houston Rockets | 2 | @LAC | @LAL | |||||
| Indiana Pacers | 2 | @PHI | ORL | |||||
| Los Angeles Clippers | 2 | @DEN | HOU | |||||
| Los Angeles Lakers | 4 | MEM | SAC | @POR | HOU | |||
| Memphis Grizzlies | 3 | @LAL | @SA | BOS | ||||
| Miami Heat | 3 | @CHA | BKN | @CHI | ||||
| Milwaukee Bucks | 4 | CHI | @TOR | @CHA | DAL | |||
| Minnesota Timberwolves | 3 | @GS | @PHO | @NO | ||||
| New Orleans Pelicans | 3 | DAL | DEN | MIN | ||||
| New York Knicks | 4 | @BOS | @ATL | @WAS | @CHA | |||
| Oklahoma City Thunder | 4 | SA | @GS | @GS | @POR | |||
| Orlando Magic | 4 | @BKN | @CHI | @CHI | @IND | |||
| Philadelphia 76ers | 4 | IND | BOS | @ATL | @BKN | |||
| Phoenix Suns | 3 | MIN | @UTA | @UTA | ||||
| Portland Trail Blazers | 4 | @UTA | CLE | LAL | OKC | |||
| Sacramento Kings | 4 | CLE | @LAL | @SA | @DAL | |||
| San Antonio Spurs | 3 | @OKC | SAC | MEM | ||||
| Toronto Raptors | 4 | WAS | MIL | BOS | DET | |||
| Utah Jazz | 3 | POR | PHO | PHO | ||||
| Washington Wizards | 3 | @TOR | DAL | NY |
Notes:
Games this week are much more evenly distributed with Monday (4) and Thursday being the only small slates. It's a "churner and burner's" dream as you can stream players pretty much all week on a daily basis if your league allows you a lot of daily moves.
Houston, Indiana, and the LA Clippers play just twice and can be pretty much ignored by those of you who play in leagues with weekly lineups.
Milwaukee, New York, and Chicago play four games in the first six days of the week, so you could add a player from these teams today and get four games out of them and still dump them for one more game from a streamer on Sunday.
Standard League Adds For Week 4
Percentage owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo!
Bismack Biyombo - C (39%)
As the season goes along, I am really NOT trying to discuss anyone who is rostered in 40% or more of leagues. Biyombo comes in just under that mark, but his stock is rising quickly so you are going to need to grab him ASAP before he posts another double-double.
S̴t̴e̴v̴e̴n̴ ̴A̴d̴a̴m̴s̴’̴ Bismack Biyombo’s highlights in tonight’s win over the clippers:
13 PTS | 12 REB 4 OREB | 3 AST | 2 BLK | +20 pic.twitter.com/saTdGghzAa
— Steven Adams Stats (@funakistats) November 13, 2023
The Grizzlies are struggling badly and have been decimated by injuries, particularly to their frontcourt. Biyombo can still play and has been super solid for Memphis, averaging nearly a double-double and a block in four starts. His only wart is FT%, but he usually doesn't shoot many. He's an awesome guy for FG%, boards, and blocks and has a solid three-game schedule this week.
Skylar Mays - SG (31%)
Mays is probably the hottest add of the week as he's already been added in another 10% of leagues since last night's game. The Blazers are now down three guards with Scoot Henderson, Malcolm Brogdon, and Anfernee Simons all on the shelf. Scoot and Simons won't be back this week, while Brogdon could return at some point as his injury is to his hamstring.
I’ve become a Skylar Mays fan pic.twitter.com/t5y5s2ax40
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) November 9, 2023
Mays had his full game on display last night against the Lakers as he finished with 15 points and 12 assists while shooting 53% from the floor. That's two double-digit assist games in a row since becoming the starter and the Blazers have four games this week. Even if Brodgon does return at some point, Mays has earned more minutes going forward with his stellar play.
Moritz Wagner - C (31%)
Orlando has been a great source of value on the waiver wire early this season and Wagner has turned out to be a much better pickup than Goga Bitadze in the wake of the injury to Wendell Carter Jr. Wagner is starting to get minutes up into the low 20s and he's been impressive in those minutes, scoring in double digits now in six straight games while pulling down some boards and hitting at least one three-pointer in five straight. His per-36-minute numbers are lofty at 21 points and 8 boards, all he needs is minutes and he usually produces.
Keyonte George - SG (19%)
George has been installed as the starting point guard for Utah, which happened quite a bit sooner than we thought. But Utah is clearly rebuilding and struggled right out the gate so they decided to let the young kids play and why not, right?
George has been awesome as a passer, racking up 20 assists across his first two starts. But he has shot the ball poorly and could be a real drag on your FG%. He's likely going to improve his scoring over time - we know he CAN score, so if you're willing to be patient through some poor shooting or if you are punting FG%, George is a solid add for this week and beyond.
Alec Burks - PG/SG/SF (18%)
Burks ends up being in waiver wire articles a lot due to the nature of his game. He's a great streamer for those who need points in a hurry, but usually not a guy who is on your roster for a full season. His game lacks depth and he really only helps you with points, threes, and percentages.
But after missing a bunch of time, he returned to the same bench scorer role he had before his injury last night and put up 16 points with 2 threes and went 8 for 9 from the free throw line. As usual, he's a boring but fairly safe add, but potentially a useful one if you need the categories in which he specializes.
Deep League Adds For Week 3
Jaime Jacquez Jr. - SF (15%)
I grabbed Jacquez Jr. in a bunch of leagues this weekend after seeing him drop 20 points on Saturday night. He played well last night, too, posting 11 points with 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block. His fantasy skill set has been impressive so far and it looks like he's going to get a chance to have some substantial minutes in the rotation with Tyler Herro being out for a while.
Jaime Jacquez Jr : 20 points on 8-17 shooting, 2-7 from 3 & 4 assists in 38 minutes (1st career 20-point game) pic.twitter.com/UMXOZ3Gqx1
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) November 12, 2023
And with veterans Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler getting some random rest days, the rookie is going to have some chances to really pop off, too. I love what we have seen from him so far, especially the 1.3 steals per game in only 22 minutes per contest.
Bilal Coulibaly - SF (14%)
I will admit that I was very much OUT on this rookie coming out of the preseason. He had not shown the ability to score the ball with any regularity and I wasn't sure if he could keep earning minutes for Washington just based on his defense.
Bilal Coulibaly hier à Brooklyn 🔥
🧙♂️ 20 PTS
🧙♂️ 8/12 FG
🧙♂️4/7 3-PT
🧙♂️7 REB
🧙♂️3 AST
🧙♂️4 STLpic.twitter.com/f8h8CTvxh5— Basket-Infos (@Basket_Infos) November 13, 2023
But last night may have been a coming-out party for the youngster as he dropped 20 points on the Nets with 4 threes, 7 boards, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He played a season-high 34 minutes, too, which was nice to see as he had been anywhere from 14-30 minutes over the first few weeks of the season. If the Wizards just embrace the youth movement and give this kid minutes, he is going to put up stats. The offense won't be there every night, but the defensive stats and rebounds should be.
Dyson Daniels - PG/SG (13%)
Daniels was featured in last week's column and started out the week very slowly. However, he posted a double-double on Friday with 10 points and 10 boards and then followed that up with a stellar 17-9-4 line on Sunday against Dallas. The Pelicans always seem to have someone hurt, and right now it's CJ McCollum. However, they also have been resting Zion Williamson on back-to-backs and you never know when Brandon Ingram is going to pop up on the injury report, too.
Daniels is a stat stuffer and an incredible rebounder for his size. He shouldn't be on the wire in 12-team leagues, go check to see if you can snag him right now!
Cam Reddish - SF/PF (12%)
Reddish has been embraced by the Lakers coaching staff and given the nod as the starter going forward. Without LeBron in the lineup last night, he posted 18-7-2 with 3 steals and now has two pretty good games in a row. I am still a bit skeptical of him over the course of the full season, but in the short term, he's worth an add while he is shooting the ball well and getting a ton of minutes.
Sam Hauser - SF/PF (12%)
Speaking of guys who can shoot the rock well, Sam Hauser's marksmanship has earned him a solid 20-minute role off the bench with Boston so far this season. He's knocking down 2.7 threes in 19 minutes a night and doing it on 48% shooting from the field. Hauser is inside the top 130 on Yahoo right now due to that impressive shooting and if you need some threes without sacrificing FG%, he is your guy.
Nic Batum - SF/PF (6%)
If you have yet to hear, Kelly Oubre Jr. was hit by a car and has broken ribs. It's such an unfortunate accident and I feel terribly for him as he had a chance to be the starter in Philly going forward after the Harden trade. Now the Sixers have to turn to some of the veterans they acquired from the Clippers to fill that hole on the wing.
Batum looks like the early winner for minutes so far as he played 33 minutes yesterday and posted 9 points, 7 boards, 1 steal, 3 blocks, and 3 triples. Batum is certainly past his prime, but he has always been an awesome 9-cat player who can contribute across the board without having to take many shots. I would add him over Robert Covington right now if you need help on the wing.
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