RADIO
Another week of NBA action is upon us, and there are things happening, including whatever the Carmelo Anthony situation is in Houston, and the Jimmy Butler trade, and the Kings continuing to be not bad. It's a weird week!
You can find a long breakdown of the 76ers and Timberwolves on the site today from Daniel Benjamin, so I'm avoiding both of those teams in this column since...well, since they've already been broken down in depth on the site. Go read it!
Alright, let's get into it. Below are some recommended waiver wire pickups for Week 5 of the fantasy basketball season. See who you should be grabbing to help your depth as you try to either keep your winning ways going...or try to get things back on the right track.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Week 5 Schedule
5 Games - Golden State
4 Games - Brooklyn, Chicago, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Toronto, Utah, Washington
3 Games - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, New York, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento,
2 Games - Charlotte, Cleveland, Indiana, Milwaukee,
1 Game - Detroit
Week 5 Standard Leagues - Waiver Wire Pickups
Here are players whose current ownership level is between 30 and 70 percent.
Derrick White - PG - Spurs (42% Ownership)
White has now played two games since returning from a heel injury, and with depth issues surrounding the Spurs, the second-year guard was immediately inserted into the starting lineup. While White struggled in his first game back, his second start -- 14 points and eight assists against the Rockets on 44.4 percent shooting -- feels a lot more indicative of the production you'll get from him over the course of the season.
Quinn Cook - PG - Warriors (40% Ownership)
The Warriors play five games this week and there's still uncertainty about when starting point guard Stephen Curry is returning to the fold, which puts Quinn Cook in a good spot to provide some strong short-term value. While it's obviously hard to judge a player from one performance, Cook's first start of the season resulted in 27 points and 16 shot attempts. He had five assists as well.
Last year, Cook started the final 10 games for the Warriors, putting up averages of 15.4 points, 5.0 points, and 3.8 rebounds on 49.6 percent shooting while making half of his three-point attempts. He's obviously no Curry, but with all the key pieces on this team, Cook is capable of giving high-level production during his minutes.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - PG - Clippers (46% Ownership)
Another point guard! Aside from having the NBA's greatest jersey, Gilgeous-Alexander is a great prospect for the Clippers who is well on his way to being the key part of the team's backcourt. Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley are best known for their defense, leaving SGA to pick up some of the offensive slack for his team. In his first three starts, he's averaged 13.7 points on 10.3 field goal attempts while also adding in four rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks. He's hit 66.7 percent of his threes. Expect strong offensive production from the rookie moving forward.
T.J. Warren - SF - Suns (61% Ownership)
Cheating just a tad on the ownership percentage here, but I just want to acknowledge that T.J. Warren has hit three-pointers this year! A 28.3 percent shooter in his first four years, that's jumped up to 47.5 percent this year. Is that bound to fall? Sure, but even an improvement into the mid-30s would give Warren a ton of added value this season.
Bojan Bogdanovic - SG/SF - Pacers (57% Ownership)
Speaking of threes, Bogdanovic is hitting over 50 percent of his this year, and that's not even that shocking after he hit 40 percent last year. My Pacers friends have sung Bogdanovic's praises for awhile now, and I wish I'd listened earlier, because those shooting percentages are really good, and I assume his slighly lower than usual free throw percentage will head northwards soon.
Week 5 Deeper Leagues - Waiver Wire Pickups
Here are some players with a current ownership rate of under 30 percent.
Terrence Ross - SG/SF - Magic (25% Ownership)
I fell in love with Terrence Ross on NBA 2k14 because he was surprisingly good at running the point and being a disruptive defender on that game. Real life Ross never lived up to my video game ideal of him.
But, uhh, there's some life this year! He's never averaged more points or assists per game and is getting 1.1 steals. Over the last five games, Ross is scoring 16.2 points on 50.8 percent shooting while hitting 2.8 threes per game. He's on a roll right now and is worth a roster spot in deeper leagues.
Omari Spellman - PF - Hawks (18% Ownership)
I doubt Spellman's trip into the Hawks starting unit is permanent, but for now, the rookie has started five consecutive games and is averaging 8.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and a block over that stretch and shooting 35.3 percent from three. Maybe he does keep that up in the long run and the team puts John Collins at the five when he returns? But even if that doesn't happen, Spellman is worth fantasy consideration until Collins is back. It'll probably be a little "wait and see" once that happens, but there's a window towards him being fantasy relevant all year.
Ryan Arcidiacono - PG - Bull (9% Ownership)
SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT.
Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way, Arcidiacono is averaging 13 points and three three-pointers per game over the last two games. That's been accompanied by an uptick in minutes, and if you're the kind of fantasy owner who chases the hot hand, here's a hot hand.
Gary Clark - SF - Rockets (2% Ownership)
So, let's talk about Carmelo Anthony. He's been...weird this year, because he's definitely had some games where his shot was there, but he's had plenty more where it wasn't and even more games where literally nothing else was working either. You're probably more likely to see assists in some random rec center than you are to see them from Anthony.
That's where Gary Clark comes in. The undrafted rookie has struggled from deep, but he shot over 40 percent from three in his last college season and so far he's shown enough understanding of everything else to put Houston in a position where they prefer him to Anthony. If you want a speculative addition to your team, Clark's heading for a larger role on this Rockets team soon.
More Fantasy Basketball Analysis
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.
