RADIO
The waiver wire is where leagues are won and lost. The draft is long past and now your rosters feel completely different if you are even moderately active. Players come and go due to poor performances and/or injury all the time. Staying on top of your needs is essential to winning matchups and grinding your way to a championship.
Be mindful of some of the players on your roster as they may be off to slow starts, and it could take another week or two to see the return you expected when drafting them. Typically, you should be looking to drop those on the end of your bench who, even if productive, do not provide a real long-term outlook. Stay the course with the talent you drafted.
As a reminder for most leagues, it is crucial to plan ahead. Waiver wire adds, scheduling, and player injuries are all things to consider. Make an effort to improve your team by maximizing your weekly adds and utilizing streamer spots via the waiver wire. Be wary of weekly streaming options and stay ahead of your opponents. Our staff at RotoBaller has great insight and daily columns on how to improve your squad and tips to make your team successful, so be sure to check them out! Now, let's get prepared for Week 14.
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Week 14 Schedule
4 Games - Grizzlies, Raptors, Magic, Pacers, Thunder, Bulls, Pelicans, Lakers, Hawks, Celtics, Pistons, Timberwolves, Nets, Knicks, Rockets, Wizards, Clippers, Suns, Nuggets, Spurs
3 Games - Cavaliers, Heat, Mavericks, Kings, Jazz, Warriors, Trailblazers, 76ers
2 Games - Hornets, Bucks
Week 14 Standard Leagues - Waiver Wire Pickups
*Securing your categorical needs at this point is important, especially if you're playing in head-to-head leagues*
Columns are written based on H2H 9-category standard size leagues:
Dillon Brooks - SG - Memphis Grizzlies (47% owned)
Happy learned how to putt! Dillon Brooks is one of the hottest scorers over the past few weeks with six of his past nine outings resulting in at least twenty points. He does not provide much outside of scoring and threes but those are valuable enough to go a long way. He might hurt your FG percentage but at least he does not turn it over much. This might just be a heater, meaning you can drop him once he's cold for a week, but for now, Brooks is a must-add to ride the wave and see if it carries on to April.
De'Anthony Melton - SG - Memphis Grizzlies (10% owned)
Melton is legitimately becoming the poor man's guard version of Draymond Green. He is a versatile defender who can distribute the ball and hit the occasional shot when called upon. When he plays significant minutes for Memphis, he has contributed to wins with his smart, impactful play-style. Obviously, we do not care much for this if it does not lead to fantasy production (which is why you are all here), and luckily, Melton is productive enough to act as a glue guy at the end of your bench in 12-plus team leagues. His steals are extremely valuable. The rebounds, assists, threes, blocks, turnovers, and percentages are decent enough to hold you over as well with the occasional bump.
Trevor Ariza - SF - Portland Trailblazers (10% owned)
Trevor Ariza is finally on a competent team again. After starting the year off in Sacramento, Ariza now lands in Portland next to Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. This tandem will make Ariza's job much simpler as they garner most of the other teams' attention. Ariza will be asked to shoot open threes and take easy shots around the rim while defending the perimeter on the other end. His fantasy value will be fine as long as he is healthy. Expect low-end scoring with good threes, steals, and boards. The Kings nerfed the heck out of his value with their inconsistent rotations and poor scheme under Luke Walton. Terry Stotts should be able to optimize Ariza in a more modern offense.
Luke Kornet - C - Chicago Bulls (10% owned)
The UniKornet is back. All it took was injuries to starting center Wendell Carter Jr. and back-up center Daniel Gafford. Kornet is not an ideal real-life center but he can shoot and rack up solid fantasy lines regularly, making him solid in our book. His blocks are what make him valuable, along with his threes and scoring. Kornet should retain value for the next two weeks while WCJ and Gafford remain out unless the Bulls add a center and start playing Kornet less. There is no long term value and he can be dropped if he struggles for two games in a row.
Jerami Grant - PF - Denver Nuggets (21% owned)
This depends on Paul Millsap's absence. His mysterious knee strain/contusion has kept him out of several games thus farm thrusting Grant into a starting role. While Grant has not exactly excelled as a starter, he is producing valuable enough fantasy lines to warrant ownership in 12-team leagues. Particularly, his blocks. Grant is not going to "wow" anyone across the board regularly but does not kill you anywhere important and scores enough to be viable.
Svi Mykhailiuk - SG - Detroit Pistons (10% owned)
With Luke Kennard out until after the all-star break, Svi will continue to take on his role as the primary ~shooting~ guard in Detroit. Svi's playtime has jumped over the past month and should plateau or continue to increase with how well he has played. On great percentages, he is making three threes per game over the past thirty days with 13 points and a steal along with it. He is not a "must-add" but should be slotted in any team in need of threes to replace a struggling player killing you in a category or two.
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.
