Fantasy Basketball Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups Include Tari Eason, Santi Aldama, Jalen Williams, Ayo Dosunmu

October 17, 2022

Week 1 fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups, adds, and sleepers for the 2022-2023 NBA season. Justin recommends free agent targets in 9-category leagues.

The 2022-23 NBA season is here, basically. I guess technically it doesn't start until Tuesday, but whatever. Close enough. This year, we're adding an additional piece of information to our weekly waiver wire column: a schedule breakdown, so that you can have an idea of which teams play the most games so you can use that as a tiebreaker when deciding between players if you need them for the short term.

These recommendations are mainly for 9-cat leagues, but if you play in another format, there's a good chance that the information here can still help you. We'll be looking at centers, forwards, and guards whose low rostership and upside make them ideal players to get onto your fantasy team.

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 1.

NBA Week 1 Schedule Guide

Let's take a look at some notable things on the schedule this week.

Teams with four games: N/A

Teams with three games: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Toronto, Utah, Washington

Teams with two games: Brooklyn, Dallas, Milwaukee, New York

Number of teams playing each day:

Monday: 0
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: 24
Thursday: 4
Friday: 22
Saturday: 18
Sunday: 14

Back-to-Backs:

Monday/Tuesday: 0
Tuesday/Wednesday: 0
Wednesday/Thursday: 0
Thursday/Friday: 0
Friday/Saturday: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, Toronto
Saturday/Sunday: Cleveland, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City, Sacramento

9-Category Leagues - Waiver Wire Adds

This column is written based on H2H 9-category 12-team leagues. All players in this article are rostered at around 50 percent or less.

Tari Eason, SF/PF - Houston Rockets

54% rostered 

Eason has been a popular late-round pick all draft season due to a mixture of his strong play and the fact that a rebuilding Rockets team will likely get him on the floor a lot, especially considering that Eason can play the three and four, plus can give you some small-ball five minutes.

In the preseason, Eason has averaged 17.8 points per game on 63.6% shooting and has connected on 45.5% of his three-point attempts. He's also added 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Fantasy managers who need threes and steals should take a lot at Eason if he's still on your wire, though with how his value has been shooting up, he might be gone by now.

Ayo Dosunmu, PG/SG - Chicago Bulls

46% rostered 

With Lonzo Ball still sidelined, the Bulls are set to make Ayo Dosunmu their starting point guard to begin this season. As a rookie last year, Dosunmu was a pleasant surprise, giving Chicago some really important minutes.

Dosunmu ended up starting 40 of his 77 games last season. As a starter, the then-rookie averaged 10.9 points and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 52.3% from the floor. He was much more efficient from deep as a reserve (41.5% off the bench vs 35.5% as a starter), but efficiency tends to suffer when you're in a bigger role, and he's now had a full NBA offseason to try working on that issue. I love Dosunmu as a cheap source of assists to open the season, and he should provide solid points and steals as well.

Jalen Williams, SG/SF - Oklahoma City Thunder

24% rostered 

I'll be honest here: I really have no idea what to think about the Thunder this year. I mean, I know they'll be bad, but what will the rotation look like?

Based on the preseason, I think we should see a lot of rookie wing Jalen Williams, who averaged 14.4 points per game on 61% shooting in the preseason. His scoring average ranked third on the team behind Luguentz Dort and Tre Mann. Williams also added 5.2 assists per game. Until Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the court, we should see Williams—who, I should note, led the team with 1.8 steals per game in the preseason—serving as a secondary ball-handler, though when SGA is back, he'll likely spend more time off the ball since the Thunder have Josh Giddey.

Santi Aldama, PF/C - Memphis Grizzlies

30% rostered 

With Jaren Jackson Jr. sidelined, Aldama looks set to start at the four for the time being. It's not clear when JJJ will return, but Aldama's ability to stretch the floor will make him a nice fit beside Steven Adams.

Aldama didn't play a ton last year. He appeared in 32 games for the Grizzlies, averaging 11.3 minutes per contest and posting averages of 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. But in the preseason, Aldama shot 40% from three and averaged 12.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per contest. He can provide some well-rounded numbers for your fantasy team.

Jonathan Kuminga, PF/C - Golden State Warriors

38% rostered 

I don't want you to think that I'm super high on Kuminga. In fact, when he was drafted in the 10th round of our RotoBaller writer's league, I—along with a lot of people in the league—was like "uhh...okay." But there's a difference between drafting Kuminga before the final round and picking Kuminga up off the waiver wire.

The appeal of Kuminga is pretty easy to see. He's really athletic and he's delivered when he gets minutes. In the 29 games as a rookie where he played at least 20 minutes, Kuminga averaged 15.9 points per game. He's an efficient scorer at the basket who also provides some appeal from three.

The problem is that Kuminga is on a contending team that has Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins at the forward spots, so his minutes might be a little too limited to pay off. He's worth an add though because if he ends up with a decent role in this rotation, he'll produce solid numbers.

Jonathan Isaac, SF/PF - Orlando Magic

26% rostered 

Isaac is currently injured. He's been limited since camp with a hamstring issue and didn't play at all in the preseason. His status to open the regular season is in doubt.

But at some point, we can assume Isaac returns. And once he does, there's definitely fantasy appeal. Sure, he hasn't played since the 2019-20 season, when he played 34 games, but he averaged 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game back then. If he can be close to his pre-injury self, he'll be a decent source of defensive stats.

More Fantasy Basketball Analysis