Mid-Week Fantasy Basketball Category Streamers for Week 6

Thunder Dan Palyo looks at some mid-week waiver wire options for fantasy basketball leagues. These players may be free agents to target on waivers in Week 6.

Happy Thanksgiving, RotoBallers! I hope you have a great holiday weekend and get to enjoy some good food, friends, and family. There's no basketball today, so sit back and enjoy some NFL football, but be ready to make some roster moves for the weekend to help secure that victory this week, too!

Most leagues limit how many adds you can make each week in daily leagues. If your league only allows three moves per week, you need to be very efficient with your moves and grab players who will help you maximize your games played and help you win an extra category or two of counting stats.

The goal of this article each Thursday morning will be to help you plan out your roster moves for the remainder of the week. By this point of the week, you should start to get an idea of what categories you may need help with and where your weekly opponent is the strongest and weakest (in H2H formats). If you're playing roto, you don't have to gameplan quite as much, but you'll still want to maximize the stats your team can accumulate during the week. All the rostered percentages used in this article are from Yahoo. Let's see who can help us finish the week strong.

Weekly Schedule: Friday to Sunday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): Toronto, Sacramento, New Orleans, Charlotte, Chicago

Teams that play three games (TARGET): NONE

Teams that play Saturday AND Sunday (TARGET): Dallas

Shallow League Streaming Options

Jalen Williams - SG/SF (33%)

You're probably sick of hearing about him, but I feel obliged to mention him here as he's only 33% owned across Yahoo leagues. This kid has talent and while his fantasy output is still a bit all over the place, he's getting minutes and producing in at least threes, points, and solid percentages.

Patrick Williams - PF (31%)

From one Williams to another, let's talk about Patrick and what appears to be a potential breakout for the young Bulls forward. P-Will has seen his role solidify for Chicago. The minutes are there with 25-30 on most nights and the production has followed as he's averaged 11 points, 5 boards, 1.5 3PM, and 1.4 blocks per game this month. The Bulls play just once (tomorrow) but it's against OKC, a team that allows a lot of blocked shots. Then you can dump him for someone who plays Saturday or Sunday (or just hold him for next week!)

Thaddeus Young - PF/C (22%)

The Raptors have been battling injuries lately and Thad Young has been thrust into a much larger role as a result. He's looked like the guy who used to be a top-50 player of late, with averages of 14-8-4 and 2.0 steals over his last three games. The Raptors play just once, but it's on Saturday, so pairing Williams with Young would be one way to maneuver this week. Unlike Williams, who has rest-of-season appeal, Young is likely to go back to a limited bench role once Siakam and Barnes are healthy.

Deni Avdija - SF/PF (16%)

I had Deni in Monday's column and I hope you snagged him because he flirted with a triple-double last night, going 12-9-10 with a three, a steal, and two blocks. This kid is a legit 9-cat player and he's still only 16% rostered! Washington plays on Friday and Sunday and could still be without Monte Morris and/or Bradley Beal for those games. Even when Washington is fully healthy, Deni has earned his playing time and he's going to contribute across the board. Add him already!

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Josh Green - SG/SF (1%)

Dallas has an ideal schedule here with the back-to-back on Sat/Sun. Green is a guy who has flashed his potential a few times this year, but he also has a bunch of duds and games with only a handful of minutes sandwiched between them. But he's played 30 and 22 minutes in his last two games and it could be his time to push for more playing time as Dallas' other wings (Hardaway, Bullock) simply aren't getting it done.

Quentin Grimes - SG/SF (8%)

Grimes has entered the starting lineup for the Knicks and has put up a few useable lines. It's become pretty well-known that Thibs likes him and wants to get him involved, but his appeal really relies on the health of Derrick Rose and Cam Reddish who both have been nursing injuries that led to Grimes's recent spike in playing time.

Jose Alvarado - PG (10%)

CJ McCollum was a surprise scratch last night, and Alvarado drew the start. He produced 9 assists and 3 steals but took a back seat in scoring since he was playing with the first unit. He has seen his minutes trending upward lately, however, and he had five straight games with double-digit points before last night. He's a thief, too, averaging 1.1 steals per game in only 19 minutes per game this year.

Eric Gordon - SG/SF (12%)

Houston has been off all week but plays back-to-back nights on Fri/Sat which is ideal for streaming. Gordon is never all that exciting to roster but is a steady contributor in threes and points. With games against Atlanta and OKC, Gordon should have two good game environments in which he could produce some solid stats.

Specialist Streaming Options

THREES

Georges Niang - SF/PF (10%)

The Sixers' injury situation has led to more minutes for Niang and he's produced nicely. But even with Tobias Harris back the last two games, Niang has still playing around 18 minutes and has sunk 7 threes in those two contests. He's deadly accurate from deep and therefore he doesn't need a large volume of attempts to be a solid contributor from deep.

STEALS

Tari Eason - SF/PF (27%)

Eason has one of the highest steal rates per minute in the NBA so far this year, he just hasn't seen consistent playing time as his minutes fluctuate between 12-24 on any given night. He has seen an upward trend in minutes lately, however, and he has multiple steal games in five of his last seven. The breakout is coming eventually, if you're in deeper leagues you should grab and hold. But feel free to stream him in shallower formats for now.

BLOCKS

Torrey Craig - SF/PF (32%)

This move is for shallower leagues, but Craig continues to put up some monster defensive stats for Phoenix as their starting swingman. In his last nine games, he's produced 11 blocks and 12 steals! His scoring will always be sporadic, but he can give you solid boards and defensive stats (and a few threes) without hurting FG%.

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