Mid-Week Fantasy Basketball Category Streamers for Week 8

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 8.

We have three games in the association today, which creates an ideal opportunity for streamers if you want to get a leg up on your competition heading into the weekend.

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: Thursday to Sunday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): Boston, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Golden State

Only teams playing Thursday (TARGET): Portland, Miami, LA Clippers, San Antonio, Denver, Houston

Teams that play three games (TARGET): NONE

Teams that play back-to-back days (Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun) (TARGET): Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Utah, Washington, Minnesota, Indiana

Shallow League Streaming Options

Walker Kessler - PF/C (33%)

I have been mentioning Kessler mainly as a blocks specialist, but he got the start at center last night with Lauri Markkanen out and double-doubled again for the second time in his last three games and added 5 blocks to go with it. If the Jazz start focusing more on developing the big man, he's going to be a huge asset to rebounds, FG% (he's shooting 94% from the floor over his last three games), and blocks.

Jaylen Nowell - PG/SG (32%)

Nowell's string of 20-point games finally ended as he scored just 14 last night, but his minutes seem pretty secure for the time being and if you need points, threes, and a few assists then he's a solid stream for the T-Wolves upcoming B2B set with Utah and Portland on Fri-Sat.

Dennis Schroder - PG/SG (18%)

Schroder is a viable stream this weekend if you need some scoring, but he hasn't done much of anything else other than contribute a few assists. He is getting enough run with the Lakers right now t be worth an add, just temper your expectations.

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Nicolas Batum - SF/PF (6%)

The Clippers are playing the second half of a back-to-back tonight against Miami, so it's quite possible that Kawhi Leonard and/or Paul George sit out. They rested John Wall last night and seem very committed to injury maintenance for their veterans so far. Batum played 38 minutes last night, which was a season-high, and produced a 16-4-5 line. He's always been a solid 9-cat guy, he just rarely plays enough to be worth a stream. He could be tonight, however, if the Clippers are short-handed again.

Deni Avdija - SF/PF (12%)

Just when you thought Deni's run was over! He had a super sexy 10-5-6 line last night with FOUR steals in 39 minutes. The Wizards continue to battle injury issues and as long as he's going to get minutes, he's going to be worth rolling out there as he has the skill set to contribute in multiple categories.

Jalen Johnson - PF/C (9%)

He posted a dud last night, but mainly because he fought early foul trouble and the Hawks got blown out by the Knicks. He had posted some great numbers in two starts before that and should be able to do some damage against Brooklyn and Chicago this weekend.

Corey Kispert - SG/SF (9%)

I had Kispert as a three-point specialist last week, but he's a guy who is worth an add in deeper leagues for as long as his minutes continue to be around 30 or more. He won't put up much volume, but the threes, points, and steals paired with his efficiency make him an excellent fantasy commodity for the time being.

Specialist Streaming Options

THREES

Eric Gordon - SG/SF (10%)

Gordon played a season-high 40 minutes for Houston on Monday against the Sixers and has had two days off to rest, so I think he'll be back in the lineup tonight. He averages nearly two made threes per game and should be firing away in a good matchup against the Spurs tonight.

STEALS

Alex Caruso - PG/SG (40%)

Caruso is still available in a lot of standard-sized leagues, despite seeing 30+ minutes now in two straight games for Chicago. He doesn't offer much scoring, but he is a steals machine, having piled up 8 swipes in his last three games.

BLOCKS

Charles Bassey - C (5%)

The Spurs are still without Jakob Poeltl and Jeremy Sochan, meaning Bassey, Zach Collins, and Isiah Roby are likely to split the big man minutes until they're back. Bassey has played 20+ minutes in two straight games and blocked three shots in that span. He's facing a Houston team tonight that allows more blocks to opponents than the league average, too.

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