Milos Zvekic recommends NBA forwards and centers (PF, C, PF/C) as waiver wire pickups for fantasy basketball in Week 18. These centers and forwards can be fantasy sleepers.

Two trades in the previous week saw some big men switch sides and that opened up some opportunities for guys who are on the waiver wire in most leagues to become more than just blimps on fantasy radars. All three of the players who we'll be talking about today have benefited from trades their teams made recently and we will be taking a look at their potential outlook for the remainder of the season, considering the changes that occurred.

Welcome to Week 18 waiver wire pickups for power forwards and centers here at RotoBaller.

Standard League Waiver Wire Big Adds

Jusuf Nurkic, C, POR (63% Owned)

Jusuf Nurkic is definitely one of the most obvious add candidates following his trade to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Mason Plumlee. Denver also sent their first-round draft pick and received a second-rounder in return. Even though he will come off the bench in the beginning and seems to be a better fit with the second unit, Nurk is still the favorite to claim the starting center job over the likes of Ed Davis and Meyers Leonard.

If Nurkic can slide into Plumlee's role, he could be looking at around 30 minutes a night. Taking a look at his career per-36 minute averages might help us gain a little perspective of what to expect from Nurk in such an increased role: 15.4 PTS on 46.1 FG% and 58.6 FT%, 12.0 REB, 2.2 AST, 1.5 STL, 2.1 BLK and 3.3 TO in 140 NBA games he played in so far. His offensive usage probably won't be on that level and he definitely won't be getting 36 minutes per game, but around 10-12 minutes and around 8 rebounds per game with 1.5-2.0 combined blocks and steals aren't out of the question.

You have to take the good with the bad with Nurkic. On one hand he gets a tone of rebounds, steals and blocks. On the other he piles up turnovers and hurts your free throws. He improved his FG% this season and it's currently on a career-high level of 51.5% so that's another plus to his game now. So, if your don't mind the TO and poor FT% give Nurk a look if he's still available in your league. He might be the add that puts your team over the top.

Willie Cauley-Stein, PF/C, SAC (35% Owned)

The Sacramento Kings have reportedly agreed to trade DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal will also involve Omri Casspi. New Orleans will send Tyreke Evans, 2016 first-round pick Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway and first- and second-round draft picks in 2017 the other way. Since the three guys going to Sacramento are all guards, it seems clear that there will be a huge frontcourt hole to fill left by Cousins' departure. And it will be up to the heroes of our today's article to fill it. Those heroes are Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos. Willie Cauley-Stein has the bigger upside here, so we will be talking about him first.

The sixth pick of 2015 draft is almost certain to get a lot more minutes going forward this season. He was getting only 13 per game so far this season, but that already rose to 18 in the previous month. And with Boogie out, it wouldn't be too surprising if we see Willie playing 30 minutes a night.

Furthermore, if we take a look at how he has been using his limited playing time in the previous 30 days we can understand why the Kings trust him to carry Cousins' torch. His averages of 9.4 PTS on 56.6 FG% and 75.0 FT%, 4.3 REB, 1.1 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.7 BLK and 0.7 TO in just 18 minutes per contest do warrant closer attention in this transitional period for the Kings.

If Willie can live up to his hype before the draft and finally find his groove, he will certainly be worth adding in most leagues with his all-around contribution with no apparent week sides.

Standard League Honorable Mentions: Bismack Biyombo (47% owned), Jon Leuer (43% owned)

Deep League Waiver Wire Big Adds

Kosta Koufos, PF/C, SAC (4% Owned)

A lot like Jusuf Nurkic, Koufos has never had a big role on any of his previous teams during his nine year NBA career, so perhaps the best indicator of what he's capable of will be his per-36 minute career averages. Here they are: 10.4 PTS on 53.4 FG% and 59.9 FT% 10.8 REB, 0.9 AST, 0.9 STL, 1.8 BLK and 1.6 TO.

Again like the Nurk, Kosta will not be getting 36 minutes per game. But with Anthony Tolliver the only frontcourt player besides him and Cauley-Stein on the Kings roster, Koufos should be getting minutes at least in the high 20s. And should he get those kind of minutes, he should be worth owning in deeper leagues.

Koufos isn't likely to become too big of an offensive threat, but his output in rebounds and defensive stats, along with his good field goal shooting and low turnover rate could prove useful for most fantasy teams. So, if you're in a deep league and you need some of the good stuff that Koufos provides, taking a flier on him wouldn't be the most insane thing you did this year, I'm sure.

Deep League Honorable Mentions: Frank Kaminsky (27% owned), Ed Davis (6% owned)