February 6, 2018

Week 17 fantasy basketball waiver wire adds for shallow leagues. Take a look at three NBA players who are owned in less than 65% of fantasy basketball leagues.

It's Week 17 – We're a few weeks away from fantasy playoffs, and the injuries keep piling up around the league. Working the waiver wire successfully in these next few weeks are key to making a strong run in the postseason.   Here are some interesting adds that can help you with your season goals.

This year, we're tossing out our old convention of separating waiver wire posts into positions, and instead, we're separating them into of league -- standard, shallow, deep, etc. The NBA is trending to positionless basketball, so we at RotoBaller should too.

For shallow (8-10 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 65% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues.

Shallow League Adds for Week 17

Austin Rivers, PG/SG

Ownership: 46%

15.8 PPG / 2.5 3PM / 1.3 STL / .418 FG%

It's almost Austin Rivers time in Los angeles (again), love him or hate him, if you had him on your fantasy you respected him. Austin Rivers said he plans to return this Friday against the Pistons after his heel and ankle injury sidelined him for about a month. He's returning to a team that's completely different from the one he last played with. With Blake gone, and with the addition of Tobias Harris and Avery Bradley into the lineup it'll be interesting to see how Austin Rivers fits. However, I'm sure Doc will find a way to get his son involved.

Good on you if you were able to hold on to Austin Rivers in your IR spot, this will definitely pay its dividends as the season continues. There's a possibility that by the end of this week Lou Williams and Deandre Jordan are on different teams. With that being said, Rivers averaged fourteen shots a game playing alongside their leading scorer Lou Williams, imagine his volume if he doesn't have to defer. Rivers is an excellent source for points and three pointers. He definitely won't help you in your shooting percentages, but he can have games where he goes berserk and is among one of the top fantasy options. He is a must add as the season comes to an end.

Bobby Portis, PF/C

Ownership: 49%

12.1 PPG / 6.4 REB / 0.9 3PM / .828 FT%

Good news for Portis fans, it seems like the Bulls have finally cleared up their logjam at forward and have shipped Nikola Mirotic to the Pelicans. For those who owned Portis earlier in the season when Mirotic was out because of well.. Portis, he was an early season steal as he was a consistent producer for points, rebounds and threes. With rumors of Robin Lopez potentially being traded for this week's trade deadline, picking up Portis could have a huge upside for your fantasy team.

When given the minutes, Bobby Portis is almost a lock for a near double double. His most recent game against the Kings, he put up eighteen points and fourteen rebounds in 32 minutes. He does tend to extend out to the three point line, and while he doesn't hit it at a great percentage, with more playing time he can be good for one or two threes a night. He now has his third straight double double and looks poised to continue this production for the foreseeable future.

Jarrett Allen, PF/C

Ownership 48%

7.2 PPG/ 4.8 REB / 0.8 BLK / .587 FG%

Every week it seems Brooklyn players make their way on waiver wire columns and with so much opportunity on that team, it makes sense. There isn't much on Allen except a two week sample of what he can do given 20+ minutes a game, but his numbers have been solid.

In the past two weeks, he's averaging 13.7 PPG, 7.1 REB  and shooting an astounding .769 FG%. He's hit double digit scoring in every single game since his increase in playing time. His best game thus far was against the 76ers, where he scored sixteen points to go with twelve rebounds and two blocks. He also won't hurt you from the free throw line as he's shooting .753% on the season. If you are in need of efficient players with huge potential upside look no further than Jarrett Allen.

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