Nick Richards (C, CHA) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 23

March 27, 2023

Nick Richards is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 23 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 9% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Rookie Mark Williams returned to the Charlotte Hornets' rotation on Friday and logged 21 minutes coming off the pine. Nick Richards started at center for the seventh consecutive time, but keep in mind Williams had done so for 12 straight games before he got injured, so it's reasonable to expect Richards to get moved to the second unit ROS.

That's definitely not a reason for concern, mind you, as Richards has started games but it's not that his usage nor playing time has changed that much compared to what might be ahead of him going forward.

Richards has played an average of 26 MPG in this recent seven-game stretch, so maybe that goes down to around 22 MPG, but not fewer than that considering his fantastic production. In his last eight games, Richards has logged four double-doubles while finishing 9-8, 7-8, and 9-14 in three of the other four games.

The center is the typical big man in terms of his production, considering he will just help you on the classic points, rebounds, FG%, and blocks departments as he doesn't stretch the floor at all and has a very low-volume diet of shots no matter the unit he runs with.

Before entering the starting lineup, Richards was averaging 7.0 PPG and 5.0 RPG to go with 1.0 BPG in a low 18 MPG. If the Hornets raise that playing time a bit, into the 22+ MPG nightly while even leaving him on the bench, Richards shouldn't have much trouble hitting 8-6 lines with a block nightly and still bag a couple of dub-dubs ROS.

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