Raul Neto (PG, WAS) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

January 3, 2021

Wizards guard Raul Neto is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 3 of the NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14-Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 2% of leagues

ANALYSIS: The Washington Wizards haven't had the best start to the season, and it has only been six games into the season. With the acquisition of Russell Westbrook this offseason, Wizard fans hoped to have a powerful guard combo of Westbrook and Bradley Beal to lead the team to the playoffs. The disheartening 1-5 record doesn't tell the whole story has the Wizards lost by 10 or fewer points in each of their losses. Westbrook is sitting in back to back games this season, giving Neto a chance to take flight and take the starting job in those games.

Over his career, Neto has been a backup point guard and hasn't found a role where he can develop his game with more playing time. Now that he is sharing the backup guard positions with Ish Smith and taking the majority of WB's minutes when he sits, Neto can be a viable fantasy player this year. In the first game without Westbrook, Neto had an impressive 22 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.

In the small sample size of the 6 games the Wizards have played, Neto has doubled his scoring from 5.1 last season to 10.7 points per game. Increased his steals from 0.4 to 1.3, and has attempted twice as many threes per game shooting a ridiculously high 45.5% from deep. While he won't shoot that well from three all season long, the willingness to adapt his game and become a better perimeter shooter can add to his playing time.

The appeal to add Neto might not be an every game player to have on your roster. Keep him on your watch list or at the end of your bench for when the Wizards have back to back games where Neto can take a bigger role in the Wizards offense.

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