Royce O'Neale (SF, BKN) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 17

Royce O'Neale is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 17 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 28% of leagues

ANALYSIS: It is happening. Again. I'm writing this less than 12 hours from the moment Sams and Woj dropped the Kyrie Bomb: Irving wants a trade out of Brooklyn. Sheesh. That has little to do with Royce O'Neale, of course, and more with Kevin Durant for sure, but no matter what ends up happening, there might be many pieces moving from now to next Thursday.

O'Neale, if you remember, was signed by the Nets last summer even though everybody expected the team to explode a little after the ink on his contract had dried. Didn't happen. And O'Neale turned into a very palatable fantasy asset.

The former Jazzman has appeared and started all 48 games played by the Nets through Friday. He's averaging 35 (!) MPG through the season and 33 MPG since the start of the calendar year. The production isn't gaudy, mind you, but it's more than enough for those hurting for help in deeper leagues.

O'Neale had a fantastic first month to start the season (around 28 FPPG), then crushed back down to earth (22 FPPG in December), but then went back up to a reasonable average of 25 FPPG in January.

The efficiency (on a per-minute basis) sucks mostly because he plays a lot in a team stacked to the brim. That could change soon, though, if the BK ends up moving on from Kyrie.

RO'N can give you three-pointers on a nightly basis (13 consecutive games with 1+ 3PM averaging 2.2 3PM per game in that span), plenty of rebounds, some dimes, and mostly saucy steals. O'Neale is one of the best low-maintenance producers in the league this season: only 21 players are averaging 4+ RPG, 4+ APG, and 0.9+ SPG this year while hitting 2+ 3PM, and just two (O'Neale and Kyle Lowry) are doing it on usage rates below 17 percent.

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