T.J. McConnell (PG, IND) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 16

January 29, 2023

T.J. McConnell is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 16 of the 2022-23 NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 28% of leagues

ANALYSIS: With Tyrese Haliburton still out, T.J. McConnell got his fourth consecutive (and overall) start of the season for the Pacers last Friday against Milwaukee and, as in the prior three, he delivered the fancy goodies: 19 points, nine dimes, six boards, and three steals adorned his stat line.

From January 21 on, when he first entered Indy's starting five, McConnell has scored at least 17+ points in each of those four games while getting one triple-double in his first start (18-10-12) and a dub-dub in his second one (20-10 on points and dimes). He just missed on his second and third dub-dubs by two and one assists in his most recent two games.

In other words, T.J. McConnell is a no-brainer addition through waivers no matter where you happen to manage a fantasy squad, format, or depth of your league. In his last four games, TJMC has averaged a silly 18-5-10-2 stat line. That is highly unsustainable, obviously, but makes for a must-add type of fantasy burst in the middle of the season.

Going back to January 11, McConnell has appeared in 10 games with more than viable levels of production: 16+ PPG, 5+ RPG, 8+ APG, and nearly 2.0 SPG are his numbers since then. Even if you remove the late starts, he would have still put up 14-5-7-2 averages, which absolutely vindicates the Pacers' decision of throwing him into the starting five.

Don't let this chance pass and take advantage of the bug in the system before it's too late and other GMs catch up with TJMC's exploits.

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