January 30, 2018

Week 16 fantasy basketball waiver wire adds for deeper leagues. Take a look at Three NBA players who are owned in less than 15% of fantasy basketball leagues.

This week was a week of depressing season ending injuries. We pray for speedy recoveries for Mike Conley, Andre Roberson and Boogie Cousins, and hope they can come back strong from their upcoming rehabs.

Unfortunately, the fantasy world needs to move on, and when a guy gets hit with a season-ender, it opens up opportunity for waiver pickups, and getting the jump on the correct pickups can change the outlook for your season, especially if you were one of the unfortunate owners to lose someone like Boogie.

This column will feature only players owned 15% or fewer fantasy leagues. Here are today's Week 16 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams.

Deep League Adds for Week 16

Mario Chalmers, PG, Memphis Grizzlies (15% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

Not-so-super Mario is by no means a sexy add, but with Mike Conley announced out for the rest of the season and Tyreke Evans on the trading block, he is worth an add to see how the rotation will shake up going forward. Chalmers had a great game against the Clippers with Evans out, dropping 17 with 10 dimes, a steal and 2 blocks, and if Evans is dealt, he may be the de facto starting point guard and we'll be seeing more of this going forward.

He is by no means a great player, but fantasy is just as much about opportunity as talent, and the situation looks like it is shaping up to be a good one for Chalmers. He should be added if he is on the wire in all 14-team leagues and up, and I expect that 15% ownership rate to go up in the coming weeks.

Luke Kennard, SG, Detroit Pistons (5% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

Luke Kennard has seen his minutes steadily increase as the season progresses, as he's up to 22 minutes per game over the last month. Coach Stan Van Gundy loves the kid, and has already stated a desire to get the rookie's minutes up to the 24-28 minute mark, and now that Avery Bradley is a Clipper, those minutes might be on the low end of estimates.

Kennard is more than the typical "white guy 3-point specialist" stereotype, despite what many think of him. He has decent ball handling ability and is able to score in a variety of ways, not just spotting up in the corner.

With an expanded role, he will provide 3s and steals and could look to provide a decent amount of assists as well if Van Gundy makes good on his intent to let Kennard handle the ball more, and if he ends up settling in the high 20s, he can provide value in deeper leagues.

Stanley Johnson, SG/SF, Detroit Pistons (3% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

With Avery Bradley out the door, Johnson could be another beneficiary.

Johnson won't fit into all builds, but given 30 minutes a night, he would be a nice waiver piece to add to a punt FG% build, as he provides an adequate amount of 3s and steals for a guy that is only 3% owned. Still only 22 years old, there's still a bit of upside here that he can take a step forward in an expanded role, and it you have the roster space, it might not be a bad gamble to see what he can do.

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