February 6, 2018

Week 17 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.

We are sitting 2 days away from the NBA trade deadline, and it's high time to make some speculative pickups based on what we expect from the next 2 days.

Let's take a look at some deep league pickups for the week before the all-star break.

This column will feature only players owned 15% or fewer fantasy leagues. Here are today's Week 17 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams.

Deep League Adds for Week 17

Mario Hezonja, SG/SF, Orlando Magic (8% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

Still very much under-owned, Hezonja not only serves as an excellent speculative add but he's been quietly putting up pretty solid numbers over the past 2 weeks. He's been the 55th ranked player over that stretch with 11.4 points per game, 2.0 three-pointers, 3.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks. The ranking might be buoyed a bit by an unsustainable block number for  Hezonja, but the rest of the line is reasonable for the 23.8 minutes he's averaged.

If Evan Fournier gets moved, Hezonja could see himself moving to a high-20s minutes per game role, and would become a must own guy. He's shown he can be productive given that playing time, so jump on him early while you can.

Josh Hart, SG, Los Angeles Lakers (10% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

With Lonzo Ball still out and Tyler Ennis struggling, Josh "The Hitman" Hart has gotten a chance to start and play big minutes, and has delivered with consecutive double-doubles in 35 and 39 minutes. The Lakers third first round pick last year would stand to carve out a decent role in the rotation if Jordan Clarkson were to be moved, and he has the potential to be a standard league guy if he sticks in a 30-minute type role.

The chatter around the league is that the Lakers are shopping Clarkson pretty heavily, and if Hart sticks in a role along side Lonzo Ball in the Lakers' youth movement, he would be a guy to own in deeper leagues.

Tyrone Wallace, SG/SF, Los Angeles Clippers (8% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)

Here's the guy who would be the big winner if the Clippers deal Lou Williams. Tyrone Wallace is already earning coach Doc Rivers' favor, averaging 32 minutes over the last 2 weeks. His versatility allows him to slot into 3 positions as a utility guy off the bench, earning him minutes at PG, SG and SF.

His fantasy game may not be that friendly but if he is given more ball handling duties after Lou gets dealt, he can be a nice source of assists and points off the wire in a higher usage role, and that can have value in deeper leagues.

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