It’s Thursday. You know what that means.
It’s time for another look at the waiver wire to find players that you can add for short-term and long-term success.
We’ll look at players that you should consider picking up who are rostered in four different rostership tiers:
- 50-60%
- 30-49%
- 15-29%
- 0-14%
What’s more, we’ll give you a breakdown of how many games each team has for the upcoming week so that you can maximize the minutes of your streamers.
Without further delay, let’s get to it, starting with the schedule of games being played for next week.
Five games:
TOR
Four games:
ATL, BKN, CLE, DEN, GSW, IND, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIN, NOP, NYK, PHX
Three games:
BOS, CHA, DAL, HOU, MIL, OKC, PHI, POR, SAC, UTA, WAS
Two games:
ORL, SAS
One game:
CHI, DET
Check out the latest fantasy basketball expert consensus rankings 
Rostered in 50-60% of leagues:
If you need defensive stats, you can move along. Morris offers next to none of them, which caps his value. But if you need points and assists, Morris has been providing that for managers in abundance. He’s averaging 11.2 points and 5.8 assists over the last two weeks, making him a backend guy for standard leagues.
There are some trade rumors around Oladipo, but Miami is clearly the place that he wants to be. I think he ultimately stays with the Heat, which caps his value a bit outside of any big injuries opening up time for big minutes. We have, however, seen his minutes and usage creep up over the last couple of weeks, as he’s seeing 30-plus minutes regularly.
Rostered in 30-49% of leagues:
It was so cool seeing Tyus Jones start against his brother, Tre Jones, when the Grizzlies defeated the Spurs. He’s a must-start player when Ja Morant misses time, but even as a backup, he provides value in the minutes he does get on the court for those needing points, threes, and assists. He’s the best backup guard in the league, so top-100 value is likely at the end of the season.
Just as the Nets were finally looking like one of the best teams in the league, Kevin Durant went down with yet another flukey injury. He’s going to miss the next month at least, which means that Warren is one of the players who are going to benefit the most from a real-life and fantasy standpoint. However, Warren is still being ramped up slowly, so he’s still more of a backend player.
Rostered in 15-29% of leagues:
Brutal. That’s the only word that comes to mind for seeing Tyrese Haliburton leave the game Wednesday night on crutches. In his absence, we’re looking at split duty between Nemhard and T.J. McConnel to fill the backcourt void of Haliburton for however long he is out. Nembhard is my first choice, as he’s likely to be in the mix for the long haul if and when the Pacers move on from Buddy Hield at the trade deadline.
The other player who should provide the most fantasy value for managers is Curry. Curry should see more usage in the offense with KD sidelined, as his perimeter scoring will be needed. He’s averaging more than three 3PM per game in four January games so far.
Rostered in 0-14% of leagues:
McConnell has stretches of fantasy value each year, and this year, it’s coming in January. With Haliburton on the shelf, McConnell should see 25-plus minutes regularly for the Pacers each night. Those who need assists, steals, and some scoring should add him immediately.
This is more of a deep-league add, but Rubio is making his season debut for the Cavaliers Thursday night in Portland after recovering from a torn ACL. He was really, really good in 2022 for the Cavs before his injury. Mind you, that was before they traded for Donovan Mitchell. It’s going to be a slow ramp-up process with Rubio, but if Mitchell or Darius Garland were to miss any significant time, he would be a must-add player.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
