It’s Friday. You know what that means.
We’ll be looking at players who are widely available and rostered in fewer than 60 percent of fantasy leagues on Yahoo. We’ll be focusing on 8-cat leagues because turnovers are a waste of a category, to be honest. And, this week, we will be including a lot of players whose fantasy value changed straight off of the NBA trade deadline.
The eight categories we’ll focus on each week are:
- Points
- Rebounds
- Assists
- Steals
- Blocks
- Threes
- Field-goal percentage
- Free-throw percentage
View the best player prop bets for tonight’s slate with our NBA Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups
We’ll be looking at players who can help you in each of the eight categories who you can get before your league-mates catch on.
Let’s get to it.
Points
Terance Mann (SG/SF – LAC) 10%
While Mann is listed at SG/SF, expect him to play some pseudo-point guard over the next few weeks. With the team moving on from Reggie Jackson, the Clippers lack a true point guard. Mann, along with Bones Hyland and Paul George, should fill this role, and we’ve seen in the past that Mann is capable of scoring in bunches. Even on a crowded team, I like Mann as a deeper add.
Rebounds
Collins is one of the biggest winners from the deadline after the Spurs shipped away Jakob Poeltl. With the extended run, Collins can pull down 8-10 rebounds per game fairly easily, and he can contribute defensively, with FG%, and with points.
Assists
Jaylen Nowell (PG/SG – MIN) 16%
The T’Wolves traded away D’Angelo Russell and brought home Mike Conley. I like the acquisition of Conley to pair with Rudy Gobert, but Nowell should have some added value and more minutes with the veteran ahead of him. We know he can score, but I think there’s some assist upside with him there, too, that hasn’t been tapped into yet.
Steals
Gary Payton II (PG/SG – GSW) 7%
John Cena cut a promo on Roman Reigns a few years back, telling him that “I’m here because you can’t do your job.” I like to think that’s what Payton told Moses Moody and Donte DiVincenzo. They were supposed to fill the role that Payton had last year but failed to have that same impact. Payton has deeper value, and he can really help with your defensive stats.
Blocks
Matisse Thybulle (SG/SF – POR) 8%
I’ve come around on the Thybulle deal over the last 24 hours, although I’m not all of the way in on him and his fit in Portland. I think there’s a reason he wasn’t seeing the court in Philly, and he’s going to be competing with a number of wings in Portland for playing time, too. But he does bring defensive upside, and, if you need blocks and/or steals, he’s worth a flier.
Threes
He’s no longer just a guy stuck in Orlando who had a song made about him. Bamba has a chance to revive his career in Los Angeles. He offers the size and length that the Lakers needed, and he should play around 18 minutes per night at a minimum, contributing threes and blocks. Patience may be required.
Field Goal Percentage
We’ve been begging you to pick up Williams. He was 14% rostered last week and is up to 43% now. This will likely be his last time in this column, as he’s probably going to eclipse 60-percent rostership. Williams looks to be the guy – please make him the guy, Steve Clifford – in Charlotte after the Mason Plumlee deal, and he has the skill set to be the definition of a league winner.
Free-throw percentage
Malaki Branham (SG/SF – SAS) 15%
With this category, we typically highlight a player who doesn’t fit in the other areas but can be a sneak deep-league pickup. This week, it’s Branham. The Spurs moved on from Jason Richardson, which opens more playing time for Branham down the stretch of the season. Branham has been averaging 30-plus minutes over the last week, and he should be in line for a big bump in usage down the stretch as a garbage hero for the Spurs in their tanking quest for Victor Wembanyama.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.