It’s Thursday. You know what that means.
We are looking ahead to Week 14 as we start to see more and more moves happen after the Pascal Siakam–Bruce Brown deal went down.
Weekly, I look at the waiver wire for the players you should target for both short- 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.
Let’s get to it without further delay, starting with the game schedule for next week.
Check out the latest fantasy basketball expert consensus rankings
Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Week 13
Five games:
N/A
Four games:
ATL, CHA, DAL, DET, IND, MEM, MIL, MIN, OKC, PHX, POR, SAS
Three games:
BOS, BKN, CHI, CLE, DEN, GSW, HOU, LAC, LAL, MIA, NOP, NKN, ORL, PHI, SAC, TOR, UTA, WAS
Two games:
N/A
Rostered in 50-60% of Leagues
When the Grizzlies took the court last Saturday, they had nine healthy players. After the first quarter, they had eight. None of their starting lineup featured any players from their previous win four games ago. Things have been bad in Memphis, and the injuries continue to pile up. Vince Williams Jr. has been a player who is a great story after earning a multi-year contract off of his two-way deal. And he’s been pretty good for fantasy, too, ranking as the No. 40 player over the last two weeks in 9-cat scoring. With Ja Morant out for the year and Desmond Bane out for the next six or so weeks, Williams Jr. should be scooped up and started.
Derek Lively II is back from an ankle injury that cost him five games and caused his rostership numbers to drop below the threshold we use here. But now that he’s back, he should be back on your roster, too. He secured 23 boards in his first two games back, and in one of those games, he dropped 16 points, too, for the double-double.
Rostered in 30-49% of Leagues
We’re looking to get out ahead of any potential trade here with Alex Caruso, which would cause his rostership number to soar. I don’t think it’s a lock that he gets dealt, but we could see it happen as an extra piece in any Zach LaVine deal. He’s been a top-80 player over the last month in 9-cat leagues.
Xavier Tillman Sr. (PF/C – MEM)
GG Jackson is the fun pickup in this range for the Grizzlies. If you want to go that route, I’m not here to stop you. But the better long-term pickup for this year is Zavier Tillman Sr., who is back on the fantasy radar. He’s logging huge minutes for the depleted Grizzlies and helping across the board in all categories. Well, most of them, at least. His free-throw percentage and threes leave something to be desired. Still, Tilman Sr. has two blocks in three of his last four games and against the Knicks, he recorded six steals. Yes, six. He’s also a potential trade candidate, which would hurt his fantasy value, but I still lean him over Jackson as a priority add.
Rostered in 15-29% of Leagues
Oh, look. Another Grizzlies player. They are depleted, man. Luke Kennard will be the secondary scoring option behind Jaren Jackson Jr. for the Grizzlies, and he’s shown a willingness to actually look for the open shot of late. Kennard has made at least three three-pointers in three of his last five games, and in the two games he didn’t reach three, he still made two. Expect the minutes and production to stay high for Kennard as long as he’s with Memphis, but he’s a likely trade candidate ahead of the deadline.
No one is excited about grabbing Mason Plumlee, but as long as Ivica Zubac misses time, he’s a fine deep-league fill-in. He played 28 minutes last time out, scoring 14 points while grabbing five boards and blocking three shots. It should be matchup-based for Plumlee and Daniel Theis, but Plumlee gets the slight nod here.
Rostered in 0-14% of Leagues
Everyone needs defensive help in fantasy, and Kris Dunn has been providing just that. Over the last two weeks, Dunn is averaging 3.2 STOCKs per game and 5.1 assists. We know his limitations as a player, but if you need help in these areas, you could do worse.
This is a speculative add only. Bones Hyland hasn’t played for the Clippers since Dec. 23. There’s a chance he’s moved at the deadline and gets freed up for minutes on a bad team. He’s a microwave scorer, so if you have room for a flier, I’d consider adding him before he gets moved.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.