This is my first waiver-wire article of the season! I’m ecstatic to finish this piece for the remainder of the year since I play in more season-long leagues than I’d like to admit. This article will help prepare me just as much as you guys, and we start with one of the most interesting weeks of the year.
This is the only extended week on the schedule due to the All-Star break. Most of you will play just a single matchup during this two-week span, but it’s a great time to stream right after the trade deadline.
Each week, I’m going to look at the waiver wire for the players you should be targeting for both short and long-term success.
We’ll look at players currently sitting in the following four 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.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Week 16/17
Six games:
GSW
Five games:
CHA, CLE, DEN, HOU, LAC, LAL, MIL, MIN, NOP, ORL, PHI, PHX, SAS, UTA, WAS
Four games:
ATL, BOS, BKN, DAL, DET, IND, MEM, NYK, OKC, POR, SAC, TOR
Three games:
MIA
Two games:
NONE
Rostered in 50-60% of Leagues
Ausar Thompson (PF,SF,SG – DET)
Detroit went into sell mode during the trade deadline, getting rid of Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Killian Hayes, Danilo Gallinari, and Kevin Knox. That should force Thompson back into the starting lineup and the 30-minute role we saw in the opening month.
In his 25 starts this season, Thompson is averaging 10.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.3 blocks across 29 minutes a night. That’s some supreme stat-stuffing from a 21-year-old rookie, and he needs to be rostered everywhere after that firesale on Thursday.
This is the only guy in this article who didn’t get a boost because of the trade deadline. Podziemski is an excellent waiver wire option with his recent play and superb schedule. The Warriors play six games in this two-week span, and they’re the only team to do that.
Having six games is ridiculous, but it’s even better since Golden State might rest veterans like Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson once in that heavy stretch. That’s huge with the way Podz has been balling, averaging 11.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.0 steals across his last seven games.
Rostered in 30-49% of Leagues
I’ve never trusted Bagley as a fantasy asset, but someone has to play center in Washington. They just traded away Daniel Gafford, which is hard to fathom since he was the only true center on the roster. The only guy they got back was Richaun Holmes, but he hasn’t been fantasy relevant in five years.
We’re going to assume that Bagley will start at center and play 30 minutes a night once he returns. The former Top-5 pick has been awesome in that type of role throughout his career. In the seven games, Bagley has played at least 25 minutes, he’s averaging 18.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.9 blocks per game. He’s also a sneaky stash because he’s dealing with a back issue, but that’s not expected to be long-term.
Rostered in 15-29% of Leagues
Olynyk has always been a favorite of mine, and we have to assume he’s going to be looking at a lot of minutes in Toronto. They traded away OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam earlier in the year and just parted ways with Dennis Schroder and Precious Achiuwa. That leaves this frontcourt extremely thin, with Oly looking at 25 minutes in a sixth-man role.
In the 13 games that Olynyk has played at least 23 minutes, he’s averaging 12.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game. That stat-stuffing has made him a must-roster player in the past, and that could be the case again a week from now with how thin this Raptors frontcourt is.
This Memphis team is mayhem. The list of injuries is laughable, with Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Marcus Smart all expected to miss most of the season. That’s just the start of it because the Grizzlies just parted ways with Xavier Tillman, Steven Adams, and David Roddy.
Those were two of the only frontcourt players left, and Aldama might have to play 30-35 minutes every night from here on out just because of the shorthanded roster. In his 13 starts this year, Aldama is averaging 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He’s done that on subpar shooting, but we don’t expect that to continue with his profile.
Rostered in 0-14% of Leagues
It was sad to watch Mann waste away in OKC. He was simply stuck behind too many good players. That’s not an issue anymore after he was traded to one of the worst rosters in the NBA. Charlotte was bad before the trade deadline, but moving PJ Washington and Gordon Hayward made them even thinner.
That’s scary since LaMelo Ball is out right now, and Mann could step into a prominent role right when he gets to Charlotte. He’s been a stud whenever given a full workload, averaging 17 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.0 steals, and 2.7 threes in three games at the G-League over the last two years. I was also impressed when he recorded a triple-double in a meaningless finale last year and that sort of ability has me enticed since he’s rostered nowhere.
Grimes was frustrated with his role in New York, but he should get more opportunities in Detroit. We just talked about how they went into sell mode at the trade deadline, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Grimes fill the role vacated by Bogdanovic.
Grimes is one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, averaging 1.8 threes across 23 minutes throughout his three-year career. We also saw him average 21.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 4.8 threes across the final nine games of last year. Any stretch like that would make him a must-roster player in every format.
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Joel Bartilotta is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @Bartilottajoel.
