It’s hard to believe, but the fantasy basketball season is winding down to an end. Most of my leagues enter the playoffs in three weeks, but I also have a few that start over the next fortnight. Going into the fantasy playoffs, this article is more important than ever since the stakes are so high. With that in mind, let’s dive into the waiver wire for this critical Week 19.
Every week, I look at the waiver wire for players who you should be targeting for both short-term and long-term success.
We highlight players to 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 19
Five games:
BKN
Four games:
ATL, CHI, CLE, HOU, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, OKC, ORL, PHI, POR, SAC, WAS
Three games:
BOS, CHA, DAL, DEN, DET, GSW, IND, NOP, NYK, PHX, SAS, TOR, UTA
Two games:
NONE
Rostered in 50-60% of Leagues
Bennedict Mathurin (SF,SG – IND)
We weren’t exactly sure how this Indiana rotation would play out after the Buddy Hield trade, but an injury to Aaron Nesmith has given Mathurin the most prominent role of his career. The Top 10 pick from two years ago has played at least 30 minutes in four straight fixtures while taking at least 14 shots in all of those! It’s not empty usage either, with Benny averaging 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.3 threes in that span. That’s a Top 50 player in most leagues, but we’ve seen Mathurin play like this numerous times this year. Now that the role is guaranteed, look for it to keep happening in the fantasy playoffs!
Ayo looked great at the end of last year, but a slow start soured fantasy managers. The good news is that he’s taken over the SG gig since Zach LaVine got injured, averaging 16 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 2.6 threes since entering the starting lineup a month ago. He’s also done that damage on 52 percent shooting, and it looks like Ayo will play 30-35 minutes a night since LaVine and Lonzo Ball are out for the year. It’s a great week to ride him, too, because he gets four games against three of the worst defenses in the NBA (SAC, UTA, GSW).
Rostered in 30-49% of Leagues
Many people have given Sochan grief because of some strange clips avoiding Victor Wembanyama, but this Frenchman has been reviving his season in the second half. Sochan has been stuffing the stat sheet over the last month, averaging 12 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks across his last 22 games. He was actually one of the primary point guards in the first half as well and could provide 4-5 assists a night if he’s going to keep playing over 30 minutes a night. What’s most important is that this Spurs team is falling apart, and they need to give Sochan all the opportunities he can handle to see what he can do next season.
We had this kid in this section last week, and it’s hard to believe he’s still below 50 percent rostered. He’s taken over as Utah’s starting point guard, averaging 13.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 2.2 threes across his 22 starts this year. Those numbers have skyrocketed over the last two weeks, and Utah wants to give this rookie every chance to succeed with how quickly their season is falling apart. Don’t be surprised to see the Jazz rest some players from here on out, and that would give George even more value going forward.
Rostered in 15-29% of Leagues
The Pistons decided to sell half of their roster at the trade deadline, and Fontecchio is really the only key piece they picked up. That’s been massive for his fantasy value, starting at small forward for one of the worst teams in the NBA. Simone has played at least 31 minutes in four of his first seven games with the Pistons, averaging 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.7 threes per game. It’s hard to find a player who can average nearly three three-pointers a game, and he should continue to fire up shots for one of the worst offenses in the NBA.
Rostered in 0-14% of Leagues
Dorian Finney-Smith (C,PF,SF – BKN) / Dennis Smith Jr. (PG,SG – BKN)
This is one of the only times we have a team playing five games all season. What makes that fascinating is that we get a Nets club with many waiver wire options. These guys are most relevant because this team is shorthanded right now. Trading away Spencer Dinwiddie and Royce O’Neale opened things up, but losing Cam Thomas to an injury makes this rotation even thinner. We didn’t even mention that Ben Simmons can’t stay on the court, and it should give these two plenty of chances to play in this five-game week.
If Finney-Smith plays 25 minutes a night for five games, that means he’ll receive 125 minutes! To put that in perspective, many studs who play 3 to 4 games won’t reach that total, and we’ve seen DFS be a must-roster player in the past. Dennis Smith’s role isn’t as secure, but he’s averaging 9.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.8 steals when he’s played at least 20 minutes this year. That stat-stuffing has made him an enticing fill-in in the past, and he’s a must-roster player this week, even if he plays just 15-20 minutes in all five games. In a five-game week, Smith could easily finish with 40 points, 20 rebounds, 25 assists, and 10 steals.
This is a speculative add because Utah looks like they’re starting to punt the season away. They’ve assigned Hendricks the starting center role, playing 27 minutes a night in his three starts. We haven’t seen many blow-up games, but he’s flirted with a double-double in two of those three games and could become a deep-league target as long as he’s playing 25-30 minutes a night. There’s also a chance that role will rise with others getting rested in the final month, making Hendricks a player to watch in silly season.
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Joel Bartilotta is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @Bartilottajoel.