This is my final waiver wire article of the season. Some of you have already finished your fantasy campaigns, but this is championship week for many of you as well. I’m also in a bunch of championships, and you better believe I’m zoned in on this final week. It’s one of the craziest times to be on the waiver wire because we have more options than ever. The tanking teams have opened up a ton of value, many of which will be featured here! I want to thank all of you for reading throughout the year, and I hope you guys take down your fantasy championships!
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 23
Five games:
NONE
Four games:
ATL, BOS, BKN, CHA, CLE, DAL, DET, GSW, HOU, IND, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, NOP, NY, OKC, ORL, PHI, PHX, POR, SAC, TOR, WAS
Three games:
CHI, DEN, SAS, UTA
Two games:
NONE
Rostered in 50-60% of Leagues
De’Andre Hunter (SF/PF – ATL )
This Atlanta roster has been annihilated by injuries, losing Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Saddiq Bey, and Onyeka Okongwu. All those absences have allowed Hunter to take over, averaging 30-35 minutes and 15 shots in this expanded role. That bump in usage has forced Hunter into the starting lineup, averaging 17.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals, and 2.2 threes across his last 19 games. He’s also posting great shooting averages, shooting 47 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free-throw line. As long as Atlanta continues to be shorthanded, Hunter must be rostered everywhere.
It’s hard to believe that Henderson is still sitting around 50 percent rostership. This Portland team has gone into freefall mode, sitting Malcolm Brogdon, Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, and Deandre Ayton for portions throughout the second half. It sounds like many of those guys might be out for the rest of the year, forcing this Top 3 pick into a playmaking role. If you look at the 16 games that Scoot has played at least 32 minutes, he’s averaging 18.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.9 threes per game. He is hurting your turnovers and field goal percentage, but it’s hard to argue with those Fred VanVleet-like averages! The schedule is brilliant, too, and we’ll discuss that later!
Rostered in 30-49% of Leagues
Thibs is notorious for running his starters into the ground, and that’s what he’s doing with McBride. This guy has taken over as the starting shooting guard in New York, averaging 43 minutes in his 10 starts this year. That’s hard to fathom, but McBride is averaging 18.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 3.8 threes in this newfound role. Those are ridiculous numbers to find on your waiver wire, especially in a four-game week. He also faces subpar defenses, playing the Bulls, Kings, and Bucks!
This guy was always solid in limited minutes with the Raptors, but he’s getting every opportunity in Portland now. We already discussed how the Trail Blazers have given up on half of their rotation, forcing Banton into a playmaking role off the bench. He’s been their best player since receiving this newfound role, averaging 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 2.4 threes across his last 16 games. That’s what we call a five-cat contributor, and he should benefit from this wonderful week for Portland. He plays Washington and Charlotte this week, which could be competitive games against the two worst defenses in the NBA.
Rostered in 15-29% of Leagues
Isaac has always been among the best per-minute producers in the NBA, but he’s rarely been on the court for the last three years. That’s sad because JI averaged 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks across 28 minutes in the two years before some severe injuries. It’s strange to go back to statistics from four years ago, but Isaac has received 20-25 minutes a game for the first time since then. In the 11 games that Isaac has played at least 20 minutes, he’s averaging 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. All of those have been recently, and it’s clear Orlando is finally getting ready to unleash him. We also love that he has four games with no back-to-backs this week, facing Portland and Charlotte.
This guy has been fantastic filling in for LaMelo Ball, and it’s hard to understand why he’s still so widely available. In his 12 starts over the last month, Micic is averaging 14 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.2 threes. He also shoots 50 percent from the field and 89 percent from the free-throw line, which should make him a Top 100 player in that stretch. The opportunities will be there as long as Ball is out, and we can’t overlook a waiver-wire guy who could provide 25-30 assists in a four-game week.
Rostered in 0-14% of Leagues
This is the final Portland player we’re going to recommend. We already discussed how Ayton, Grant, Simons, and Brogdon are all shutdown candidates, and it’s allowed many of these Trail Blazers reserves to take over. Camara has been one of those guys, playing at least 30 minutes in 12 of his last 15 games. When Camara plays 30 minutes, he’s averaging 10.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.6 blocks and 1.2 threes per game. Many of those statistics don’t jump off the page, but it’s rare to provide value for all of them from a player who’s not rostered anywhere. He also benefits from the matchups mentioned in the Banton write-up!
The Hawks’ injuries have clipped this team’s wings, but it’s allowing Krejci to fly. The Czech guard is playing the most prominent role of his career right now with all of these guys out, averaging 34 minutes across his last four fixtures. It’s rare to see a player sitting on nearly every waiver wire who’s playing 35 minutes a night, especially one with so many opportunities in this diluted offense. In this expanded role, Vit is averaging 10.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 2.3 threes per game. This third-year player is only scratching the surface of what he could become, and we anticipate that those averages will rise as he gets used to this workload and offensive scheme.
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Joel Bartilotta is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @Bartilottajoel.
