Deep Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds (Week 17/18)

This is going to be a very short week for standard fantasy leagues, but luckily every team is going to play at least once before the All-Star Break starts. If you are looking to make trades over this time, the earlier the better. The longer you wait, the more leverage you lose when it comes to upside and trying to make the most of a trade. Send out as many trade offers as you can and do what you can to get what you want.

Players like James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis have carried you this far, but be careful because all three of those players are likely to miss more and more games with the season winding down. On the other hand, players like Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Trae Young have been studs all season and show no signs of slowing down as the fantasy season gets closer and closer to playoffs.

Make sure to stay updated on injuries and return times, but as far as I'm concerned, these next three players will see the biggest benefit. As a reminder, for standard (10-12 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 50% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues. If you have any questions find me in the NBA Chat Room or @HalfCourtJester on Twitter.

Free Agent Waiver Adds for Week 17/18

Seth Curry, PG/SG – Dallas Mavericks

Ownership: 14%

11.3 PPG /  2.2 RPG /  .470 FG% /  1.9 APG  

Seth Curry jumped up the rankings with his last game, scoring 26 points in 27 minutes, shooting with incredibly efficiency and filling in some other categories as well. Dallas plays two more times this week, Monday against the Jazz and Wednesday versus the Kings. Outside of one game this season, every time Curry has played either the Kings or Jazz, he has scored or has been close to scoring 20 or more points.

Even in the game he only scored 19 points, he posted four rebounds and four assists to go along with it. Curry has adopted a much bigger scoring role over the past two games and with only two more games left before a significant break, I don't expect him to stop shooting.

Jordan McLaughlin, PG – Minnesota Timberwolves

Ownership: 5%

6.9 PPG /  1.8 RPG /  .456 FG% /  3.9 APG  

D'Angelo Russell will be making his debut as the Timberwolves point guard soon, but until that is certain, Jordan McLaughlin, while very untimely, has been playing incredibly well. Minnesota had their best game of the season against the Clippers, and even though it was really just Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, and McLaughlin doing all the scoring, that dynamic is likely to fade away rather quickly with Russell joining the offense.

Even with Russell, McLaughlin is deserving of minutes and a spot in the rotation simply because of how good he has been on both sides of the ball. Looking strictly at the numbers, the production is there and since he is facing the Raptors and Hornets with his last two games before break, the upside is there as well.

Marquese Chriss, PF/C – Sacramento Kings

Ownership 37%

 8.3 PPG /  .533 FG% /  5.5 RPG / 1.0 BPG

This is right below the maximum ownership for a waiver wire add to be considered "deep," but since Marquese Chriss, technically, should still be available in most leagues, he needs to be added. At first he was producing, but the Warriors weren't winning so Chriss was sent to the G-League for a few games, only to be called back up and given a contract. After he posted the best game of his career last outing, the Warriors can't do much but give the ball to the few players they have and let them do what they can while they are hot.

It'll be much easier for Chriss now that there is another serious offensive threat in the rotation, but don't let that distract you from the fact that Chriss plays better when he's not doing all the work. The more spacing he has, the better chance he has to produce.

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