RADIO
The deeper a fantasy league, the harder it is to hit a winner with your last few picks. It is also harder to find decent help from the waiver wire if your late-round picks don't do you justice. If you picked up a few stinkers, don't lose hope just yet. I will try to help you pick up a winner.
Here are my deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks rental or a long term fix to a problem your team is having.
If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.
Deep League Waiver Wire Targets
Tyrese Maxey (SG, PHI) - 16% rostered
I know what you're thinking: how can you consider Maxey a deep-league WW-target and include him in this column!? Well, the truth is, before Philly was told it was going to play its Saturday game against Denver with just 7 players, Maxey was rostered in just two percent of Yahoo leagues. Odds are you still can find him available in your league, so go look for him asap.
Maxey got a ton of eyes on him thanks to the stupid NBA COVID-related protocols that put him in the spotlight against the Nuggets. He stepped up to the situation, and he finished with an incredible 39-7-6-2 line in almost 44 minutes of playing time. That is not going to hold. Maxey is a rook, and his minutes/usage/stats will regress from that fluky day. But before that (what we could expect going forward) Maxey was putting up a 10-2-1-1 line in his prior five games shooting 60.8 percent from the floor and logging around 18.5 MPG for the Sixers. Maxey is hella good on that bench role and one of the most overlooked rookies of the season so far.
Eric Paschall (SF/PF, GSW) - 12% rostered
It's been two Paschalls this season: the starter (for two games) and the reserve (for the last seven). The difference? A staggering improvement with the second-year man coming off the pine instead of logging starting-five minutes. Since Paschall is playing as part of the Warriors' second unit he's averaging 13.3 PPG and 3.9 RPG. Paschall is also dishing out at least one dime a day and has hit a promising four combined triples in his past three games. Using the DraftKings system, Paschall has been a top-100 player in each of his last three matches, including a top-55 finish in the on against Sacto on Jan. 4th.
Paschall has played 20+ minutes in his last three, dropped 14, 19, and 12 pops in those, and grabbed a combined 16 boards to go with 6 assists. If you're looking for a points-and-boards guy, Eric is your man. His shooting is mental hitting field goals at an incredible 62.8% clip since he was "demoted" to the Warriors bench mob. Above-average per-minute production nightly with a more than healthy 26.6% usage rate in his last three games.
Khem Birch (PF/C, ORL) - 5% rostered
Since New Year's Eve (included), Birch has played six games with the Magic and 22+ minutes in all but one of those matches. The playing time is there, and the performances have been rather nice for the big man. In the past four games (going back to Jan. 4th), Birch has scored 11+ points three times (average of 10.2 PPG), grabbed 8.8 RPG, and dished out 1.3 APG. He has also stolen five combined balls in those four games.
Birch is putting up incredible shooting splits on the year, currently holding onto a 56/100/90 slash-line. Sure, he only attempts 0.1 3PA per game, but his overall and free-throw success rates are great. In fact, Birch is one of only 22 players attempting 5+ FG and 2+ FT per game while putting up those averages, and by far the cheapest/most-affordable among those.
Wesley Matthews (SG/SF, LAL) - 2% rostered
Matthews is definitely a risky play, not gonna lie about this one. Matthews is, also, rostered in virtually no Yahoo leagues and thus a very easy to acquire asset these days. Playing for the Lakers this season, Matthews is a role/bench player in LA (he started last Friday's game against Chicago, though) yet he's getting an average 26+ MPG of playing time since Dec. 30th.
From that date up to last Friday he's played six games averaging a 9-2-1 line which, again, is not the most productive of things. If you get Matthews, though, you'll be acquiring the ultimate boom/bust player: he has three games with 14+ points and 4+ triples, but he also has three in which he finished with game-highs of 4 points, 3 rebounds, and one triple. It's explosion or implosion for Matthews without a middle point. But for someone barely rostered you can't ask for much more.
Ben McLemore (SG/SF, HOU) - 1% rostered
I expect McLemore's rostership to sky-rocket (no pun intended) as we get deep into the season. While only a good-not-great player, there is no way McLemore is going to sit there at that paltry one-percent mark for long. McLemore returned from his COVID-related absence last Friday and logged his first minutes of the season (15:32 in total) coming off the bench for the Rockets facing the Magic.
McLemore closed his debut with an impressive 15-3-2 performance in which all of his points came via three-pointers. He only missed one of his six field goals and just turned one ball over, finishing with a good +11 plus/minus mark. McLemore seemed to injury his ankle in that game, but it doesn't look like this is going to turn into something long-term concerning. Forget about getting a do-it-all, steal-of-the-season player in Ben, but if you need a three-point bucket, efficient scorer, McLemore is a must-add to your squad.
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