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The deeper a fantasy basketball 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 fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA 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.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 24
Isaac Okoro (SG/SF, CLE) - 16% rostered
The Cavs have obviously regressed to the mean during the past few months compared to their start to the season, but precisely that latter great kickoff allowed Cleveland to sit where they are today: seventh in the East and about to fight for the postseason with a couple of shots to make it there through the play-in. The season-ending injury suffered by starting guard Collin Sexton opened the door for Isaac Okoro to play virtually every game and tons of minutes, and while not a bona fide star, Okoro has produced reasonable levels of play this year.
Okoro is playing around xxx minutes per game and starting every single match in the past two weeks and more. The Cavs have four games left on their schedule and three of those are going to be tough as hell for them to pull off the W against top-tier teams or teams fighting for their play-in position. Okoro will give you good shooting percentages (on low volume) and production on peripheral cats such as steals and blocks. The points are often in the 6-to-12 clip with some threes here and there, but nothing very substantial. You know he'll keep playing as much as he can manage, the turnovers are low, and as has always been the case in Okoro's short career, his efficiency is super low only because he gets to play tons of minutes while not really producing that much. Not the worst of flyers to take this late given Cleveland can't fall asleep yet with four games to go.
Kris Dunn (PG/SG, POR) - 13% rostered
Lots of missed time by Dunn this season, though he finally made it back to the court as recently as a couple of weeks ago when he logged 20 minutes for Portland back on Mar. 20. Dunn has played 11 games through Friday including that outing, has been on the court for an average of 24 MPG, and has started one game in that span. Dunn arrived too late to move Portland's needle, of course, and that won't change anytime soon. But Dunn is already a veteran playing at age-28 and he needs to prove his worth nightly if he wants to stay signed and play in the NBA for some more years.
Dunn has been an above-average player for the PDX since coming back, putting up nearly 1.00 FP/min compared to the league average of 0.90. Dunn has been a little bit wild when it comes to limiting turnovers (two TOPG) but he's made up for it with good enough dime figures (5.3 APG) while somehow finding his way to stealing 1.8 possessions per game. The sample is obviously tiny because of the time he missed prior to making his debut, but Dunn is one of only 12 players averaging 5+ APG and 1.5+ SPG over the year (min. 10 games played).
Josh Richardson (SG/SF, SAS) - 12% rostered
If you've been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, let me tell you that San Antonio has found a way to overtake the Los Angeles Lakers in the standing, currently sitting 10th and into the play-in. Uh oh, flex on the devil. Richardson is probably not the main reason the Spurs are in the position they occupy these days, but you bet he's made solid contributions since he landed in Texas right before the trade deadline.
J-Rich is averaging a neat 1.02 FP/min while both starting and coming off the pine. Those two different approaches to his usage by Coach Pop haven't really impacted Josh's production nor minutes of playing time as he's averaging around 28 MPG in the past two weeks only starting a couple of games. The free-throw throwing is impeccable at 100% since Mar. 11 (18 attempts), the FGA is very healthy with 11+ shots hoisted in the past two weeks and seven games, and the steals can't get much better than they're already with an average of 1.6 SPG in the past 10 games in which J-Rich has appeared. Lock for 10+ PPG hitting actually 16 PPG in the past two weeks--to go with 2+ three-point shots made in each and every of the last seven games he's played without mistake.
Corey Kispert (SF/PF, WAS) - 11% rostered
As everybody did last December when COVID hit the NBA hard, Kispert was forced into playing a heavier role for the Wiz back then to close the 2021 calendar year in what we understood then as just a temporary patch with the rookie going through growing pains. The truth, though, was far from that. Kispert started three games at the end of December and only four more from that point to Feb. 10 but starting that latter day marked a point of no return for him and Washington. Kispert has been part of the first unit for 24 games and counting.
With Kispert not surrendering the starting gig at the SF position ROS and getting absolutely ridiculous runs (32 MPG after the ASB, even higher 37 MPG in the past week alone), he might be one of the better widely available players out there to squeeze some production off during the last few games of the year. Kispert's shooting has been kinda shaky of late but he's still been good to shoot around 48% since the start of March. In the last four games, facing all sorts of competition, he's put up an average 13-2-2-1 with his best numbers being related to triples (he's scored at least one long-ranger in 10 straight games), steals, and lack of turnovers is that's a negative in your league.
Delon Wright (PG/SG, ATL) - 6% rostered
John Collins is the only Hawk currently sitting on the injury shelves, yet Delon Wright has been quite used of late by Atlanta starting games here and there and getting some reasonable production given his super-low usage on offense. Good for fantasy GMs, most of that usage has come on positive outcomes instead of turnovers (0.6 TOPG since Mar. 14 in 11 games played) while the shooting has also been good enough (45%+ from the field) given the low volume and tough positions Wright's hoisting most of his shots.
Wright is hitting nearly 1.5 3PM per game in the past 11 games (from Mar. 18 on) while contributing good rebounds, dimes, and steals. The thefts (2.1 SPG in that 11-game span) are pretty surprising and a very nice addition to consider ROS if you're hurting there. Not a bad overall player on limited/swinging/unstable minutes, but it is what it is at this point through the season, folks!
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