This time of year can be miserable for fantasy basketball owners. As NBA teams start to establish their position in the playoffs, your best players can find themselves earning extra days off. That's great for those particular team's playoff stretch, but absolutely awful for fantasy basketball.
Last week, James Harden, Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard all sat among a host of others. If you're still playing, don't be tied to any player. Holding on to a player who will play one or two games compared to another player who is on the court for four or five games can be the difference in your league.
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.
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Standard League Adds for Week 25
Anthony Tolliver, SF,PF – Detroit Pistons
Ownership: 16%
8.3 PPG / 3.0 REB / 1.9 3PT / .415 3PT%
When Blake Griffin went down, it was highly predictable that Andre Drummond would pick up the slack. What was less expected was Tolliver entering the starting lineup and producing at such a fantastic rate.
Since Griffin went down, Tolliver is averaging 2.3 threes, 13.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals. He is also shooting almost 60 percent from the field and 80 percent from the line. In the Pistons' last match on Sunday, Tolliver brought down 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Tolliver has proven to be a capable replacement, and with many unknown statuses around the league, this is one player you can bank on playing the last handful of games.
Gerald Green, SG, SF – Houston Rockets
Ownership 10%
11.6 PPG / 3.2 REB / 2.6 3PT / .830 FT%
There are so many things to like about Green's game and opportunity with the Houston Rockets. Houston has clinched the top seed. Should the Rockets decide to rest James Harden, Green will get minutes. Ryan Anderson sprained his ankle on Tuesday. Should he need rest, Green will get minutes.
Over the course of the last 1o days, Green's time has "rocketed." His production has followed. During that time, Green is averaging 15.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.1 threes while playing nearly 30 minutes a game. These numbers are not an apparition. His per 36 minutes mirror these numbers and should tell you that more is coming for Green.
Ersan Ilyasova, SF, PF – Philadelphia 76ers
Ownership 28%
10.6 PPG / 5.6 REB / .451 FG% / 1.2 3PT
The world lost a treasure on the basketball court when Joel Embiid fractured his orbital bone. Lucky for all of us, his twitter account is still in tact. Embiid's injury has proven to be lucky for fantasy basketball's Ilyasova owners as well.
Since Embiids' injury Ilyasova is averaging 16 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.6 threes per game. He's had two double-doubles in three games, while playing just a hair over his average since coming over from Atlanta. There's no reason to doubt Ilyasova will not continue this good stretch for the remainder of the season. Especially if Dario Saric (elbow) continues to miss time also.
Ilyasova has taken advantage of his opportunity. So should you and pick him up.
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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.