Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 18

With the NBA trade deadline taking over most of our fantasy content this week, we’re going to get back into the swing of things with the post-deadline fallout as we head into the All-Star break.

Each and every week, 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.

Without further delay, let’s get to it, starting with the schedule and offensive pace ratings, thanks to our friends at Razzball.

Since the All-Star break falls in the middle of the next two weeks, we’ll use a combined number of games since most leagues combine the two scoring periods into one.

Five games:

BKN, BOS, DEN, DET, HOU, LAC, NOR, PHX, WAS

Four games: 

ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, IND, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, NYK, OKC, PHI, POR, SAC, SAS, TOR, UTA

Three games:

DAL, LAL, ORL

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Rostered in 50-60% of leagues:

Devin Vassell (SG/SF – SAS): 51%

One of the biggest post-deadline winners is Vassell, who we expected to get some increased run for the rebuilding Spurs after they dealt Derrick White inexplicably away. While it’s been one game, it was a great sign of what could be to come for Vassell and the Spurs.

Vassell dropped 20 points in 28 minutes against the Hawks Friday night, which is a follow-up from his 18-point performance his last time out. He’s shown us flashes all season of his potential, so kudos to you if you managed to keep him on your roster for the last 17 weeks. If not, he’s available in more than half of Yahoo leagues.

Davion Mitchell (PG/SG – SAC): 55%

I’ve mentioned Mitchell in my last four columns – this one included – so I’m kind of tired of discussing him. We’d like him to start, of course, but in the first post-Haliburton game for the Kings, Mitchell played 34 minutes and posted a full line, which included seven dimes.

The Kings are suddenly fun – bad, but fun – and have fantasy pieces to help down the stretch. Mitchell stands out above the rest, but it’s worth mentioning that his minutes dipped to 20 Saturday night, but he still managed five dimes during that time.

Rostered in 30-49% of leagues:

Dorian Finney-Smith (SF/PF – DAL): 39%

DFS signed a contract extension that will keep him in Dallas, and with the departure of Kristaps Porzingis we should expect DFS to continue to play big minutes for the Mavs. In two post-KP games, Finney-Smith has played 80 minutes, which is on par with what he was doing all season.

He isn’t going to stand out in any category, and the production does fluctuate game-to-game, but he’s a high-floor option who is producing at mid-round value.

Brandon Clarke (SF/PF – MEM): 36%

Clarke has been a per-minute monster for the Grizzlies and fantasy managers, but he just hasn’t been able to carve out significant playing time. Saturday night, though, he saw 32 minutes of action and posted 16 points with six boards, two assists, and two STOCKs.

He’s been a top-70 player over the last month for fantasy, and while the playing time is frustrating due to the depth of Memphis, the production has been there.

Rostered in 15-29% of leagues:

Jonathan Kuminga (SF/PF – GSW): 25%

It was nice knowing you, Otto Porter Jr.  It’s Kuminga’s time now. I’ve waited for Steve Kerry to unleash Kuminga in the second half of the season and for him to be a big playoff hero, leading us to overdraft him in next year’s fantasy drafts.

Kerr may have started the process even sooner. Kuminga just missed a double-double Saturday night, and he is averaging 16.6 points and 27 minutes over his last six games. His rostership numbers have already shot up 15 percent in the last week, and they are only going to keep climbing.

Aleksej Pokusevski (SF/PF – OKC): 22%

It’s Poku’s world. We are just living in it. In three of his last four games, Poku has excelled on the court, averaging 15 points and more than six boards in 28 minutes per contest. He’s inconsistent – as we saw in Saturday’s subpar showing – but he’s insanely fun and still so raw. He’s a Unicorn for a reason.

Rostered in 0-14% of leagues:

Donte DiVincenzo (PG/SG – SAC): 8%

DiVincenzo came off the bench in his Kings’ debut, joining a suddenly nice (on paper, at least) second unit for Sacramento with Mitchell and Richaun Holmes. He struggled, going 2-for-9 from the field, but he’s worth rostering in deeper leagues as he should see more consistent playing time in Sacramento going forward.

Raul Neto (PG – WAS): 4%

Meet your new point guard for the Washington Wizards. It looks like it’ll be Neto and Ish Smith splitting duties in Washington going forward, and you know how big I am on opportunity and playing time. Neto has posted 21/6 and 10/4 lines in his last two games while playing 30 minutes per game. Neto and Smith are interchangeable here, so whichever one ends up playing the bigger role (not necessarily starting) can be the pickup in deeper leagues. For now, it’s Neto.

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