Every Monday, Adam Ronis drops by with his fantasy basketball waiver wire adds and drops, walking you through how to attack the week ahead for fantasy hoops.
It’s Christmas Week and it means the NBA is featured on Christmas Day with five games beginning at noon Eastern. Every team except New Orleans and Sacramento plays on Monday and there are no games on Christmas Eve.
Most teams play four games and the Cavaliers, Clippers, Pelicans, and Kings all play twice.
Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds This Week
Guards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
Ben Simmons (Brooklyn Nets)
With Dennis Schroder traded to the Warriors, Simmons has seen an increase in minutes. In the three games since, Simmons has played 31, 32, and 29 minutes and he’s been aggressive by taking more shots from the field. He’s always been good at getting rebounds and assists. He has averaged 17 potential assists in the last three games, 12.3 points, five rebounds, and 8.3 assists with four steals.
Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers)
Nembhard got off to a slow start this season, got injured and missed time, and is back to playing around 30 minutes per game and the Pacers are playing better. In deeper formats, he can provide points, assists, three-pointers, and steals. He has reached double-digit points in four of the last five games and averaged five assists per game in that span.
Ayo Dosunmu (Chicago Bulls)
Dosunmu usually comes off the bench, but has been starting recently when a starter was out due to injury which has been the case the last two games with Josh Giddey out. Even when he’s a reserve, he has been good. Over the last eight games, he has averaged 34.3 minutes per game with 15.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.1 three-pointers, 1.4 steals, and shooting 54.5% from the field.
Forwards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
De’Andre Hunter (Atlanta Hawks)
Hunter is still available in 60% of Yahoo! leagues. Hunter has seen his usage increase and is playing a big role off the bench. He doesn’t help in a lot of categories, but he can boost points and threes. In the last eight games, Hunter is averaging 22.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 three-pointers and is shooting 50% from the field, including 48.1% from three-point range.
Malik Beasley (Detroit Pistons)
Beasley has been a big factor off the bench for the Pistons. He’s primarily a scorer, who can light it up from three-point range. Beasley has scored at least 18 points in five of the last six games. He is averaging 18.1 points and 4.6 three-pointers over the last seven games. Beasley has shot 32-for-67 from beyond the arc over the last six games.
Obi Toppin (Indiana Pacers)
Toppin continues to produce while averaging 20.5 minutes per game. When he’s on the floor, he’s active. Over the last eight games, Toppin is averaging 14.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 three-pointers, 1.3 steals, and is shooting 58.3% from the field. The Pacers play four games this week.
Centers To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
Larry Nance (Atlanta Hawks)
Onyeka Okongwu is out for four weeks and Nance will get minutes off the bench. He has played 31 and 24 minutes in the last two games. He had 21 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, five three-pointers, one steal, and one block against the Spurs and had seven points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and one steal against the Grizzlies.
Goga Bitadze (Orlando Magic)
Bitadze has taken advantage of injuries to play a big role for the Magic. The floor will likely remain high the rest of the season with Mo Wagner out for the year. Bitadze has four double-doubles in the last five games. Over the last eight games, he is averaging 12.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 blocks, and is shooting 62.7% from the field.
Players To Drop In Fantasy Basketball This Week
- Andre Drummond (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Julian Champagnie (San Antonio Spurs)
Fantasy Basketball Trends To Watch Entering Week 10
Wembanyama heating up
Victor Wembanyama started the season slowly, averaging 18.2 points and shooting 41.9% from the field in his first five games. He was better in November and has been dominant in December. On Saturday against Portland, the Spurs center had 30 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four three-pointers, and 10 blocks.
He is the only player to have 10 blocks and four three-pointers in a game. He is averaging 27.7 points per game in December and his points prop has been around 23.5 points lately. He has scored at least 25 points in five of the last seven games.
Murphy finding groove
The Pelicans have been hit hard by injuries and Trey Murphy has taken on a bigger role after he missed the start of the season. Just when Murphy was heating up, he rolled his ankle on Sunday night. He had 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three three-pointers in 27 minutes before leaving early.
The Pelicans don’t play until Thursday, so it’s possible he doesn’t miss many games. The Pelicans guard has scored at least 21 points in five of the last six games. The books have put out his three-pointers made at 2.5 in recent games and Murphy is averaging 8.1 three-point attempts per game. He has hit at least three three-pointers in nine of the last 10 games.
Westbrook playing a bigger role
It has been an inconsistent season for Russell Westbrook in his first year with Denver. He’s capable of putting up good stats and is coming off one of his best stretches of the season. He has played at least 33 minutes in the last three games and was one rebound short of a triple-double on Monday against the Kings. He averaged 19.3 points, six rebounds, 7.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and one block over the three games.
Looking for even more NBA action this week? Check out our NBA Player Props Tool to find the best edges in your daily player prop betting, our Bet Tracker for our daily free NBA bets, as well as our NBA DFS projections for each main slate.
