Every Monday, Adam Ronis drops by with his fantasy basketball waiver wire guide and trends to watch, walking you through how to attack the week ahead for fantasy hoops.

Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds This Week

This is the week the second annual Emirates NBA Cup begins. All eight games on Tuesday will be group play as will the 12 games on Friday. The Nuggets and Warriors only play two games this week and Thursday has only one with the Jazz hosting the Mavericks.

It was another week of bad injuries in the NBA. Chet Holmgren is the latest injury to a significant player. He injured his hip on Sunday night and will be re-evaluated in 8-10 weeks. Kevin Durant has a calf injury and will miss two weeks. 

Tyrese Maxey will miss time with a hamstring injury, while teammate Joel Embiid will make his season debut Tuesday after missing time with a knee injury and a suspension for shoving a reporter. Zion Williamson is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Ja Morant has a posterior hip subluxation and is week-to-week and Aaron Gordon is out with a calf injury. Jimmy Butler is also day-to-day with an ankle injury. Exhale.

Guards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week

Brandon Boston Jr. (New Orleans Pelicans)

Boston is a short-term option with the Pelicans being battered by injuries. Zion Williamson, C.J. McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, and Jordan Hawkins are all out. Trey Murphy will return Monday night, but he will be on a minutes limit to start. Boston has started the last three games and played 37, 38, and 38 minutes, averaging 20 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.

Jose Alvarado (New Orleans Pelicans)

Alvarado was mentioned last week, but he’s still available widely on some platforms. As mentioned above, the Pelicans are dealing with many injuries. Alvarado is playing a big role. Alvarado is averaging 17.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and 3.5 three-pointers in six starts. The shooting percentage is the concern with a 42.2% mark when starting.

Jared McCain (Philadelphia 76ers)

McCain is for deeper formats and there’s some risk. Joel Embiid will return Tuesday and Paul George is back, but Tyrese Maxey is out and Kyle Lowry won’t play big minutes. The 76ers also have a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday and Embiid will likely sit the second game and George could, too. McCain has played 31 minutes in the last two games and scored 18 and 27 points with seven three-pointers.

Forwards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week

Peyton Watson (Denver Nuggets)

The only concern for Watson is Denver’s two-game week. Watson has been starting with Aaron Gordon out a few weeks with a calf injury. Watson has started the last three games and played 31 minutes in the game Gordon got hurt. In the 4 games, Watson is averaging 14.5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 three-pointers, 1.5 assists, 1.75 blocks and 1 steal per game. 

Royce O’Neale (Phoenix Suns)

Kevin Durant is out with a calf injury and O’Neale should see an increase in usage. While O’Neale continued to come off the bench Sunday with Durant out, he took 14 shots from the field in an overtime game. He only hit one three, but had 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. He is averaging 2.2 three-pointers per game.

Kyshawn George (Washington Wizards)

George has started four of the last five games with Kyle Kuzma out due to injury and has done well. The rookie has played at least 32 minutes in four of the games, including at least 34 in the last three. He’s helping in several different categories with 14 three-pointers, 7 steals, and 5 blocks and averaging almost six rebounds per game in the last five.

In the last three games, George is averaging 17 points, 6 rebounds, and almost 3 assists. Kuzma will return Monday and while George may return to the bench, he could still be productive if given the minutes.

Centers To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week

Goga Bitadze (Orlando Magic)

As long as Wendell Carter Jr. is out and Bitzade is starting, he can be on a roster. Over the last four games as a starter, Bitadze is averaging 10.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.8 blocks, and shooting 66.7% from the field. He has been playing between 27-30 minutes in competitive games.

Isaiah Stewart (Detroit Pistons)

Jalen Duren is day-to-day with an ankle injury and has missed two games after leaving Wednesday’s game early. Stewart sees the boost with Duren sidelined. Stewart has played 33 minutes in the last two games and had 10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block, and had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Players To Drop In Fantasy Basketball This Week

  • Trayce Jackson-Davis (Golden State Warriors)
  • Jordan Hawkins (New Orleans Pelicans)
  • Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers)

Fantasy Basketball Trends To Watch Entering Week 4

Norman Powell emerging

Powell has come off the bench most of his career and the Clippers need him to start this season and he’s flourishing. Powell is averaging 25.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 4.1 three-pointers, 1.1 steals, and shooting 49.4% from three-point range. Powell shot 43.9% from beyond the arc last season, one of the best marks in his career. Powell has scored at least 23 points in seven straight games and it’s a prop I have been playing. The books have been slowly increasing the line with it sitting at 21.5 points for Monday night against the Thunder.

Books slow to adjust on Evan Mobley

One of the player props I have been profiting on frequently is Evan Mobley. The Cavaliers forward has been listed between 14.5 and 16.5 points most nights. The prop I tend to bet on the points+assists prop, which has been anywhere from 16.5 to 18.5. Mobley is averaging 18.4 points and 2.7 assists per game and he is averaging only 29.9 minutes due to blowouts with the Cavaliers 11-0. 

Nikola Jokic is still dominant

Just when we thought Nikola Jokic couldn’t be better, he is. Jokic is off to an insane start and became the first player to finish with a stat line of at least 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists in a game on Sunday night. It was his fourth straight triple-double and sixth of the season. The Nuggets aren’t as good as last season and Jamal Murray has missed three of 10 games and Aaron Gordon has missed four. Jokic is carrying Denver, which started 0-2 and is 7-3.

Denver is getting destroyed when Jokic is off the floor. The three-time MVP is averaging 29.7 points, 13.7 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 2.2 three-pointers, 1.7 steals, one block and shooting 56.3% from the field. On DraftKings Sportsbook, Jokic is a +225 favorite to win MVP followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +330 and Luka Doncic at +500.

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.