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.
This is an odd week for fantasy basketball when it comes to the schedule. There are very few games due to the Emirates NBA Cup. The eight teams participating in the Cup will play either Tuesday or Wednesday. The winning teams will play Saturday and the losing teams play Sunday.
The Bulls, Cavaliers, Clippers, Heat, Hornets, Jazz, Kings, Nets, Nuggets, 76ers, and Pistons play only one game this week.
Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds This Week
Guards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
Brandon Boston Jr. (New Orleans Pelicans)
Brandon Ingram is out indefinitely with an ankle sprain and the Pelicans lack depth. Boston has started at times during the season and fared well. Boston will come off the bench and play enough minutes to contribute. He played 28 minutes off the bench on Sunday and had 17 points, three rebounds, three three-pointers, and a steal.
Miles McBride (New York Knicks)
The Knicks could play three games this week. McBride has played at least 26 minutes in four of the last five games. He is averaging 12.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.6 three-pointers with solid percentages.
Cole Anthony (Orlando Magic)
It remains to be seen what the Magic do with Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero out. We saw the first glimpse on Sunday and Anthony played 29 minutes off the bench and was third on the team with 14 field goal attempts. He had 14 points, two rebounds, three assists, two three-pointers, two blocks and one steal. He’s worth adding in deeper formats to see if this sticks.
Forwards To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
Royce O’Neale (Phoenix Suns)
Kevin Durant will miss up to two weeks with an ankle injury and O’Neale replaces him in the starting lineup. O’Neale wasn’t great the first time he filled in for Durant when he was sidelined, but he’s been good the last three games. In that span, he is averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.6 three-pointers, two assists, and one steal. The Suns get two great matchups against the Jazz and Blazers this week.
De’Andre Hunter (Atlanta Hawks)
Hunter has been a valuable contributor off the bench for the Hawks. He is averaging 19.3 points, four rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.6 three-pointers, and shooting 47.8% from the field, 42.5% from three-point range, and 90.2% from the foul line. Hunter is still available in 28.3% of ESPN leagues and 40% of Yahoo leagues.
Julian Champagnie (San Antonio Spurs)
He was mentioned last week, but is still available in many leagues. Even with Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell back, Champagnie continues to start and play minutes in the mid-30s. He had a season-high 30 points on Friday and is averaging 12.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 three-pointers, and 0.8 steals per game.
Centers To Add in Fantasy Basketball This Week
Goga Bitadze (Orlando Magic)
Bitadze had a big game in the first one without Franz Wagner, who has a torn oblique, and Paolo Banchero, who remains out with a torn oblique. On Sunday, he had 21 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists. He took a season-high 15 shots from the field.
Yves Missi (New Orleans Pelicans)
Missi remains valuable due to all the Pelicans’ injuries. He has three double-doubles in the last six games. He is averaging 9.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and is shooting 54.3% from the field.
Players To Drop In Fantasy Basketball This Week
- Guershon Yabusele (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Ochai Agbaji (Toronto Raptors)
Fantasy Basketball Trends To Watch Entering Week 8
Jokic dominating again
It’s easy to take Nikola Jokic for granted since we are used to him putting up eye-popping numbers. He’s at it again this season. Jokic is a -115 favorite to win the MVP at DraftKings Sportsbook. Jokic is coming off a dominating week. He scored a career-high 56 points on Saturday and had 48 points, 14 rebounds, and eight assists Sunday. On Thursday against the Cavaliers, Jokic had 27 points, 20 rebounds, and 11 assists. He is averaging 32.3 points, 13.6 rebounds and 10.2 assists.
Marvelous Monk
Malik Monk was mentioned as a waiver wire add last week, especially now that he’s in the starting lineup. He has started five games and is averaging 19.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 2.6 three-pointers per game. His points+assists prop has been around 19.5-22.5 per game on books and has cashed it easily in six of the last seven games. He fell short Sunday with 16 points and three assists, but it was due to a blowout in which he played 27 minutes.
Mobley breakout
Evan Mobley was on my breakout list entering the season and he’s delivering. Keep an eye on his ankle injury. He left Sunday’s game after injuring it and the Cavaliers play one game on Friday, so hopefully he doesn’t miss much time. On Saturday, Mobley had 41 points, 10 rebounds, six three-pointers, three blocks and two steals. Mobley is averaging 18.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.5 blocks and is shooting 55.8% from the field.
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.
