Waiver wire pickups: Mathurin rises above the rest
Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the marathon campaign, we’ll need to source stats from free agency to maximize our imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the final few spots on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding. When curating this fluid collective of statistical contributors, it helps to consider your end-of-the-bench players in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
The goal of this weekly series is to identify players at each position widely available in free agency in ESPN leagues. Some are specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and important statistical offerings. In the breakdowns below, I’ve listed players at each position in order of priority, rather than roster percentage, in ESPN men’s basketball leagues.
Point guard
Jose Alvarado, New Orleans Pelicans (rostered in 24.2% of ESPN leagues): The Pelicans’ backcourt health has been an issue for much of the season so far, although this has afforded Alvarado a rewarding role atop the point guard depth chart. With more scoring pop than you’d expect and the elite steal rate inherent to his nickname, Alvarado is a fine interim option to ride with for the upcoming games.
Keyonte George, SG, Utah Jazz (19.5%): George is a volatile option, in that he can score anywhere from a few buckets to raining 3-pointers with double-digit volume. He just showed us his fun ceiling in a 33-point opus against the Chicago Bulls last week. If you can ride with the variance, George could deliver some meaningful lines.
Shooting guard
Dyson Daniels, PG, Atlanta Hawks (53.6%): Daniels’ arrival as a statistical star might be the biggest surprise for me from the first three weeks of the season. He leads the league in steal percentage and continues to prove his strong offensive start wasn’t an aberration.
Christian Braun, Denver Nuggets (45.1%): The Nuggets merit credit for trusting in Braun’s development arc, as the young wing is stepping up as a complementary scorer and energy player with Aaron Gordon sidelined and following the offseason departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. This run of scoring and rebounding in recent games appears sustainable.
Ayo Dosunmu, Chicago Bulls (18.5%): We’ve seen brilliant runs of production from Dosunmu before, with this most recent surge as more evidence of his ability to flash with big lines. The role isn’t always steady, but there is actual upside present for a guard who can do a bit of everything.
Small forward
Bennedict Mathurin, SG, Indiana Pacers (36.0%): Bound to be one of the most popular additions of the week across all formats, Mathurin is doing some real math in the scoring column. Fresh from a career scoring performance in a win over the rival Knicks, Mathurin has a real stake in the rotation going forward.
Ochai Agbaji, SG, Toronto Raptors (37.3%): Agbaji has been included in this space for three weeks running, as the Raptors’ wave of injuries to key scorers and creators has allowed him to claim a meaningful role. Until Scottie Barnes is back, Agbaji figures to hover around 33 minutes per night in route to top-80 production in such a busy two-way role.
Tari Eason, Houston Rockets (19.7%): The Rockets’ identity shift under Ime Udoka is somewhat embodied by Eason’s gritty game. With rising scoring results and already awesome defensive numbers, Eason remains underrated in real and fantasy regards.
Zaccharie Risacher, PF, Atlanta Hawks (22.2%): The floor for this gifted rookie is quite low, but we also will find games with scoring and shooting binges that combine with fun defensive rates. We often see top prospects blossom during the second half of their freshman campaigns, making a stash of this French wing a potentially wise move.
Power forward
Cameron Johnson, SF, Brooklyn Nets (67.8%): The Nets are feistier than expected, in part because of their collective of big wings, which includes Johnson and his ability to shoot with accuracy at high volume. There isn’t much more than shooting and scoring in his profile, but the fact Johnson is tied with Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard in made 3-pointers speaks to his unique usage on a team in need of offense.
Toumani Camara, Portland Trail Blazers (9.7%): For a frontcourt that needed two-way hustle, Camara has become a “glue” guy for Portland, as he’s willing to live off of energy plays on both sides of the ball. This leads to fun defensive results worthy of some attention in deeper formats.
Center
Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies (58.0%): Found at 12th on the Player Rater among centers over the past week, Edey’s efficient offense and improved defensive production combine to support starting fantasy value in all but truly shallow formats.
Alexandre Sarr, PF, Washington Wizards (34.5%): Block percentage is a rate that reveals the rate of two-point field goal attempts a player blocks while on the floor. While Victor Wembanyama’s clip (11.8%) is in a different tier, it’s emboldening for Wizards loyalists that Sarr’s swat percentage of 9.3% is nearly identical to Walker Kessler’s (9.5%) and Chet Holmgren’s (9.4%). With the Thunder rotation and fantasy managers losing Holmgren for several months, Sarr’s rim protection could be a solution for one of these groups.
Goga Bitadze, Orlando Magic (9.3%): The Magic are down several key big men, which has meant a starting role and clean numbers over the past three games. With a runway to sustain this role for a few more weeks, Bitadze is being underrated as a source of high-percentage scoring and blocks.
Special teams
This section focuses on specialists, players who flash in a singular category and can provide specific value to those in category and roto formats. Nominations are based on which category such players are helpful in and will rotate throughout the season.
3-pointers: Payton Pritchard (38.1%) is somewhat of a one-trick player in that his profile is all about shooting volume and success. That said, he absolutely delivers in that regard with the fourth-most added value via 3-point production in the league over the past two weeks, per the Player Rater.
Steals: It’s Daniels and then everyone else when it comes to stealing the basketball. We do find Camara 10th in added value via swipes the past two weeks, though.
Blocks: Sarr is the star in this space, as only that aforementioned trio is above him on the Player Rater in block value. We do find Risacher’s name surface as a positive option in rim protection from the wing.
Rebounds: I’ll go back to the well to mention Andre Drummond (19.8%) again this week, as he leads the NBA in rebounding percentage and will matter until he doesn’t (whenever Joel Embiid returns).
Assists: Alvarado is running the show with Zion Williamson down, meanwhile Scotty Pippen Jr. (46.3%) is handling the Tyus Jones role with real success in Memphis.