This article is part of our NBA Waiver Wire series.
The waiver wire pool is already beginning to trend upward, and the trades haven't even started yet. This time of the season is critical for watching the waiver wire, as trades are the biggest movers of fantasy value.
When trades do come, you may need to react before the next week's edition of this article comes available. To try to accommodate that, I've replaced the short-term streamers section with speculative adds. Getting the right players after a potential trade is more important than the minor benefit streaming provides. Most of the players in that category are those whose current value is limited, but who could emerge as top-100 or even top-70 players if a trade around them breaks the right way.
One note on streaming: With only two-and-a-half weeks until the trade deadline, teams in the top half of their leagues should consider filling the roster spot that they typically leave open for streaming with a high-value speculative add. Ten weeks remain in the Fantasy season, so a slight dip in performance for 2.5 of those could be worth it if the result is a top-70 player. This is especially true in head-to-head leagues, where the only games that really matter are the playoffs.
As always, players must be owned in less than two-thirds of CBS leagues.
Adds for All Leagues
Wayne Ellington, Heat (41 percent owned)I keep beating the drum on Ellington, but his ownership still hasn't hit 50 percent, so he remains the top recommended
The waiver wire pool is already beginning to trend upward, and the trades haven't even started yet. This time of the season is critical for watching the waiver wire, as trades are the biggest movers of fantasy value.
When trades do come, you may need to react before the next week's edition of this article comes available. To try to accommodate that, I've replaced the short-term streamers section with speculative adds. Getting the right players after a potential trade is more important than the minor benefit streaming provides. Most of the players in that category are those whose current value is limited, but who could emerge as top-100 or even top-70 players if a trade around them breaks the right way.
One note on streaming: With only two-and-a-half weeks until the trade deadline, teams in the top half of their leagues should consider filling the roster spot that they typically leave open for streaming with a high-value speculative add. Ten weeks remain in the Fantasy season, so a slight dip in performance for 2.5 of those could be worth it if the result is a top-70 player. This is especially true in head-to-head leagues, where the only games that really matter are the playoffs.
As always, players must be owned in less than two-thirds of CBS leagues.
Adds for All Leagues
Wayne Ellington, Heat (41 percent owned)I keep beating the drum on Ellington, but his ownership still hasn't hit 50 percent, so he remains the top recommended add. He's eighth in the league in threes per game, despite averaging fewer minutes than every player ahead of him. Over the past month, with his minutes up to 32.9 per game, he has risen to fifth in the league in threes.
Dillon Brooks, Grizzlies (23 percent owned)
Somewhat quietly, Brooks is sixth in minutes among rookies. He hasn't missed a game, and is yet to play fewer than 17 minutes in any contest. All that playing time has been great for his development. Over the last five games, he's averaging 15.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 threes and 1.4 steals in 30.6 minutes while shooting 54.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from behind the arc. His current run is partially a hot streak and partially the result of a lineup decimated by injuries. Moving forward, his floor is probably a lot higher than Dejounte Murray's (see below), which is why Brooks is an add for all leagues while Murray is a speculative add – but a lot of the appeal of both Brooks and Murray is their potential to produce a lot more than their current numbers.
Skal Labissiere, Kings (21 percent owned)
Last week, head coach Dave Joerger announced that the team would bench two or three veterans per game moving forward. The Kings' rotation had been one of the most inconsistent in the league, making most players difficult to own and even harder to trust in the starting lineup. Before the announcement, Labissiere had played at least 20 minutes as many times as he played fewer than 15 minutes (14 times each). In the two games since Joerger's announcement, he's played 28 and 29 minutes, respectively. Prorating Labissiere's season averages to 28.5 minutes per game, he'd average 12.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 blocks and 0.8 steals. That's solid, well-rounded production from a still-improving, 21-year-old who has played fewer career minutes than several rookies.
This shift in the Kings' rotation adds value to most Kings' youngsters. One of the biggest beneficiaries is Bogdan Bogdanovic (69 percent owned), who would have been the top recommended add if he qualified for this article. He's is already too widely owned by a mere two percent. Willie Cauley-Stein (93 percent owned) should be added in the few remaining leagues in which he is available, and De'Aaron Fox (86 percent owned) becomes more attractive. Buddy Hield (60 percent owned) is another player to consider, however, despite his high ownership, his current production is not enough for leagues of 12 teams or fewer. Very deep leagues can keep an eye on Georgios Papagiannis (1 percent owned), but it is still too early to add him in most formats.
Other suggestions:T.J. McConnell, 76ers (38 percent owned); Larry Nance (43 percent owned); Milos Teodosic, Clippers (65 percent owned)
Speculative Adds
Dejounte Murray, Spurs (29 percent owned)Murray started ahead of a healthy Tony Parker Sunday, and Parker's postgame comments heavily implied that this change will stick moving forward. Murray was a popular preseason breakout candidate after he posted 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 4.6 steals (!) per-36 minutes over the his last five games during the 2017 playoffs. He's flashed occasional brilliance this season, with at five games of at least 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, including three double-doubles. But he's been wildly inconsistent on the whole, averaging 1.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in the games immediately after those double-doubles. The best stats working in his favor is that he averages 11.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.3 steals in games when he plays at least 25 minutes (12 games, average of 27.6 minutes per game). He's worth adding as an investment, but he should not be considered a reliable source of immediate help.
Greg Monroe, Suns (46 percent)
Covered in detail last week, nothing of consequence has changed since then, with the exception that we are now one week closer to the February 8th trade deadline.
Other recommendations: Players are listed in order of their upside if a trade happens that impacts their role in their rotation. All players listed are at least reasonably likely to have such a trade happen.
Top-70 potential:John Collins, Hawks (75 percent owned)
Top-100 potential:Bobby Portis, Bulls (53 percent owned); Undetermined Hornets point guard
Top-130 potential:Jonas Jerebko, Jazz (1 percent owned)
Deep League Special
Khem Birch, Magic (3 percent owned)Birch is averaging only 17.7 minutes over his last three games, but there is still a lot to like here. Three straight games of at least 17 minutes is a lot better than what he was doing before this stretch – namely, averaging 2.9 minutes across seven games while sitting out 36 games, mostly due to DNP-CDs. He's earned himself a role in the rotation, and he's making good use of his time. The most appealing part of his profile is the 2.3 blocks per game, but 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in such a small amount of time is far from shabby. He's been aided by the absence of Nikola Vucevic (hand), who is only expected to miss about two more weeks – but Vucevic has also featured heavily in trade rumors, which could open up a longer window of Fantasy viability for Birch.
