Marquese Chriss (PF/C, GS): Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

Golden State Warriors center Marquese Chriss is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 17 of the NBA season.

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ANALYSIS: Talk about an impactful trade! The Warriors flipped D'Angelo Russell for Andrew Wiggins and the winner was... Marquese Chriss!? Well, not directly, but at least in his last game he definitely showed what he's capable of by dropping 26 points on the Lakers to go with 9 rebounds, and 1-1-2 assists, steals, and blocks. I've lost almost all hope in Chriss becoming CHRISS, but hey, the signs aren't bad at all.

Marquese Chriss is far from what we all thought he could be when he was drafted high back in the day, but it looks like he's founding his place in Golden State. Chriss has been just another two-way contract player averaging an 8-6-2 line this season until he started to bolster his numbers starting around three weeks ago. Since Jan. 20 he has started seven of nine games and posted averages of 13.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, and 1.5 bpg while playing at least 21 minutes in each of those starts and an average of 26.

The Warriors 2020 season is nothing resembling their recent exploits and they will keep relying on players like Chriss nightly. That bodes well for the still-young big man, who will now have Andrew Wiggins next to him. The usage isn't high at around 17% in his last seven games so the presence of AW shouldn't impact his numbers a lot. The most impressive stats are coming at the field goal percentage (68.2% in his last 10 games) and points categories.