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Deeper fantasy basketball waiver wire adds for Week 19. These are three NBA players owned in less than 50% of fantasy basketball leagues and should be picked up.
This might come as a shock to some of you, but Jae Crowder has gone from fantasy irrelevance to, easily, a top standard league player. Over the past two weeks, however, he is posting first-round, top-12 production, despite being fairly new to the Heat. With this, many standard league players are selling high on Crowder and there is nothing wrong with that. His value is anchored in defensive stats, so any player that has a Rudy Gobert or Ben Simmons already rostered, can either double-up on those categories, or have an extremely flexible trade piece that could set them up for the playoffs.
The way Crowder has been playing, he's had almost no downside, and every game he has contributed in some way that actually benefits owners. The consistency on the scoring end has been the bonus that has lifted him to this valuable point, and as his role increases, it's unlikely he starts to contribute less and less. The Heat need that wing scoring so as long as Crowder is playing at this level, his Heat teammates will continue to reward him.
Make sure to stay updated on injuries and return times, but as far as I'm concerned, these next three players will see the biggest benefit. As a reminder, for standard (10-12 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 50% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues. If you have any questions find me in the NBA Chat Room or @HalfCourtJester on Twitter.
Free Agent Waiver Adds for Week 19
Damion Lee, SG – Golden State Warriors
Ownership: 20%
12.3 PPG / 4.8 RPG / .418 FG% / 2.5 APG
It was fairly obvious that the Warriors were going to the be the team with a ton of players to grab off the waiver wire. It started early in the season with a few big games from Eric Paschall, then came Marquese Chriss, now Damion Lee is thriving in the spotlight. It hasn't been consistent all season, but over the past week, Lee has been one of the best players on this team.
The addition of Andrew Wiggins has been perfect for the spacing of this team, and someone with his offensive abilities can easily hoard the usage without it really bothering the rest of the team. Specifically, the Warriors are losing and Lee is still contributing among the top 50 or 60 players over the past two weeks.
For the time being, ride this wave, because Lee has been playing inspired basketball and has been shooting like never before. Whether it lasts or not doesn't matter, right now and for the next month, the Warriors need Lee and Wiggins to carry the scoring load and Lee has near multiplied his shooting attempts from the outside.
Coby White, PG – Chicago Bulls
Ownership: 34%
11.9 PPG / 3.5 RPG / .380 FG% / 2.4 APG
Coby White might not help your shooting percentages, but his raw production over the past few games can't continue to go unused in standard leagues. The Bulls offense is, basically, either Zach LaVine or Coby White initiating, with one of them either taking the shot, or passing to the player that is taking the shot. Now that White should be guaranteed 30 minutes for the next few games, since he has been succeeding with the 30 minutes they are giving him now, his output is going to mimic what it was this past week.
Why it took so long for White to get these many minutes consistently is a testament to the Bulls coaching staff and front office, but just watching the Bulls makes you feel unorganized and you get a good understanding why they are losing so often and by so much. There is little help in terms of offense, so there is really no downside to rostering and playing White through the rest of February, aside from his just below-average shooting percentages.
Chris Boucher, PF/C – Toronto Raptors
Ownership 3%
6.3 PPG / .461 FG% / 4.4 RPG / 1.0 BPG
It's tough to gauge the trajectory with Chris Boucher, simply because his upside is ridiculously high when he gets the minutes, but those heavy-minute games are few and far between. These past two games, Boucher has blocked at least four shots and while the Raptors don't require that extra defense, the teams the Raptors face in the upcoming week are susceptible to getting owned by athletic centers that contribute defensively.
The Bucks and Hornets alone make Boucher worth the pickup, but any boost in minutes and there is good chance someone else will look to steal the opportunity. Boucher isn't Boban Marjonovic, where any minutes lead to production, but when Boucher gets over 20 minutes, he has yet to have a bad game.
More Fantasy Basketball Analysis
By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
