Jordan McLaughlin (PG, MIN): Week 21 Waiver Wire Pickups

Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Jordan McLaughlin is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 21 of the NBA season.

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ANALYSIS: Pretty much like the team they traded with for D'Angelo Russell, the Wolves are in the middle of a full "see-what-sticks" season. One of the players thrown to the wall to check how gluey he is has been Jordan McLaughlin. Although you might have heard his name just during the past few days, the truth is he already played for Minny back in early November and had a few cups of coffee in December/January. The best McLaughlin has offered, though, has come from February on.

Since Feb. 1 McLaughlin has played 14 games, of which he has started two and gone for more than 20 minutes of playing time on six occasions. Looking only at those 20+ minutes games, he's averaged 15.1 ppg, 2.3 rebounds, 8.1 apg and 1.5 spg. Not bad, is it? Well, that's cheating a bit, considering he's not playing that many minutes on average and that Russell is going nowhere and will keep the starting role and the heavy playing time.

No matter what, though, McLaughlin has become a true off-the-bench weapon. In short bursts, he's leasing the second unit and in his last three games this month he's dropped 13, 10, and 14 points to go with 6, 7, and 9 assists and a steal in each of those matches. McLaughlin has shot 65.2% (!) from the floor in that small sample of games on nine field-goal attempts per game. If you happen to play in a deeper league, McLaughlin could be a good addition considering his current microwave-role and that Minnesota is playing him a minimum of 20 minutes per game lately with a chance at larger runs (he's had a couple of back-to-back 27-minutes games in his last two as of this writing).