Chuma Okeke (PF, ORL): Week 19 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14-Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 26% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Before we go ahead with Chuma Okeke's post: the rookie got banged up last Wednesday facing Cleveland, and he already missed a game in yesterday's affair with Memphis. Alright, now you know what's going on with Okeke and that DNP. That being said, Okeke is not expected to miss ample time. Obviously, though, this is a move to make only if you're not really desperate at the position because of the risk of Okeke not seeing the court soon enough to help you. If you can take the flier, though, you should be doing so to have Okeke on your team once he comes back.

Okeke has been great for the Magic, and although he only started 2-of-28 games to kick his pro-career off, he's been on the starting lineup every day from Mar. 26 when he started and played a massive 37 minutes against Portland. In the 17 games he's played since that one, Okeke has put up a good 12-5-3-1 line with 0.7 BPG. Okeke is not going to the line, sure, but his shooting prowess from long distances is quite nice for a big man: he scoring 1+ 3PG on the year and 1.7 in the last seven games he's played.

Orlando's season is lost for good, and they're just starting their long-term rebuilding effort. Okeke should be one of their building rocks, but that also works against us fantasy GMs this season as they might opt to shut him down or limit his minutes out of fear of injury aggravation. If he proves to be healthy enough and plays some five/six games, he might be a good addition for those in super deep leagues looking for big-man help. Okeke is putting up numbers in all cats excepts blocks, and although the turnovers are a bit high nearing 1.3 per game, all of the other stats are quite nice for a widely available nightly starter.

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