Khem Birch (PF/C, TOR): Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups

Raptors forward/center Khem Birch is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 20 of the NBA season.

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ANALYSIS: It's a little disappointing to have the Raptors missing on the postseason, even more after they got the chip just two (!) seasons ago, but that's the world we live in, folks. The Raps got a gift in the shape of Khem Birch once Orlando decided to move on from the biggie a month ago, and ever since he joined Toronto Birch has been the starting center of the Raptors in 2021 and most probably the one doing it once more in 2022 and going forward.

Birch has had a couple of bumps in his road this month when he put up back-to-back duds against both Los Angeles squads, but other than that he's been fantastic in the past two weeks of games. From April 26 through Thursday, Birch has scored an average of 14 PPG only failing to hit 13+ once (against the Lakers) while scoring 4 combined triples in that seven-game span. Most impressively, though, is the rebounding mark he's posting with 9.1 boards per game. All things considered, Birch is closing the season on a mighty 14-9-2-1-1 stuffed average line.

With the Raptors not mathematically but realistically out of the postseason entering the weekend, Birch will keep playing good minutes if only because he's a young man and future building rock of the franchise, so the Raps have to extract all of the possible information they can get from him. The shooting is great at 61.7% from the floor in the past 9 games, the points and rebounds are locked into a 13-7 baseline with upside for much more, and Birch is even handing the odd dub-dub to his owners these days. Must-have player for the home stretch if you can still find him available for free.

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