Alec Burks (PG/SG/SF, NYK): Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 51% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Kemba Walker missed three weeks of play from the end of November to mid-December as he came back to Thibs' rotation on Dec. 18 to score 29 points. Not bad. He even doubled-down on that with another 21-8-5 performance three days later, and had the ultimate explosion going for 44 points against Washington before Xmas. That's good, but that's also a little bit of an outlier as the last three games from Kemba show (a trip-dub on Dec. 25, sure, but nothing more than that to call home about). The once-loser-now-beneficiary? Steady bona fide starter Alec Burks.

Had it not been for injuries/COVID reasons, the Knicks might have never called Kemba back--not at least for a while. With Kemba hitting the starting PG position, Burks went to the pine and it's been there for four consecutive games. The minutes went down to 18, 16, 27, and lastly 24 on New Year's Eve. Kemba is now down with left knee soreness, so we'll see how things go in terms of roles and rotations over the next few days/weeks.

In his brief starting stint of 12 games from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23, truth the told, Burks couldn't have played much better ball. On a ridiculous 37 MPG of playing time (Thibs Perks Inc.), he was good for an average of 15 PPG, 5 RPG, 3 APG, 1 SPG, and the odd block. The shooting wasn't even remotely close to perfect sitting at 32.7% from the field. The free-throw accuracy was better, sure, but Burks was and will be a three-point hitter with low percentages basically because of the toughness of those attempts. Good for points, treys, and boards, but low on percentages (getting better, though) and steals.

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