Alex Caruso (PG/SG, CHI): Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

Alex Caruso is worth considering as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 5 of the NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 50% of leagues

ANALYSIS: I don't Alex Caruso is ever going to reach some unreasonably high rostership in any sort of fantasy league. That's obviously because of 1) his role as a bench player in a loaded Chicago offense, 2) his own limited offensive numbers and prowess, and 3) his specialist profile in fantasy terms. Do we hate that, though? Not at all, much less considering Caruso is still available in half of Yahoo leagues!

Caruso is what he is no matter how many minutes he plays. In fact, he's logging a rather high 27 MPG for the Bulls this season and has yet to play fewer than 23 rounds of the clock in any game this season. Caruso, though, has topped at 16 points, 10 FGA, 4 rebounds, and six dimes in taking his season-highs from different games. So you get an idea of Caruso's upside. Caruso, though, is a defensive stud and that's why I haven't included his most valuable stat up to this point in the conversation.

Caruso is stealing a freakish 2.5 rocks per game. That isn't a high mark, you say? Double-check the league stats, mate. Three players league-wide are putting up that average: Caruso, Gary Trent Jr., and Paul George. That's it, that's the group, and the other two are playing 33.9 and 35.3 MPG respectively. Caruso is also a nice spot-up shooter hitting 0.9 3PM per game at a 35.5% clip while his free-throw shooting is also up at 86.4%. Again, take and roster Caruso for what he is: a defensive specialist (steals, defensive rebounds) with good-but-low-volume three-point prowess and some nice dimes to go with.

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