Brandon Clarke (PF, MEM): Week 16 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 35% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Believe it or not, Memphis keeps on doing it, folks. The Griz are already third in the West and are just hours removed from defeating Utah on Friday night as I'm writing this on Saturday morning. Memphis is 3.5 games ahead of the Jazz, and Memphis also has another thing going for them: super-sub Brandon Clarke and his ridiculous efficient play coming off the pine on a nightly basis.

I know, I know. It is not that Clarke is the lone surprising contributor in Memphis (Desmond Bane, Kyle Anderson,...), but he's the best of them all on a per-minute basis. Clarke has played 36 games through Friday starting just one of them. His 1.11 FP/min rank fifth among oft-subs with 35 GP and fewer than 10 starts on the year to date (above him in FP/min: Love, Whiteside, Harrell, and Sengun). Clarke missed December almost entirely, but since coming back on Dec. 26 he's been available every night but one and racked up goodies for his fantasy GMs.

Clarke has played 17 games in the past month of play with an average 12-6-1 line with 1.3 BPG on top of that. He's done all that in just 22 MPG off the pine and getting usage shares in the 14-to-18 percent clip. The shooting? Marvelous at 68%+ in that month and 65% on the year. The 10 PPG and 5 RPG combo? Unique as only Clarke and McGee are putting up those averages on fewer than 20 MPG. Clarke reminds me of Robert Williams III and his über-efficient 2021 campaign; only the low minutes are keeping Clarke from being an absolute fantasy stud, but even on that pine-riding role and limited playing time Clarke is one of the best WW targets in fantasy basketball these days.

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