Dario Saric (PF/C, PHO): Week 21 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add In 12-Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 28% of leagues

ANALYSIS: The Suns had quite the start to the season and during the first month-and-change they racked up some good wins. Their core is young--other than Ricky Rubio--and both Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker are the ones expected to carry the team places in the future. What about Dario Saric, though? Saric is just 25 and his season mimics that of the Suns: great start, drop in production, and now he seems to be back to his best ways.

Saric has started 49 of the 56 games he's played this season averaging more than 26 minutes per game in those. While he was a 12-point guy leading up to 2020, a very rough start to the year left him averaging fewer than four points per game to kick off the new year, though he's recovered since he came back on Feb. 21--he had been out since Jan. 31. In his last five starts going back to Feb. 24, Saric is averaging 13.4 points to go with 6.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game. His shooting is definitely back on track hitting 52.8 percent of his floor attempts and he's played 27+ minutes in four of those five nights.

When Ayton comes back from his current injury--could be a matter of days, could be a matter of weeks--Saric will probably lose some opportunities on offense but that shouldn't impact his game a lot, mostly because he'd slot into "smaller" positions rather than playing the five. With Kelly Oubre (most probably) out for the year, Saric will be the most-used wing of the Suns ROS, making him a great free addition in most standard leagues.