Deep Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds (Week 20)

March 2, 2020

Deeper fantasy basketball waiver wire adds for Week 20. These are three NBA players owned in less than 50% of fantasy basketball leagues and should be picked up.

Initially, this intro was going to be another feature about the Miami Heat, but last night Shake Milton stole everyone's thunder and he is more than deserving of a few kind words. Milton was already mentioned in one of these articles a few weeks back, and finally this week, mainly due to injuries, he is a top source of production. This isn't some fluke either. This has been four games, consecutively, that Milton has either exceeded expectations through the eye-test, or literally given owners a box score to hang their hat on.

DFS players, standard league owners, everyone who has the chance to roster Milton, is thriving. We do have to assume much of this production comes from the help of two superstars being injured, but stats are stats, and as long as Milton is posting over 20 points a game with more than a handful of assists and rebonds thrown in, I'm not taking the chance and letting these games go to waste.

Make sure to stay updated on injuries and return times, but as far as I'm concerned, these next three players will see the biggest benefit. As a reminder, for standard (10-12 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 50% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues. If you have any questions find me in the NBA Chat Room or @HalfCourtJester on Twitter.

Free Agent Waiver Adds for Week 20

Monte Morris, PG/SG – Denver Nuggets

Ownership: 10%

8.6 PPG /  1.8 RPG /  .463 FG% /  3.6 APG  

Monte Morris is barely on the cusp of the top 60 players over the previous week, but it can't be ignored when he is contributing more than players like De'Aaron Fox, Jaylen Brown, and Malcolm Brogdon. The Nuggets have needed scoring, and even though Morris hasn't directly impacted that need, he has helped get the offense moving, not to mention his defense has been severely undervalued this season. On both sides of the ball, the Nuggets clearly benefit from Morris being on the floor and recently, they have started rewarding him when he is open.

Earlier in the season, Morris was much more passive in his shot attempts, but recently, much thanks to Gary Harris forgetting how to shoot, Morris has seen an increased number of attempts and along with his defensive contributions, there is absolutely a reason to roster Morris if you are needing any extra stats to start off week 20. Morris plays five games this week, starting off against the Warriors and facing multiple other backcourts that are just as bad defensively.

Trey Lyles, PF/C – San Antonio Spurs

Ownership: 14%

5.7 PPG /  5.7 RPG /  .446 FG% /  0.9 3MPG  

February was huge for Trey Lyles. His minutes increased drastically and he ended the month on an extremely high-note. Against the Magic, a talented team defensively, he played near-40 minutes and scored 20 points for just the second time this season. It just so happens that both his 20-point games came in February, so while Lyles has this type of momentum and trust of the coaching staff, it only makes sense to roster him. There is no sign of him really losing his minutes, especially looking at the teams he is facing this week, so even if Lyles doesn't sustain this production, his trajectory in March is mimicking February's path.

Jerami Grant, SF/PF – Denver Nuggets

Ownership 42%

 11.7 PPG /  .471 FG% /  3.6 RPG / 0.8 BPG

Many thought the addition of Jordan McRae could lead to less minutes for Jerami Grant, but instead the reverse happened. McRae found himself being bought out by the Nuggets and Grant saw more minutes and increased his production. This previous week Grant strung together big games and even had his highest usage game of the season versus the Clippers. Since the Nuggets have a fairly easy schedule this next week, Grant is going to continue to fill any role that the Nuggets might need. As long as he is scoring and playing with this much effort, there is little reason to leave him on the wire. Just for context, from two weeks ago to last week, Grant upped his points per game from 16 to 21 in just a week. He might not continue that increase, but Grant has shown sustainability all season.

More Fantasy Basketball Analysis