How is your season going? Are you currently a fringe playoff team debating which category to punt to catapult you into the contender tier? To help with that, you are going to need to find some streamer plays deeper on the wire. Some players like Jae Crowder, Dwight Powell, Christian Wood, and Troy Brown Jr. have already seen some of their better games in terms of production and can easily be swapped with some players that are still yet to hit their potential.
Duncan Robinson, Jarrett Allen, Donte Divincenzo, and Kenrich Williams are all in the middle of their surges, so grab them if possible and if you own them, try trading them for as much as you can. While they might be playing well, on each of those teams, there are "too many mouths to feed" to keep sustainable production. They will have value moving forward, but how much and how long are extremely debatable.
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.
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Free Agent Waiver Adds for Week 6
Brad Wanamaker, G – Boston Celtics
Ownership: 5%
7.1 PPG / 2.8 APG / .530 FG% / 0.9 SPG
Kemba Walker is dealing with concussion-like symptoms and will be out for some time. Instead of Carsen Edwards getting an early chance to show his point-guard capabilities with the starting lineup, it looks like Brad Wanamaker is going to get his chance to run the show. In the three games he has played close to 30 minutes, he has been extremely consistent.
I don't need to rattle off the numbers for you to see exactly where he is going to help you. If you need basic point guard stats or someone just isn't cutting it for you, Wanamaker is due for one big game this upcoming week. His floor is fairly high based on how well he distributes the ball, but don't be surprised when he manages to post high-scoring and high-assist games. Walker returning will change everything but let's not worry about till the time comes.
Justin Holiday, SG/SF – Indiana Pacers
Ownership 6%
7.8 PPG / 1.5 3PM / 3.9 RPG / .382 FG%
It seems a bit off to suggest grabbing Justin Holiday now, but it is very possible he keeps this hot streak going throughout the month. The Pacers have been struggling with outside scoring and Holiday hasn't been the solution, but when he scores, he stretches the floor without sacrificing defense. You can lump Holiday in with the group above, as in he is in the middle of his surge, but there is still plenty of value in his defensive stats.
Even if he only strings together one or two more games, when Justin Holiday is hot, he is blazing. He will fuel you with across the board stats, excelling in the categories where most struggle. As a streamer play that can be a consistent source of steals, Holiday has a chance of being a lasting source of defensive stats for any team willing to give him a roster spot.
Skal Labissiere, C – Portland Trail Blazers
Ownership 8%
6.4 PPG / 4.8 RPG / .566 FG% / 1.1 BPG
Someone told me that Skal Labissiere was going to be special because of his running jump hook. That no bigs in the NBA had that ability in their skill-set and Labissiere was going to revolutionize the position. No need to really dwell on that assessment of Labissiere's game, but we all know where he's at in his career and where he is going. As a big that does not thrive on the defensive end, it's hard for him to be guaranteed minutes over someone like Hassan Whiteside or Zach Collins, upon his return.
With that, Labissiere dominated the stat sheet in the game he started, leaving fantasy players waiting for that next opportunity. Whiteside misses games fairly randomly and I don't like to be one that predicts injuries, but with how this Portland team's season is looking, there is more reason to sit starters than to play them 35+ minutes a night.
More Fantasy Basketball Analysis
By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.