Malik Monk (PG/SG, LAL): Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 15% of leagues

ANALYSIS:  As much as haters would love to see LeBron James and the Lakers miss on making the playoffs, I'm afraid they'll have to eat an L on that front when all is said and done. It's not that the Lake Show is comparable to the Showtime Lakers these days, but the 11-to-15 West Conference teams that will finish outside of the play-in are just too bad as to consider the Lakers part of that group. That doesn't mean LAL will have it easy, as the constant lineup shuffling trying to find the correct one has proved of late. One of the main beneficiaries? Summer signee Malik Monk.

Monk has played six games since Nov. 23 included and he's logged an average of 32 MPG. Remove his 22-minute outlier against Detroit in that span and that average would go all the way up to 34 MPG. That was indeed a very putrid game (2-2-2-0-1 was the line with just 1-of-5 FGM...) but other than that Monk has been able to keep up a ridiculously great 18-5-3-1 line in that span. Seriously. I know the sample is just a small five-game one, but that line is what the likes of AD, Beal, DeRozan, FVV, Morant, Harden, Bron, LaMelo, Doncic, Jokic, and a plethora more stars are doing on their seasons.

The minutes can't get higher for Monk and he's been able to put up usage rates above 22% in back-to-back games through Friday. Monk has scored 3+ triples in four of his last five games played, is shooting a fantastic 48.4% from the field in his last nine matches, and is contributing rather high rebounds and steals for his role on the team. Off-the-pine player, yes, but quite a productive one that should be rostered in almost every fantasy league these days.

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