Mid-Week Fantasy Basketball Category Streamers for Week 4

Thunder Dan Palyo looks at some mid-week waiver wire options for fantasy basketball leagues. These players may be free agents to target on waivers in Week 4.

The league took Tuesday off to encourage voter turnout in the mid-term elections, which meant we had games on only Monday and Wednesday. But it's a bit of a blessing in disguise as the games from Thursday to Sunday are more spread out than usual as we have four games on Thursday, eight games on Friday, eight games on Saturday, and seven games on Sunday.

Most leagues, however, limit how many player adds you can make each week in daily leagues. If your league only allows three moves per week, you need to be very efficient with your moves and grab players who will help you maximize your games played and help you win an extra category or two of counting stats.

The goal of this article each Thursday morning will be to help you plan out your roster moves for the remainder of the week. By this point of the week, you should start to get an idea of what categories you may need help with and where your weekly opponent is the strongest and weakest (in H2H formats). If you're playing roto, you don't have to gameplan quite as much, but you'll still want to maximize the stats your team can accumulate during the week. All the rostered percentages used in this article are from Yahoo. Let's see who can help us finish the week strong.

Weekly Schedule: Thursday to Sunday

Teams that play only one game (AVOID): Chicago, Houston, Indiana, L.A. Clippers, Orlando, Phoenix

Teams that play three games (TARGET): Washington, Philadelphia

Teams that play Saturday AND Sunday: Utah, Washington, Philadelphia

Shallow League Streaming Options

Will Barton - SG/SF  (26%)

Barton has been up and down so far this year in Washington, but is still getting plenty of run and is capable of popping off with a big performance here and there. Beal has been out for two games but should return soon. But the three games in four days puts Washington players at the top of my list.

Malik Monk - SG (26%)

I had him in Monday's streamers piece and not enough people read it or added him! Why is he still only 26% rostered in Yahoo leagues? The dude gets buckets and the Kings badly need his offense off the bench. He's putting up 12-2.6-4.3 and 2.2 made threes in only 21 minutes per game. He's an ideal streamer and honestly probably a guy I would hold on to for a bit to see how his role develops with Sacto.

Marvin Bagley III - PF/C (24%)

He's trending toward potentially returning this weekend, and Detroit seems to want to give him a shot in their rotation as he was slated to start the season in the starting lineup for them before getting hurt. We won't know his minutes or role yet, but if you want a chance at finding out you're going to need to add him soon before he comes back and puts up a solid game or two.

Larry Nance Jr. - PF/C (34%)

Nance got banged up earlier in the week, but he's really worked his way into a major role for New Orleans so far much to the dismay of Jonas Valanciunas's owners as he's closing games with the starters instead of Jo-Val since he can defend and give them more athleticism. There's nothing pretty about his game, but the gritty big man has always been a solid fantasy player with his ability to rebound, pass, and defend. Give him a look if you need counting stats and solid FG%.

Deep Leagues Streaming Options

Rui Hachimura - SF/PF (18%)

Hach has quietly been averaging 11-5-1 off the bench and while he's not adding many peripherals to go with the points and boards, he is shooting a solid 46% from the floor. Washington has an ideal 3-game schedule to finish out the week, which makes him worth the add.

Georges Niang - SF/PF (3%)

Niang has been super sneaky off the bench for the Sixers and now that they're without James Harden for a while, they are really going to need someone to step up and score on their second unit. Niang could be that guy. He's currently averaging 9 points per game and a whopping 2.5 made threes in only around 18 minutes per contest. He's doing this while still shooting 50% from the floor, too. With three games to close the week, the Sixers are an appealing team to target even if we have to dig deep into their bench.

Eric Gordon - SG/SF (13%)

Gordon is only a few games removed from going scoreless in 33 minutes against the Clippers, something I didn't think was possible when you love to shoot as much as he does. But that game looks like a total aberration as he came back strong in subsequent games and recently nailed five threes against the Magic. He's never exciting to roster, but in this offense he's going to have value when he's getting minutes and he's a sneaky contributor in assists (3.3) and steals (0.9) in addition to scoring and threes.

Specialist Streaming Options

THREES

Malik Beasley - SG/SF (24%)

I mentioned Niang already for deeper leagues, but one long-ball chucker for shallow leagues I would consider is Beasley. He's coming off a game against the Lakers where he nailed four 3-pointers and now has done so in three of his last six games. He's up to 2.3 made threes per game and is giving you around 11 points, 3 boards, and 0.9 steals per game off the bench for Utah. The Jazz play Saturday and Sunday so you can add him today or tomorrow and have two games to close out the week.

STEALS

Otto Porter Jr. - SF/PF (6%)

The veteran swingman is finally healthy and has slowly worked his way into a bench role for Toronto. He's yet to do much from a scoring perspective, but he is averaging nearly two steals per contest through his five 5 games. He's always been a solid defender and with Siakam out, I think he will continue to see some decent minutes off the bench for the time being.

BLOCKS

Walker Kessler - C (18%)

Kessler's minutes are pretty frustrating, but Utah looks like they care more about winning than developing him at the moment. Still, he's posting 1.6 blocks per game in only 15 minutes per night and if you need to win blocks this week, he could get it done against Washington and Philly on Saturday and Sunday.

More Fantasy Basketball Analysis