February 21, 2017

Milos Zvekic's Week 18 fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups and adds for NBA wings - small forwards, power forwards, shooting guards (SG/SF, SF, SF/PF).

It's the trade season in the NBA and lot's of players are having their value impacted by others or themselves switching teams. Values of all three of our Waiver wire pickups for the wing spots for Week 18 have either been impacted by previous trades, will be impacted by just made trades or might be impacted if a rumored trade takes place.

The NBA trade deadline frenzy has been our friend once again as it has provided us with plenty of material to discuss, and plenty of possibilities to mend our team's broken wings with spare parts from the waiver wire. So let's take a closer look at some players available in around half or more of the leagues and what their future outlook can be.

Standard League Waiver Wire Wing Adds

Tim Hardaway Jr., SG/SF, ATL (53% owned)

In the lights of the blockbuster DeMarcus Cousins trade, Kyle Korver trade can already be considered old news, although it happened just a month and a half ago. And, as predicted, Tim Hardaway Jr. was the player who benefited the most from Korver being out of Atlanta. In 20 games since Korver's departure, Hardaway has averaged 15.9 PTS with 2.1 3PM on 44.9 FG% and 80.0 FT%, 3.3 REB, 3.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.2 BLK and 1.5 TO in 30 minutes per game. If you compare those averages to his 11.7 points and 22 minutes per outing before the trade you see a massive increase. He also significantly improved his rebounds, assists and steals.

The stats Tim is currently getting warrant a place in many standard league teams. Furthermore, it doesn't seem like he is going anywhere. His minutes are safe, and even increasing over the past few weeks with him averaging 33 minutes in the previous 30 days and over 36 minutes per contest in the last 14 days.

So, if you need a wing who can shoot threes, does a little bit of everything and doesn't hurt you in any category, give Hardaway a look. He can prove pretty useful for your team come fantasy playoffs.

Brandon Ingram, SF, LAL (45% owned)

Brandon Ingram hasn't really proved himself worthy this year. His season averages of just 8.0 PTS with 0.7 3PM on 36.3 FG% and 65.5 FT%, 4.1 REB, 1.9 AST, 0.4 STL, 0.4 BLK and 1.3 TO in 28 minutes a game show how disappointing his rookie season is. But he is still the second overall pick from last year's draft though, so nothing is lost just yet.

The Lakers were in talks with the Sacramento Kings over their star center Cousins, but refused to include Ingram in the deal. That shows just how highly they think of their youngster. That is a very encouraging sign for his fantasy owners as well. If a team declines to trade a player even if that means they wouldn't be able to acquire a player of Boogie Cousins' stature, that speaks volumes about the trust and high hopes they have in that player.

Furthermore, it's been rumored that the Lakers are looking into trading Nick Young and Lou Williams. If either one of those two players were to be traded, and especially if both were to go, Ingram would have a tone more minutes at his disposal.

The potential is there. The trust and patience from his team is there. The playing time will be there. It's just a matter of whether or not Ingram has what it takes. And for fantasy owners, he doesn't even have to become a super-star, like the Lakers expect their second overall pick to become. We would suffice with him contributing with top-100 value to our fantasy teams without hurting us anywhere in particular. And Ingram has the talent to do that and them some!

Other options: Al-Farouq Aminu, SF/PF, POR (55% owned) and T.J. Warren, SF, PHO (47% owned)

Deep League Waiver Wire Wing Adds

Solomon Hill, SG/SF, NO (21% owned)

Implications of the Cousins trade have been pretty huge so far. On the one hand, both super-stars now on the New Orleans' roster, Boogie and Anthony Davis, will have to find peace with the fact that they will have to share offensive touches with each other. That will probably bring their offensive counting stats down a bit. On the other, supporting cast on both ends will have to deal with huge differences in personnel that the trade left in both teams.

The Kings sent Cousins and Omri Casspi to the Pelicans and got back Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and last years sixth overall draft pick-Buddy Hield, along with a first- and second-rounder for this year's draft. That's a whole lot of shooting guards going to the Kings and none coming back in return. The only SGs left on the New Orleans roster are Solomon Hill and E'Twaun Moore. Solomon Hill has already been averaging 28 minutes per game, and that number is very probable to rise in the new situation.

Now, let's get one thing straight. Hill hasn't really flourished this season. His averages of 6.7 PTS with 1.1 3PM on 39.5 FG% and 80.7 FT%, 3.7 REB, 1.7 AST, 0.9 STL, 0.4 BLK and 0.9 TO can testify to that. And with Boogie now in New Orleans it might mean even less offensive responsibility for Hill. But Hill has never been a "create his own shot" kind of player, and his catch and shoot style will fit well with defensive attention that the Pelicans' new Twin-towers will be attracting. That might mean some more open looks from deep for Solomon.

So if he sees his minutes rise to over 30 a night, and if he can get hot by shooting the open threes he is bound to get with the new "tall order" in New Orleans, he might just creep into fantasy relevancy. Mostly in deep leagues though.

Other options: Michael Beasley, SF/PF, MIL (24% owned) and Terrence Ross, SG/SF, ORL (24% owned)