It's the Finals!!! I hope you're in and that your team is still healthy and without any rests and shutdowns. If not, do not despair. There are still some guys on your wire that can fill in for those studs you lost throughout the year.
Even if all your players are healthy, if some of them don't contribute as much as they should due to their schedule not mixing well with the rest of your team's, it might not be a bad idea to swap some of them for a hot free agent with more games to close out the fantasy year.
So, if you're looking for a wing to further fuel your team's fantasy push, here are our Week 23 waiver wire pickups for the wing spot here at RotoBaller.
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Standard League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
Rodney Hood, SG/SF, UTA (55% Owned)
Rodney Hood is a starter for the Utah Jazz. He had a breakout year last season when he finished in the top-100, as far as fantasy value is concerned. And at the start of the season he didn't show signs of stopping. But then his performances became more and more inconsistent and he slowed down even more from March 11 to March 25. He missed two games in that period because of some knee trouble, and in the six games he did play in he averaged just 5.5 PTS with 0.5 3PM on 28.6 FG% and 85.7 FT%, 2.5 REB, 0.5 AST, 0.5 STL, no blocks and 0.5 TO in 48 minutes per game. Those poor performances, along with the injury scare, are the main reason he is only owned in 55% of the leagues.
But Hood showed what he's actually made of in his last game against the Pelicans on March 28 when he shot 7-of-16 from the field and 2-of-4 from the line for 20 points along with four threes, six boards, three dimes and a turnover in 30 minutes. No steals or blocks which is unusual for him, but with the slump he's been in, his owners will take it. And Rodney has the capacity to produce even more of these lines in the following few games.
The Jazz play three more times this week, on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and only six games are scheduled for Thursday night. If you need some threes with decent FT% and a little bit of everything else, and don't mind the poor FG%, Hood is definitely someone to consider.
Rondae Hollis Jefferson, SG/SF/PF, BKN (56% Owned)
The Nets are not an ideal team for fantasy owners at the moment as no player in Brooklyn is averaging more than 27 minutes a night in the past week. Actually, no player is averaging over 30 minutes a night this whole season. Not even their lonely star Brook Lopez. So fantasy owners have to settle for a bunch of high upside players playing minutes in the low-to-mid 20s.
Such player in Rondae Hollis Jefferson. He fell victim to the hype before the start of the season, and was very underwhelming, disappointing most of his owners and getting cut in more than half the leagues. But in the previous period, he has been the biggest contributor to fantasy on Brooklyn's roster.
In his last 4 games he's flirting with top-50 value and averaging a double-double. He is posting 11.5 PTS on 37.3 FG% and 72.7 FT%, 10.8 REB, 1.8 AST, 1.8 STL, 1.0 BLK and 0.8 TO in just 21 minutes a game. Imagine if he could improve on his shooting efficiency, what a fantasy stud he would be. But, at the moment, he is not.
Brooklyn plays three more games this week, on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and that Thursday was mentioned above as the day with just six games.
So, if you need some defensive stats along with some rebounds, could use his great three-position eligibility and don't mind his poor shooting, Rondae is the guy for you.
Other options: Ersan Ilyasova, SF/PF, ATL (51% Owned) and Al-Farouq Aminu, SF/PF, POR (48% Owned)
Deep League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
Taurean Prince, SF, ATL (11% Owned)
Taurean Prince has blossomed right when the fantasy playoffs started. He had a few good fantasy lines during the season and hit double-digits in points exactly six times, before setting his season and career high with 17 on March 11 against the Grizzlies. He shot 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line and added three rebounds, two assists, steals, blocks and turnovers apiece in 30 minutes.
He has been getting more minutes since that performance, and has been asked to help fill the void left by Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore being sidelined. It's worked out for Prince's owners pretty well, especially in his last two games, where he averaged 16.0 PTS with 1.5 3PM, on 43.5 FG% and 81.8 FT%, 6.0 REB, 1.0 AST, 1.5 BLK, 2.0 STL and 1.5 TO in 37 minutes per contest. And this guy is only owned in 11% of Yahoo leagues!?
Paul Millsap shouldn't be back before the back end of the weekend, and that means at least two more games with his minutes divided among the Atlanta's bench. And Taurean, along with Ersan Ilyasova, has been the most deserving of those minutes. Although Bazemore is probable to return today, Prince should still have a large enough role to contribute plenty to his owners with three games in the remainder of this week.
Other options: Josh Richardson, SG/SF, MIA (30% Owned) and P.J. Tucker, SG/SF, TOR (23% Owned)
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.