This article is part of our NBA Waiver Wire series.
With Thanksgiving in the rear view, the NBA returns to normal in Week 7. Most teams play three games, some play four, and a handful play only twice. Wednesday and Friday are busy, but no busier than normal for a Wednesday or Friday. After a few oddball weeks, the main strategies for Week 7 should be "use whatever strategies you usually use", which is a nice change of pace.
The best waiver adds this week are familiar names – players who were featured and picked up earlier in the season, only to get dropped due to slumps, injuries, or both. Many of these players are likely to have long-term value, and could stick in your rosters through the end of the season. Again, this is a nice change from last week, when few names were all that exciting.
The three teams that play only twice in Week 7: the Nuggets, Thunder and Kings. If possible, players on those teams should be avoided. However, despite the schedule concerns, two Kings are listed below, and both are still very strong waiver prospects because both are players who are likely to maintain value throughout the rest of the season.
The players below are listed in the order I'd recommend adding them.
As always, this article will focus on players available in at least 50 percent of leagues. That said, here are some good players who might still be available in your league, and are worth checking for:
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kings (63 percent
With Thanksgiving in the rear view, the NBA returns to normal in Week 7. Most teams play three games, some play four, and a handful play only twice. Wednesday and Friday are busy, but no busier than normal for a Wednesday or Friday. After a few oddball weeks, the main strategies for Week 7 should be "use whatever strategies you usually use", which is a nice change of pace.
The best waiver adds this week are familiar names – players who were featured and picked up earlier in the season, only to get dropped due to slumps, injuries, or both. Many of these players are likely to have long-term value, and could stick in your rosters through the end of the season. Again, this is a nice change from last week, when few names were all that exciting.
The three teams that play only twice in Week 7: the Nuggets, Thunder and Kings. If possible, players on those teams should be avoided. However, despite the schedule concerns, two Kings are listed below, and both are still very strong waiver prospects because both are players who are likely to maintain value throughout the rest of the season.
The players below are listed in the order I'd recommend adding them.
As always, this article will focus on players available in at least 50 percent of leagues. That said, here are some good players who might still be available in your league, and are worth checking for:
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kings (63 percent rostered)
Bojan Bogdanovic, Pacers (67 percent rostered)
E'Twaun Moore, Pelicans (64 percent rostered)
Jonathan Isaac, Magic (65 percent rostered)
Trey Burke, Knicks (51 percent rostered)
Jae Crowder, Jazz (51 percent rostered)
D.J. Augustin, Magic (50 percent rostered)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (51 percent rostered)
Tyreke Evans, Pacers (58 percent rostered)
The top four of those are borderline must-adds in almost all formats, if available. I'd recommend Cedi Osman in between Trey Burke and Jae Crowder. Other than Osman, I'd recommend all nine of the above before the lesser-rostered players who I go into more depth on, below.
Cedi Osman, Cavaliers (30 percent rostered)
Next week's schedule: MIN, at OKC, at BOS, TOR
Osman was drafted in a lot of Fantasy leagues, and his roster rate reached at least 70%. Then it plummeted when a minor slump was followed by a short injury absence. But I doubt it will take long before it gets back up, now that he's returned to his pre-injury workload. Before the injury, he was averaging 33.2 minutes per game, racking up 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.7 threes. Frankly, I expect him to improve upon those numbers, as his shooting efficiency has been far worse than it was as a rookie. Some decreased efficiency may have been inevitable as he transitioned from playing alongside LeBron James to becoming one of the primary options, but even that shouldn't cause a 10 percent drop in field goal percentage. As long as he stays healthy, I expect Osman to remain on rosters throughout the rest of the season.
Nemanja Bjelica, Kings (49 percent rostered)
Next week's schedule: LAC, IND
It's impossible to trust the Kings' rotation. And Bjelica's appeal is significantly diminished by the successful reintegration of Bogdan Bogdanovic into the rotation – Bogdanovic set his season-high for minutes Wednesday. Despite those two factors, Bjelica is still worth considering because, on a fundamental level, he's good at basketball. Even when the team tried to decrease his role, they ended up returning to him because he's better than most of their other options. He may never return to the 30.5 minutes he was averaging over the first six games of the season, but as long as he can stick to the mid-20s, he can be a solid all-around producer worthy of 12-team rosters (and possibly even 10-team rosters). He's played between 23 and 28 minutes in eight games, including his last two. In those games, he's averaging 12.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 threes, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.4 blocks and 1.8 turnovers while shooting 58 percent from the field. That's really good.
Noah Vonleh, Knicks (31 percent rostered)
Next week's schedule: at DET, at PHI, MIL
The Knicks keep fiddling with their rotations – a good thing for the long-term health of their franchise, but a nightmare for Fantasy managers. For now, Vonleh is back in the starting lineup. When he's gotten a chance, he's been a great source of the supplemental "counting stats", though he's often a drain in scoring. He's worth that hit for most managers, as there just aren't many big men capable of providing multiple assists, a three, a steal and a block every time they're on the floor. In the seven games where he has played at least 29 minutes, he is averaging 11.4 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.7 blocks, 1.3 steals and 1.3 threes.
Tomas Satoransky, Wizards (12 percent rostered)
Next week's schedule: HOU, at NO, at PHI, BKN
Satoransky is coming off a pair of good games, but this is primarily a speculative pick. The Wizards were expected to compete for home court advantage in the playoffs, and instead are 6-11 and are openly discussing trading away Bradley Beal, Otto Porter or John Wall (if a market exists for him). If either Beal or Wall are traded, Satoransky could see a big jump in his workload. He's a good passer and, for a guard, a good rebounder. If you have room on your roster for a long-term investment, Satoransky is worth a look.
Quinn Cook, Warriors (33 percent rostered)
Next week's schedule: ORL, at TOR, at DET
The Warriors are expected to provide an update on Steph Curry's (groin) status on Saturday, but if he still has to miss time, Cook has been a solid fill-in. He's obviously not providing anywhere near Curry-level production, but he has posted 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 threes with an excellent 53.2 field goal percentage in 27.7 minutes per game with Curry out.
Other suggestions:Jordan Clarkson, Cavaliers (38 percent rostered); Collin Sexton, Cavaliers (49 percent rostered); James Ennis, Rockets (14 percent rostered); Mikal Bridges, Suns (17 percent rostered); Mitchell Robinson, Knicks (25 percent rostered); Allen Crabbe, Nets (45 percent rostered); Cody Zeller, Hornets (23 percent rostered); Reggie Bullock, Pistons (12 percent rostered); Monte Morris, Nuggets (16 percent rostered); J.J. Barea, Mavericks (12 percent rostered)
