Welcome to Week 17 of the fantasy basketball season! Trade deadline week has arrived! This is one of the more interesting weeks of the fantasy season. This is the week you don’t want to maximize your waiver wire adds before deadline day is over on February 9th. Keep an eye on the moves that force bench players into new starting roles. For now, here are five players who are on the rise and set to make big impacts to your fantasy basketball teams.
Week 17 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire
Deni Avdija, SF/PF – Washington Wizards (48% rostered)
Deni Avdija is taking over in D.C. Avdija suffered a minor injury Friday but returned to his balling ways Saturday dropping 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Take out Friday’s game and Avdija is averaging 21 points over his last three games. More impressively, the third-year pro is averaging 9.5 rebounds in four of his past five games with at least nine rebounds in all four. To top it off Avdija is averaging 2.2 steals over his past five games including two 3PTM per game over his last four. It’s all about receiving the minutes and since Rui Hachimura was traded away to the Lakers Avdija has earned six minutes extra per game. Looks like we got a new DC superhero on our hands and it’s Deni Avdija. Must add.
Donte DiVincenzo, PG/SG – Golden State Warriors (30% rostered)
It’s Donte DiVincenzo time in the Bay once again! Unfortunately, it’s due to the loss of Stephen Curry for the second time this season. The All-Star Curry is set to miss multiple weeks with a leg injury opening the door for DiVincenzo. Last time Curry was out, DD had some monster games including a 17/10/6 performance followed by two 19-point games. Even with Curry back in the lineup, DiVincenzo has been a top-100 player. Don’t snooze and pick up the production that is on its way in the Bay!
Larry Nance Jr., PF/C – New Orleans Pelicans (45% rostered)
Larry Nance has been a waiver wire darling and he’s at it again as the veteran continues to produce for the Pelicans. Nance has posted double-digit rebounds in three of his past four games and is averaging 11 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.0 steals during that span including four straight games with at least 10 points. Jonas Valanciunas’ production has gone down of late and he’s currently dealing with some quad soreness. Do not sleep on Nance folks. Make it five straight games with at least 8+ rebounds and points.
Cam Thomas, SG/SF – Brooklyn Nets (32% rostered)
Cam Thomas put on an absolute clinic Saturday night dropping 44 points, to go along with six rebounds, five assists, and four 3PTM. The Nets were without Kevin Durant who still remains sidelined and Kyrie Irving who was just traded away. The Nets will have more depth going forward with Spencer Dinwiddie in town which ruins the Edmond Sumner appeal, but Thomas will still be in play as long as Durant remains out. Thomas has now scored at least 19 points in three straight games. Add away.
Dwight Powell, C – Dallas Mavericks (4% rostered)
Dwight Powell has quietly been producing solid numbers for the Mavericks through the last few weeks and is worthy of an add. The Mavericks just lost a lot of their frontcourt depth after Dorian Finney-Smith was involved in the Kyrie Irving deal. Finney-Smith’s 23 rebounds from last week are out the door so Powell will be leaned on, even more, to bring down the boards in Big D. Powell is also averaging a cool 12.8 points, 7 rebounds, 2.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks over four of his past six games. Those are some solid peripheral stats that should receive a minor bump making Powell very worthy of an add.