We focus a lot on unknown commodities with low ownership who are available on just about every fantasy basketball waiver wire. But often, players who are owned in more than 50 percent of leagues get overlooked. Today, we’ll focus on some players that have high ownership but are still available in plenty of leagues and should be owned universally. Let’s look at this week’s top waiver wire pickups.
D.J. Augustin (Owned in 29 percent of Yahoo leagues): Augustin has been very solid off the bench for the Bulls and has earned a ~30 minute per game role. With Kirk Hinrich likely to be traded, his value could spike even more. Over his last five games, he’s averaging 16.2 points, 7.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.2 three-pointers. More importantly, he’s played 28+ minutes in three of those five and should continue to earn court time.
Kris Humphries (40 percent): In his last four games, Humphries has scored 4, 12, 2, and 18. Not exactly the picture of consistency. Despite all that, he’s averaging 10.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, and two blocks over his last six games and makes up for nights Brad Stevens doesn’t use him as much with killer efforts in the paint. If you need a big man to give you a steady flow of rebounds and blocks, and the occasional double-double, you could do worse than the former Mr. Kardashian.
Glen Davis (45 percent): Though the point totals aren’t always high, he has now scored double-digits in 17 of his last 18 games. That’s like the antithesis to Humphries. Since the calendar turned to 2014, Davis is averaging 15.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, and a steal over 10 games. He plays a ton of minutes and is averaging 13.6 field goal attempts per game so there’s no reason to think he’ll fall off this pace in the immediate future.
Jared Sullinger (52 percent): After being benched for Humphries a couple of weeks ago, Sully has come back strong, averaging 14.5 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.2 threes over his last six games. There’s always the chance that Brad Stevens pulls the rug out again but you can’t afford to leave a guy averaging a double-double on the waiver wire.
Kendall Marshall (56 percent): Marshall manufactures assists like Chinese assembly lines pump out iPads. He’s also worked past some early shooting inconsistencies and has posted a double-double in five straight games. Over that stretch, he’s averaging 40 minutes, 13 points, 12.8 assists, and 2.6 threes. He’s even shooting 54 percent from downtown (ironic, since he’s shooting just 42 percent from the floor) over those games. The Lakers’ lineup will continue to work itself out as guys get healthy but Marshall seems to have solidified a big role in the Mike D’Antoni offense.
Reggie Jackson (56 percent): Jackson does a bit of everything which is exactly what you look for in a waiver wire pickup. In his last 12 games, Russell Westbrook‘s replacement is averaging 14.9 points, 4.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 threes. His value may take a dip when Westbrook returns but he’s playing about 31 minutes per game now and was averaging over 25 minutes per game when Westy was playing so the dropoff shouldn’t be steep.
John Henson (59 percent): After losing his starting gig due to injury, Henson is back to putting up huge performances off the bench and making Larry Drew‘s lineup decisions difficult once again. Over his last two games, Henson has posted a combined 30 points, 26 rebounds, three blocks, and is shooting 56.5 percent from the floor. He’ll make it back to the lineup eventually but he’s plenty worth owning with steady double-double potential off the bench.
Terrence Jones (62 percent): 62 percent means he’s owned in most leagues. Nearly two-thirds. And he should be owned in all of them. Jones has come into his own as the season has gone along and has become an unstoppable fantasy force of late. Over his last five games, the big man is averaging 37.5 minutes, 21.6 points, 12.3 rebounds, three blocks, 1.4 steals, and shooting 58 percent from the floor. If you’re in one of the 38 percent of leagues where he’s available, the next page you visit needs to be your league’s waiver wire.
