We're one month into the NBA regular season and the fantasy basketball season!
A lot has changed since your fantasy drafts back in mid-October – there have been injuries, depth chart changes, rotation changes and more to the real NBA rosters. That means, you should act accordingly with your fantasy roster.
Take a look at five players to add now or keep on your radar for the near future to improve your squad.
Fantasy basketball waiver wire pick-ups
Evan Fournier, SG/SF – Orlando Magic
Roster percentage in ESPN leagues: 50.1%
Roster percentage in Yahoo leagues: 71.0%
If Evan Fournier is available in your fantasy basketball league, add him right now.
For two good reasons: Fournier is on a tear and both Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon suffered ankle injuries in the Orlando Magic's loss to the Toronto Raptors this week.
Over the past five games, the French sharpshooter is averaging 21.4 points, 4.8 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He's making 4.0 3-pointers per game – a huge boost fantasy-wise – while shooting 53.0% from the field and 60.6% from beyond the arc.
While it hasn't been officially stated that Gordon will miss time, Vucevic is set to miss up to four weeks with his ankle injury.
If Gordon were to also miss time, that means Fournier is guaranteed to take over as the team's go-to guy during that stretch. Even if it's just Vucevic missing games, Fournier is still on fire and a key feature to Orlando's offence.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, SG/SF – Sacramento Kings
Roster percentage in ESPN leagues: 36.6%
Roster percentage in Yahoo leagues: 80.0%
Like Fournier, if Bogdan Bogdanovic is available in your fantasy basketball league, add him immediately.
Bogdanovic should have been on your radar once it was announced that De'Aaron Fox would miss up to a month with an ankle injury but if he wasn't, now is the time to take action.
Even before Fox's injury, Bogdanovic was starting to hit his stride. Since Fox has been sidelined, Bogdanovic has taken over the role as the Kings' lead playmaker.
In the four games Fox has missed, Bogdanovic is averaging 21.5 points, 8.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. He's knocking down 3.8 3-pointers per game and is shooting an efficient 51.7% from the field and beyond the arc while converting 90.0% of his free throws – all things that add fantasy value.
There is nothing slowing Bogdanovic down during the time that Fox is out and he could be a huge boost to your team over the next month or so.
Carmelo Anthony, PF/SF – Portland Trail Blazers
Roster percentage in ESPN leagues: 30.9%
Roster percentage in Yahoo leagues: 48.0%
This one is pretty self-explanatory and you probably already have a Carmelo Anthony fan in your league that went out of his way to add Melo before he even stepped on the court.
In the off-chance he's either still available or was dropped after shooting 28.6% from the field in his first game, he's worth a look.
Is a 34-year-old Melo going to change your fantasy season? No. But the Trail Blazers need offensive help badly and the former All-Star, All-NBA forward is going to get his fair share of opportunities to score the ball.
It appears as though Anthony is going to be assuming a starting role in Portland and that means two things for fantasy production – points and rebounds. If your team is lacking in either of these two categories, Melo is the perfect player for you.
He may hurt your field goal percentage, but he's going to score, he's going to grab boards and he may notch a couple double-doubles.
Above all, he's Carmelo Anthony and he's a fun player to root for on your team!
Jaxson Hayes, C – New Orleans Pelicans
Roster percentage in ESPN leagues: 9.3%
Roster percentage in Yahoo leagues: 23.0%
This is more of a deep-cut for 12 or 14-team leagues with thin talent on the waiver wire.
Rookie centre Jaxson Hayes has taken over as a starter in New Orleans with Derrick Favors out with lower back spasms. Even before Favors injury, Hayes was starting to work his way into the Pelicans' rotation more consistently.
In Hayes' two games as a starter, he's notched one double-double and blocked three shots in both contests. He's also tallied three steals and doesn't shoot much outside of dunks and layups, increasing your team's field goal percentage.
Hayes was an elite shot blocker in college at Texas last season and as long as he's receiving significant playing time, he'll certainly give you a boost in that area. While Favors is out, he's a quality player to add that can make an impact for the short-term.
Terence Davis, SG/SF – Toronto Raptors
Roster percentage in ESPN leagues: 0.7%
Roster percentage in Yahoo leagues: 3.0%
This is another deep-cut for 12 or 14-team leagues, but could also be a player to add to your "watch list" in any league.
Undrafted rookie Terence Davis has been fantastic in stepping up for the Toronto Raptors with Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Patrick McCaw out with injuries. He's made the most of his opportunity, averaging 13.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 3-pointers over the last four games, which has included surpassing his career-high in scoring three times while also setting a new career-high for assists (7) and rebounds (8) in a game.
Davis has seen his playing time increase from 7.7 minutes per game over the first seven games to 20.6 minutes per game over the last seven games and is worth keeping on your radar.
He's played so well and has been such a difference-maker to Toronto's bench during this stretch with injuries to key rotational players that he may have worked his way into the team's rotation permenantly going forward.
