March 20 Fantasy Basketball Takeaways: Top Rookies and Waiver Wire Options | Santi Aldama, Payton Pritchard, Georges Niang, GG Jackson II, Kris Murray and More

Taking a look at some of the top performances from waiver wire options across NBA games played March 20.

Eight NBA games on Wednesday, March 21 provided fantasy basketball owners with plenty of talking points. Let’s look at the evening’s top performances from waiver wire options and rookies.

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Waiver Wire Options

We’ll open today’s conversation by talking about Memphis Grizzlies’ Santi Aldama, who is owned in 41% of leagues. He finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block across 34 minutes in the team’s loss to the Golden State Warriors.

That’s now four straight games that Aldama has scored in double figures, although Wednesday’s game was his lone time above 16 points. He’s a good source for rebounds most nights, and typically fills the stat sheet up like he did against Golden State. That makes Aldama a pretty solid fantasy asset in deeper leagues, and if he keeps up this level of play, he might get some streaming love in standard leagues.

Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, rostered in 78% of leagues, recorded 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and one block across 29 minutes in the team’s win.

Wiggins hasn’t had the season many expected, but he’s still capable of some big fantasy outings. He’s scored in double figures in four of the past five games now, and typically fills up the stat sheet pretty well otherwise. I’d probably only add Wiggins in a standard league if I had the roster space to add him (I wouldn’t make it a point to add him).

Boston Celtics’ Payton Pritchard, owned in 25% of leagues, totaled 19 points, six rebounds and three assists across 31 minutes in the team’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Boston was without Jrue Holiday, which allowed Pritchard to get some extra minutes.

Pritchard has taken advantage of several teammates being inactive of late, scoring in double figures in three straight games. He’s made five 3-pointers in back-to-back games, and if a teammate or two are out for the next game, I’d consider Pritchard a streaming option in all formats.

Toronto Raptors’ Gary Trent Jr., rostered in 75% of leagues, stayed hot, scoring 18 points in the team’s loss to the Sacramento Kings. He also had six rebounds, two assists and one steal across 32 minutes.

Trent has scored in double figures in seven straight games and is averaging 19.9 points per game in March. He typically doesn’t do much else on the court, but he’s a streaming option in all formats on his scoring alone.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Georges Niang, owned in 23% of leagues, totaled 18 points, three rebounds and one assist and steal across 35 minutes in the team’s loss to the Miami Heat.

Niang has scored in double figures in seven of the past eight games now, which coincides with Evan Mobley being out of action. Niang should remain a decent fantasy asset until Mobley returns,  but probably just in deeper leagues because he mostly just scores for his fantasy points.

Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, rostered in 57% of leagues right now, had 16 points, two rebounds and one assist across 19 minutes in the team’s win.

Barnes has played under 24 minutes in two straight games, but has combined for 27 points in those games. It shows that he’s still a decent fantasy asset in deeper leagues even with less minutes. We’ll have to keep an eye on Barnes over the next few games, but if his minutes continue to stay low, Barnes might only be rosterable in deeper leagues.

Philadelphia 76ers’ Kenyon Martin Jr., owned in barely any leagues, played 26 minutes in the team’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, tallying 11 points, 13 rebounds and two assists along the way.

Martin hasn’t played a ton of minutes this season, but got a little extra playing time with Tobias Harris out with an injury. This outing shows Martin could be a streaming option in deeper leagues until the 76ers are closer to full health.

Top Rookies

Memphis’ GG Jackson II, owned in 63% of leagues, accumulated 35 points, five rebounds and three assists across 35 minutes played.

Jackson has now scored in double figures in six straight games, with four games over 20 points and two over 30 points in that span. I really don’t understand why his own percentage is still so low - he at least needs to be streamed until he cools off a bit.

Jackson has played over 35 minutes in all but one of those six games, which gives him plenty of time to add in a few other stats outside points. He’s mostly a fantasy asset as a scorer, but fantasy owners need to be utilizing Jackson for the time being.

Portland Trail Blazers’ Scoot Henderson, owned in 59% of leagues, posted 18 points, five assists and two rebounds and steals across 35 minutes in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Henderson has scored in double figures in four straight games, and should remain heavily involved down the stretch of the regular season. He’s also averaging 4.9 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.1 blocks in March, which is enough to at least heavily consider him in all formats. He needs to be owned in deeper leagues and dynasties.

Portland’s Kris Murray, rostered in 4% of leagues, recorded 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal across 33 minutes on Wednesday.

Murray has been trending upward of late, with three games in double figures over the past four games. He’s playing enough minutes and has shown me enough recently to consider him as a streaming option in deeper leagues/dynasties for a little while. Murray still has some low-scoring games here and there, but he’s probably playing more minutes than a lot of the other waiver wire options, so he’d probably be the one to utilize.

Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, rostered in 55% of leagues, continued to deliver, recording 13 points, five rebounds and two assists and blocks across 26 minutes in the team’s win.

Jackson-Davis has now scored in double figures in six straight games. He’s averaging 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.7 blocks and 0.3 steals during March. He should be rostered in all deeper leagues/dynasties now, and is getting consideration in some standard leagues now.

Utah Jazz rookie Taylor Hendricks, rostered in 35% of leagues, had 12 points, four rebounds, three blocks and one assist across 24 minutes in the team’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Hendricks’ minutes have dipped in two straight games, but he’s still playing plenty of minutes to be a decent fantasy asset. He’s averaging 9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in March, which is enough for me to consider him a streaming option in deeper leagues and dynasties, at least for the time being.

Detroit Pistons’ Tosan Evbuomwan, owned in barely any leagues, finished with 11 points and four rebounds across 30 minutes in the team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Evbuomwan has played 48 minutes over the past two games with several Detroit players out of action. He’s a streaming option in deeper leagues if several teammates are out for upcoming games.

Philadelphia’s Ricky Council IV, rostered in barely any leagues, had 10 points and two assists across 12 minutes in the team’s loss.

Like Martin, Council took advantage of Harris not being available. He hasn’t gotten much playing time of late, and I’d like to see another couple solid fantasy outings from Council until I really consider adding/playing him.

#waiver-wire