Fantasy Basketball Adds and Drops for Friday, January 2: DaRon Holmes, Julian Champagnie, Nikola Jovic and More

On the final day of the work week, let's go over some fantasy basketball adds and drops.

Here are some waiver wire stories we did earlier in the week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), plus an injury-related article.

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Waiver Wire Adds

Should You Add DaRon Holmes II?

Holmes has been added in a whopping 25.49% of leagues today. He's rostered in just 35.01% of leagues overall.

Nikola Jokic was injured a few days ago, which made Jonas Valanciunas one of the top fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for a few days. Valanciunas is now out for at least four weeks with an injury of his own, and with several other Nuggets banged up too, Holmes is among several players on the rise.

He has only played in four games this season, with 30 of his 34 minutes coming in the past two contests. In 21 minutes on December 31, Holmes provided 11 points, three rebounds and one assist and block.

The 23-year-old is getting his first NBA action after being a first-round pick of the Suns in 2024. Holmes is basically getting thrown into the fire now.

He's worth an add in some deeper leagues today, and he could be worth adding in standard leagues in a hurry. Holmes will need to deliver decent fantasy results for that to come true though.

Keep a very close eye on his game logs over the next couple games to see if Holmes can do enough to be a viable fantasy asset.

Zeke Nnaji is another center in Denver to keep tabs on. The injuries to Jokic and Valanciunas could also increase the fantasy outlooks for Peyton Watson, Spencer Jones, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and more, while Jamal Murray powers the team.

Should You Add Julian Champagnie or Luke Kornet?

Champagnie is up 17.14%, while Kornet is up 15.84%. Champagnie is owned in 27.85% of leagues, while Kornet is rostered in 39.65%.

Victor Wembanyama is dealing with a left knee injury now, and Devin Vassell is out with a left adductor strain, so there's a ton of production to be picked up in San Antonio. Even if those two are only out a couple games, guys like Champagnie and Kornet are worth some adds, even as just streaming options.

Champagnie started the last game for San Antonio and played 36 minutes - that could happen again with Vassell and Wembanyama out. Champagnie had 36 points, six rebounds and a block in that contest - don't be expecting that kind of production every night, but also expect improved marks from his season averages.

Champagnie is averaging 10.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks over 27.5 minutes per contest. He's shooting 41.9% overall and he's 37.1% from 3-point land.

Kornet has had decent fantasy value this season, but more so when Wemby was banged up. He has scored in double figures just once over the past five contests, but he has grabbed eight or more rebounds in three straight games.

Over 25 games (17 starts), Kornet is averaging 8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.4 steals over 24.6 minutes. He's shooting 65.8% overall.

Give Champagnie and Kornet streaming adds for the Spurs until Vassell and Wembanyama are back in the mix. After that, Champagnie and Kornet should go back to being just deep-league assets. 

Should You Add Jalen Smith?

Smith is up to 43.33% owned after a 15.35% increase today.

He has been trending up for the past week or so. Smith has logged at least 22 minutes in all those contests, and he started and played 26 minutes in the last game for the Bulls.

Smith had 14 points and rebounds, two blocks and one assist and steal in that start. He got up 11 shots - he's been over 10 shots just four times on the season.

He's averaging 9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.3 steals over 17.5 minutes a night. Smith is shooting 47.2% overall and he's 36.8% on his 3-pointers. 

Chicago is dealing with a number of injuries to its roster as well, and even though most are guards, it's helping Smith do more while he's on the court. He's a worthwhile add in deeper leagues for the time being, and could even be a useful standard league streaming option for a bit.

Other Waiver Pickups

Phoenix's Grayson Allen and Indiana's Aaron Nesmith are both up over 10% today. Allen sits at 63.06% now, while Nesmith is up to 52.8%.

New Orleans' Dejounte Murray, San Antonio's Keldon Johnson, Oklahoma City's Ajay Mitchell and Phoenix's Royce O'Neale round out the top-10 most-added players of the day.

Cleveland's Jaylon Tyson, Portland's Scoot Henderson, Miami's Davion Mitchell and Chicago's Kevin Huerter and Tre Jones sit in the 11-15 spots. Charlotte's Collin Sexton, Denver's Watson, San Antonio's Harrison Barnes, Memphis' Cedric Coward and Philadelphia's Kelly Oubre Jr. round out the top 20.

Indiana's T.J. McConnell, Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels, Los Angeles Lakers' Jake LaRavia, Milwaukee's Kyle Kuzma and New York's Miles McBride are also on the list of top-25 pickups.

Drop Candidates

Should You Drop Nikola Jovic?

Jovic has been dropped in 7.2% of fantasy leagues, bringing his overall mark down to 50% overall. 

He was trending up after scoring in double figures in three straight games for Miami, and now he's trending down after a poor showing on Thursday.

Jovic had five points, rebounds and assists and one block in the contest, but shot just 1-of-10 from the floor. He played about 24 minutes, which was pretty close to the mark he posted the previous two games.

I think this was just an outlier for a player who was trending up. I get dropping him after that performance, but I think fantasy owners are going to regret it.

He's still a very good deep-league option, and I'd look to scoop him up if he became available in my league. Jovic is still a standard league streaming option as well, but most will need to see a better fantasy outing before trusting him again.

Don't write Jovic off yet.

Should You Drop Anfernee Simons?

Simons was let go in 5.1% of leagues - he's at 59% overall now.

He's been up and down as a fantasy asset all season. This time, I'm not seeing a big reason why he's trending down.

Simons has scored in double figures in three straight, and has averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal per game over that stretch. He's averaged 25.7 minutes per contest.

For the season, Simons is averaging 13.1 points, 2.3 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.1 blocks over 23.9 minutes. So if anything, his numbers are up of late, so he should be on the rise.

However, I thought Simons was overrated as a fantasy asset, so I think dropping him actually gets Simons closer to the own percentage I'd have liked him at.

He has deep-league keeper value and standard league streaming upside, so add and drop him as the Celtics play and have off.

Other Drop Candidates

Denver's Valanciunas is down 19.8% after he suffered his injury. Teammate Cameron Johnson is down 6.3% today.

Utah's Jusuf Nurkic has been dropped in 4.5% of leagues, while Detroit's Duncan Robinson is down 4.1%. Los Angeles Clippers' John Collins and Brook Lopez are down 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively.

Sacramento's Zach LaVine is down 3.7%, while Utah's Kyle Filipowski is down 3.4%. Detroit's Ausar Thompson has been let go in 2.8% of leagues, with Miami's Dru Smith down 2.2%.