Jonas Valanciunas Leads Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds

It's time to go over another round of fantasy basketball waiver wire adds as the weekend hits. 

Today, we will go over Denver's Jonas Valanciunas, Dallas' Max Christie and Sacramento's Dylan Cardwell.

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Valanciunas Returns from Injury

Valanciunas is up 26.16% today, bringing his overall mark to 46.07%.

He was added heavily in late December after the Nikola Jokic injury, then suffered an injury of his own and missed a couple weeks. Valanciunas returned to the court on Thursday, starting and playing nearly 22 minutes.

Valanciunas had 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists in that contest. He put up 13 shots, making six of them. He got to the free-throw line four times, making each attempt.

Jokic is supposedly going to make his return later this month, or early in February, so Valanciunas' time as the starting center will be pretty short-lived. He's still worth adding for a little while, as he's a double-double threat until Jokic returns and his minutes go down.

I'd definitely be adding Valanciunas in deeper leagues, and holding him in those leagues at least until Jokic returns. Jokic could be eased back into action, so don't immediately drop Valanciunas - watch his game logs and drop him when it makes most sense.

I'm also good with streaming Valanciunas in standard leagues for all the Nuggets' games that Jokic isn't active for. I'd really only want to do that if I had a roster spot to play with though - don't drop someone just to add Valanciunas for a week or two, at most.

He's a player to keep in mind in case Jokic ever misses more time, but when Jokic is around, don't expect Valanciunas to be too big of a fantasy asset.

Christie Reaching New Level

Christie is owned in 62.92% of leagues after an 11.37% increase today.

Christie has been starting since Christmas for the Mavericks, and he's gotten into a nice groove on the court. He has scored in double figures in 11 of the 12 games since.

Christie has turned things up a notch the past three games, scoring 22, 26 and 21 points. He has 12 rebounds, eight assists and three steals as well in that span.

With Anthony Davis, and others, out for the Mavs, Christie is taking advantage of things and emerging as a good fantasy option. He should be owned and held in all deeper leagues at this point, and until he cools down, he's a standard league option as well.

Christie's game logs need to be monitored pretty closely, and then you can drop him when his production or playing time falls off. There's a chance he sticks as a fantasy asset the rest of the season as the Mavs shake up their roster, so hold him in standard leagues if there's no better waiver wire options out there.

Christie's playing time could spike when/if Kyrie Irving returns, but there's still no timetable for that. Roll with Christie in the meantime, and expect more good results, as Dallas is looking for players to step up right now.

Cardwell Offers Rebound Upside

Cardwell is up 6.59% and now sits at 25.84% overall.

The 24-year-old rookie for the Kings has now appeared in 18 games, making one start. He is averaging 4.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.6 blocks and 0.7 steals over 18.9 minutes a contest.

He has played in nine straight games for the Kings, averaging 20.1 minutes per game in that stretch. Cardwell is also averaging 5.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.4 steals in those contests.

The rebounds sticks out in both sets of averages, and he's picked up the production as a rebounder of late, going for at least 10 rebounds in three straight contests. 

He scored 12 points in one of those games, but combined for just six points in the other two. Cardwell had six assists, seven blocks and three steals in those contests as well.

So basically, Cardwell is rising as a waiver wire option today mostly because of his rebounding. The blocks are at a solid mark too.

He's played more of late, logging over 20 minutes in four of the past five contests. Cardwell's inconsistent scoring ways hold him back a bit as a fantasy asset, but there's still enough there to add and utilize him in some leagues.

He's just a deep-league option, but he's worth streaming, at least, in a few more deeper leagues after looking at his recent production. Check out his production and compare it to some of your other players to see if Cardwell is worth adding instead for a little while.