Fantasy NBA Waiver Wire: Week 13 Adds Include Vince Williams, T.J. McConnell

Hello! Times are good on the waiver wire, with a bunch of high-value pickups and an unusually loaded group of "other recommendations".

Injuries were rampant across the league last week, with Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring) and Ja Morant (shoulder) headlining a depressingly long list of injured starters. All those injuries make for plenty of options to choose from, but they also mean your opponents are likely to be more active than usual, too.

With so many injuries and fill-ins to navigate, managers should prioritize upside and fit over scheduling concerns. That said, it is a good week for streaming if your league permits it. Monday and Wednesday have large 11- and 10-game slates, while the week ends with a balanced 5-8-8-6 schedule. Tuesday has an extra small three-game slate, and all of those teams are off for the busy Wednesday. With a little attention, managers can target Tuesday and the end of the week to gain a meaningful games advantage.

As always, the players in this article must be rostered in less than two-thirds of CBS leagues. Players are listed in the order that I recommend adding them, assuming they are equally good fits for your team.

Adds for all leagues

Vince Williams Jr., Grizzlies (19% rostered)

Few teams can match Memphis when it comes to identifying and developing prospects over the last several years, and Williams appears to be another hit. The 2022 second-round pick has seen a bigger role than anyone anticipated this season, as the Grizzlies' list of injuries is nearly as long as the list of scouting successes. Now Ja Morant (shoulder) and Marcus Smart (finger) have been added to that latter list, out for the season and for at least six weeks, respectively. Williams' play was rewarded this week with a four-year contract (he'd been on a two-way), and following last week's injuries his workload will need to increase further. He was already up to 33.5 minutes over the first two games without Morant, and those were with Smart still healthy. His track record is still limited, so we'll all be learning what his stat profile looks like together. That said, it seems likely he'll help in rebounds, steals, blocks, and threes, while being a big drain on FG%.

T.J. McConnell, Pacers (46% rostered)

Andrew Nembhard (22% rostered; listed below) started in the first game following Tyrese Haliburton's (hamstring) injury, but McConnell is the far superior Fantasy play. Even though he played just 22 minutes off the bench behind Nembhard, McConnell still managed a 14-2-8 line, also chipping in two steals for good measure. McConnell should rank among the league leaders in assists as long as Haliburton is out, and he's unusually efficient from the field for a point guard (though that is in part because he rarely attempts threes). Assist production like this is rarely available on waivers. The only "down side" is that Haliburton's diagnosis is the most minor form of a hamstring strain, and he could return early in Week 14 – though hamstrings are notoriously finicky, so it's possible he's out longer or gets reinjured. If we knew Haliburton was going to miss a month or more, McConnell would be this week's top add.

Grayson Allen, Suns (62% rostered)

Once again, I'm artificially deflating Allen's position in this column. He's really the top add of the week, just like he should have been last week. But listing the same person first every week is boring, so I'm trying to pretend that maybe the people who still haven't added him are trying to focus on higher-upside, shorter-term plays. But that's nonsense. The most likely outcome by far is that Allen outproduces Williams even during the six weeks Smart is out. If McConnell outproduces Allen while Haliburton is out, by the time you're reading this, there may be only five or six such games remaining. Allen has been a top-70 player so far this season, and his value suffers only a tiny hit in the hypothetical scenario where all three Suns All-Stars are healthy at the same time. If there's a top-70 player available in your league for free, you should probably go claim him. Fantasy isn't always hard.

Nick Richards, Hornets (30% rostered)

Do you think my editors will notice if I copy-paste the blurb from last week? Because nothing has changed. Mark Williams (back) remains out without a clear timetable for return. After missing a month, the Hornets finally gave us something resembling an update, though it was pretty light on useful details. We know he'll miss at least another week, and that they are treating him as week-to-week, a downgrade from the game-to-game status during his first month out. As I said last week, in Williams' absence, Richards has been the Platonic ideal of a waiver wire big man: 9-9-1 with 1.3 blocks, great FG%, bad FT%, and no threes in just under 30 minutes per game.

Donte DiVincenzo, Knicks (50% rostered)

DiVincenzo moved into the starting lineup before the Knicks-Raptors trade, but his minutes and consistency have improved since. In every game since OG Anunoby's New York debut, DiVincenzo has recorded at least 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, two threes, and one steal. The relatively low workload, just 23.8 minutes per game since the trade, remains a concern. But DiVincenzo is getting it done anyway.

Duop Reath, Trail Blazers (20% rostered)

Deandre Ayton (knee) has now missed 10 games, and Portland is doing that thing we all love where they continue to insist it's a day-to-day injury. We, therefore, don't know if he'll return for their next game or in six years. As long as Ayton is out, however, Reath has shown that he can be rostered. Reath is a 27-year-old undrafted rookie on a two-way contract, yet he's stepped into a big role with Ayton sidelined and Robert Williams (knee) done for the year. In eight starts, he's averaged 11-7-2 with just under one block and one steal per game. He's also chipping in from deep, averaging 1.6 threes in those starts. His numbers are even better if you focus on this recent Ayton-less run. They didn't try giving Reath a big role at first, and then he missed most of four games due to injury and ejection. In Reath's last five full games, he's up to 14-8-1, and his minutes are up to 29.0.

Other recommendations: Bruce Brown, Pacers (55% rostered); Alec Burks, Pistons (19% rostered); Al Horford, Celtics (49% rostered); Dennis Smith Jr., Nets (17% rostered); Goga Bitadze, Magic (27% rostered); Naz Reid, Timberwolves (50% rostered);  Tre Jones, Spurs (48% rostered); Andrew Nembhard, Pacers (22% rostered); Kevin Love, Heat (34% rostered); Cam Whitmore, Rockets (14% rostered);

Deep league special

Thaddeus Young, Raptors (2% rostered)

Jakob Poeltl (ankle) is set to miss two weeks, and Thad Young – yes, the same Thad Young whose Fantasy relevance predates the concept of "subtweets" – has entered the starting lineup. In the first two games, he averaged 9-5-4 while playing 26.0 minutes. He even compiled a combined five steals! It's a short-term play, and I wouldn't be surprised if the production tapered off a bit, but Young is a great deep-league option right now.

Jacob Gilyard, Grizzlies (1% rostered)

With Morant and Smart out, the Grizzlies are in desperate need of a point guard. Gilyard has already started eight games for Memphis, averaging 7-2-4 with 0.9 steals and 2.0 threes. He's on a two-way contract and currently with the Memphis G-League team – he hasn't even been called back up to the big leagues yet. But, assuming that happens in the near future, Gilyard should provide solid assists, threes, and steals.