Fantasy Basketball Pickups: Cason Wallace steps up

After the second half of Week 7 (in Yahoo leagues) began with one game on Monday, the first two Emirates NBA Cup quarterfinals were played on Tuesday. Milwaukee and Oklahoma City punched their tickets to Las Vegas for Saturday’s semifinals, while Orlando and Dallas will complete their respective slates with an opponent to be determined on December 15. Finding suitable waiver wire adds during a week like this can be difficult, but there are some options. One is Oklahoma City PG/SG Cason Wallace, who has started five of his team’s last six games.

While scoring hasn’t been a strength of the second-year guard, he’s provided value in other categories, especially steals. While Wallace’s streak of games with three steals ended at three on Tuesday, he recorded two more in the Thunder’s 118-104 win over Dallas. In addition to the two steals, he tallied 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists, one blocked shot, and three 3-pointers in 31 minutes. By comparison, the two players Wallace has seemingly rotated into and out of the lineup with this season (Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins) played 17 and nine minutes, respectively.

Rostered in just 11% of Yahoo leagues, Wallace is closing in on top 100 value in 9-cat formats, and he’s close to a top 50 player in points-punt builds. Oklahoma City won’t play again until Saturday, but Wallace should be on the radar of more fantasy managers in deep leagues. Let’s look at a few of the top pickups from Tuesday.

SF/PF De’Andre Hunter (40%), Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks weren’t in action on Tuesday, as they’ll visit the Knicks in another NBA Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday. However, Hunter is worth a look, with Jalen Johnson (shoulder) listed as questionable after sitting out Sunday’s loss to the Nuggets. Listed as probable due to knee injury management, Hunter has provided top 60 per-game value in 9-cat formats over the past two weeks. And with Johnson sidelined on Sunday, he put up 20 shots off the bench.

C Goga Bitadze (34%), Orlando Magic

With Franz Wagner joining Paolo Banchero on the sideline over the weekend, Bitadze may be the low-rostered Magic player best equipped to provide reliable fantasy value in their absence. A top-40 player in 9-cat formats over the past two weeks, Bitadze finished Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee with 12 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one blocked shot in 38 minutes. With Jalen Suggs shouldering most of the offensive workload, others will need to step up, and Goga has shown himself to be capable of doing so.

SG/SF Luguentz Dort (24%), Oklahoma City Thunder

No matter how many 3-pointers he hits, opposing teams appear to be okay with letting Dort show off his improvement. He was 3-of-7 from deep against the Mavericks, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one blocked shot. He continues to hang around within the top 100 in 9-cat formats and will be worth a look ahead of Saturday’s semifinals in Las Vegas. There are only two games on the slate that day, so why now roll the dice on Dort?

SG/SF Naji Marshall (9%), Dallas Mavericks

Marshall was back on the court after missing four games due to an illness and was supposed to be on a limit of 20-25 minutes. That was before Marshall scored 14 points in 15 first-half minutes. He would play 29 in the loss to Oklahoma City, finishing with 19 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two 3-pointers. Marshall’s defensive stats have been lacking, but he’s worth a look when the Mavericks are shorthanded. They were without PJ Washington (illness) on Tuesday, freeing up opportunities for Marshall despite Quentin Grimes receiving the starting nod.

PG/SG Anthony Black (6%), Orlando Magic

Streaming Black doesn’t come without risk; the scoring can be inconsistent, and he doesn’t offer 3-point production. However, he played well against the Bucks, accounting for 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one blocked shot in 32 minutes. With Banchero and Franz Wagner sidelined, the minutes will be there for the second-year guard, even if he doesn’t play the same position. Sunday’s schedule consists of seven games (including Orlando hosting the Hawks/Knicks loser), but that may be a good opportunity to bet on Black.