Fantasy Basketball Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups | Should You Add Jae Crowder, Mason Plumlee and Marcus Sasser?
The second week of the NBA season has passed, which means it’s time to check out some of the hottest waiver wire players as week 3 kicks in.
Much like last week, I want to keep the focus on sparsely-owned players, so we’ll take a look at Milwaukee Bucks’ Jae Crowder, Los Angeles Clippers’ Mason Plumlee and Detroit Pistons’ Marcus Sasser. All three players saw their own percentage jump at least 9%.
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Jae Crowder Fantasy Outlook
Let’s start with Crowder, who is getting the most consistent amount of minutes between the trio in this discussion. Crowder has started once across the team’s first five games, playing between 24-27 minutes.
He’s scored in double digits (14) just once, but has two games at nine points and another at eight. The other game saw Crowder score just two points.
Crowder has been a solid rebounder, with three or more in all but one contest. He’s reached five rebounds on two occasions. Crowder has either two or three assists in every contest and one steal and block in three games.
He’s barely turned the ball over, with just two in five games. He’s committed at least one foul a contest, and has nine fouls for the season.
On a team that’s got Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lilliard to lead the offense and then Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez taking on most of the other field goals when the starters are playing together - many of which Crowder is on the floor with - there’s not much room for Crowder to score consistently.
He’s gotten up four shots in every game, with most of his looks coming from behind the 3-point line. Crowder is shooting 53.6% on his triples so far, which should continue to allow him to play a good amount of minutes, and many of the crucial ones.
Verdict: In standard leagues, Crowder is starting to gain some traction as an end-of-the-roster option, but I’d hold off on adding him for now. There’s better options out there that can more consistently fill up the box score. Now in deeper leagues, Crowder should definitely be added, in my opinion. He’s playing plenty of minutes and doing enough in those minutes to be a solid fantasy option. His role should be expanded if anyone were to miss extended time this season with an injury, so he’s worth rostering for that reason too.
Mason Plumlee Fantasy Outlook
Plumlee is another guy that’s coming off the bench but playing enough minutes to be a solid fantasy threat. He’s played between 18-22 minutes in four of the team’s five games. Plumlee played 12 minutes in the one contest he didn’t reach those minute totals.
He’s not a guy that’s going to score a ton, with just one game at 10 points. The other four contests, Plumlee has scored six or less points.
Plumlee is a consistent rebounder, with at least six in every contest he’s played at least 18 minutes in. Eight of his 31 rebounds have come on the offensive glass.
He’s not going to consistently do much else, as he’s got five assists and one block on the season. Plumlee has three steals, but they all came in one contest. He’s turned the ball over four times and committed six fouls, although he’s only fouled opponents in two games.
Verdict: Plumlee is another player that makes more sense as a waiver wire add in deeper leagues. He simply doesn’t do enough on a nightly basis to be considered in standard leagues. He should consistently play around 20 minutes, score a few points and grab several rebounds - anything after that is gravy. If you’re in a deep enough league that has Plumlee as one of the top free agents, then he absolutely can be considered for a roster spot.
Marcus Sasser Fantasy Outlook
Sasser was the 25th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He wasn’t playing many minutes to kick off the season, but has played 23 or more minutes in three straight contests.
Sasser played under 11 minutes in the team’s first three contests, tallying 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in that span. He accumulated six points, two boards, two assists and a steal across 14 minutes in game four, and since has played 23 minutes twice before nearly 30 minutes in game seven.
Sasser scored eight points to go along with six assists, four steals and a block in his fifth game. He jumped up to 19 points, two boards, three assists and a steal in game six before going for 22 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal in game seven.
Despite playing more minutes, he actually hasn’t turned the ball over since game two. He’s committing a few more fouls as you’d expect, but still only has 10 for the season.
The rookie is shooting 58.1% overall, 59.1% on 3-pointers and 100% from the free-throw line to average 9.3 points.
Verdict: While the Pistons have struggled to start the season, Sasser has not. He’s a big part of the team’s rotation, and should continue to get plenty of minutes as the team tries to determine what players will stick around in the years to come. I like the idea of adding Sasser in standard leagues, and especially like it in deeper leagues. If he continues to play between 25-30 minutes a game, he’s got the chance to be a consistent fantasy option, especially seeing as he can fill the stat sheet and isn’t just dependent on his scoring.
