How Waiver Wire Fantasy Basketball Players Performed in Bucks' Win over Spurs: Malik Beasley, Jeremy Sochan, Bobby Portis, Tre Jones, Pat Connaughton and More

We’ve looked at some of the NBA’s top performers for the past couple weeks now. It’s a good way to see which guys are consistently performing at a high level.

I want to switch things up today, so we’re going to look at some lesser owned fantasy guys from Thursday night’s games. Check back later for another similar story on the other NBA game from the night.

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Bucks Fantasy Assets

The Milwaukee Bucks picked up a 125-121 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

You can probably guess that Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks (44 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one block). Damian Lillard struggled from 3-point land again, but still provided 25 points, 10 assists and four boards. Khris Middleton (12 points, five assists, three boards in one half) and Brook Lopez (nine points, four rebounds, three blocks) are also fantasy roster locks.

The team’s fifth starter is Malik Beasley, who contributed 10 points and two rebounds. He’s owned in about 51% of fantasy leagues, according to our charts.

For the season, Beasley is averaging 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.1 blocks across 29.6 minutes. He’s shooting a strong 48.8% overall and is 46.9% from deep. 

He’s averaging less than nine field goal attempts per game, which is limiting his fantasy value. Beasley isn’t going to get a ton of shots when he’s on the court with Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton, so he’s one of the rare cases in which I’d prefer for a player to come off the bench. He’d still get a good amount of minutes that way, but would be higher up on the scoring preference list. 

For now, I think his own percentage is about right on. If he gets hot or makes a move to the bench, I’d expect his percentage to go up a little bit, as his scoring would probably bump up a touch.

Bobby Portis is the Bucks’ sixth man and is owned in 93% of leagues, but I briefly want to talk about him. He had just five points, four rebounds and a block across 20 minutes of action on Thursday.

Portis has failed to reach double figures in points in four straight games, and he’s had six or less boards in each of those games. He’s capable of bigger games, and has five double-doubles this season, but he’s been really inconsistent.

I’d expect his own percentage to start falling a bit if he continues to put up unimpressive numbers. You could try trading him, but might not get a great return after what he’s produced lately. I’d try to avoid trading him until he’s put up a couple good outings.

The return of Jae Crowder, which should happen within a couple weeks, could also hurt Portis' fantasy value, while giving the Bucks some flexibility in their rotation to move some players around.

Pat Connaughton tallied seven points, six rebounds and a steal across 28 minutes for Milwaukee. He’s owned in just 7% of leagues.

His own percentage is as low as it is in part due to missing several games recently, but also because he fails to consistently stuff the stat sheet. He hasn’t scored in double figures since mid-November and has only hit five assists once this season. Connaughton has hit five or more rebounds in just nine contests.

Until he starts to consistently score or rebound, he should remain on the waiver wire.

MarJon Beauchamp is another guy owned in just 7% of leagues. He’s also dealt with some injuries this season.

After missing a game on Jan. 1, Beauchamp has combined for 20 points, six rebounds and one assist across the past two games.

As the Bucks look for more consistency on the defensive end of the court, Beauchamp is worth monitoring over the next few games. If he can continue to score at a good clip, and start pulling down a few rebounds or dishing out a few assists, he could be a decent fantasy option. His minutes could decrease with Crowder back in the picture.

Cameron Payne is the backup point guard for Milwaukee. He had five points, four assists and a rebound in Thursday’s game and is owned in just 5% of leagues.

Payne has played in every game this season, but simply isn’t getting enough consistent playing time to be a real big fantasy asset. He’s scored in double figures nine times and finished with at least five assists in six contests. He’s never had over four rebounds in a game, while having a steal in 10 games and a block in just two.

Payne would only be a fantasy asset on the Bucks if Lillard were to be out for an extended period. Otherwise, Payne shouldn't be owned outside of really deep fantasy leagues.

Spurs Fantasy Assets

San Antonio's most-owned fantasy assets are Victor Wembanyama, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell. 

Vassell led San Antonio with 34 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and a steal. Wemby, who is somehow only owned in 91% of leagues (add him now if you can), finished with 27 points, nine boards, five blocks and one assist and steal. Johnson had 14 points, 10 rebounds and an assist in nearly 30 minutes off the bench.

Tre Jones played 35 minutes, finishing with 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and a steal. He’s owned in 57% of leagues.

Jones’ own percentage is where it is at due to consistency. In his two previous games, he combined for 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. A couple more showings like Thursday would help that percentage rise, and that’s when I’d consider adding him to my fantasy team.

Jeremy Sochan had a rough shooting night (3-of-11), but finished with a solid nine points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block across 32 minutes. He’s owned in 49% of leagues right now.

Thursday was the third time Sochan hasn’t topped 10 points in a game in the past seven contests. He reached 15 or more points in three of those games, and is worth monitoring to see if he can be a decent fantasy asset.

Cedi Osman tallied 13 points, five assists and three steals across about 28 minutes played. He’s owned in just 3% of leagues.

He took advantage of a couple players being out and played his second-most minutes for the season. It was his first game in double figures as a scorer since a string of three straight games in mid-December.

Dominick Barlow is another guy that took advantage of some extra playing time. He had six points, four assists and two blocks across nearly 15 minutes.

He’s played in four straight games, but isn’t putting enough numbers across the board to be worthy of a fantasy spot outside extremely deep fantasy leagues.

On a team like the Spurs, which is young, injured and trying to find the right pieces to build around for the future, you’ll want to keep a close eye on the box scores from their games. If a trend starts to form and one of these lesser-owned guys starts getting consistent playing time, you might be able to beat other fantasy owners to the waiver wire for an emerging fantasy threat.