Feb. 23-25 Fantasy Basketball Takeaways: Top Rookies and Waiver Wire Options | Terance Mann, Ayo Dosunmu, Cam Whitmore, Cole Anthony, Bol Bol and More

It was a busy weekend of NBA action, with tons of big performances from stars and unheralded players.

Let's dive into some of the best outings from Feb. 23-25.

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Sunday’s Top Performers

We’ll kick off the article by discussing Phoenix Suns’ Grayson Allen. He’s owned in 74% of leagues and tallied 24 points, two rebounds and one steal and block across 38 minutes in the team’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was Allen’s third straight game in double figures, and his best scoring output since mid-January. After a big of a cold stretch in late January/early February, Allen has heated back up. He’s a good source of points, but often lacks many other statistics on his statlines, so he’s probably going to stay around his own percentage until he can consistently add some other numbers.

Sacramento Kings’ Harrison Barnes, rostered in 46% of leagues, had 22 points, two rebounds and one assist and steal across 36 minutes in the team’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

It was Barnes’ second 20-point outing over the past three games, but he only scored five points in the game in between. The inconsistency from a scoring perspective is going to keep him from being owned in a lot of standard leagues - his lack of rebounds, assists, steals and blocks are another reason why. He’s still a solid asset in deeper leagues, especially when he can deliver these kinds of scoring nights.

Charlotte Hornets’ Nick Richards, owned in 65% of leagues, totaled 21 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals across 33 minutes in the team’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Richards is a double-double threat anytime he’s on the court, and was especially good as a scorer on Sunday. While 20-point outings aren’t all that likely, the points and boards are solid enough most nights to roster in most formats, then any assists, steals or blocks are just a bonus.

Chicago Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu, rostered in 73% of leagues, tallied 21 points, eight assists and three steals and rebounds across 39 minutes in the team’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Dosunmu has started 10 of the team’s last 11 games, scoring in double figures in each start. He’s averaging 16.1 points, 4.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks across 36.1 minutes over that span, which is solid enough to roster in a lot of leagues. There might be better options out there in some standard leagues, but Dosunmu does enough on the court to consider as well.

Clippers’ Norman Powell, rostered in 32% of leagues, accumulated 21 points, two rebounds and assists and one steal across 37 minutes in the team’s loss.

It was his third straight game with around 20 points, but he failed to provide much else while on the court again. He’s worth playing in deeper leagues until he cools off a bit from the floor, but otherwise, he’s not the greatest fantasy asset outside the really deep leagues.

Charlotte’s Cody Martin, rostered in just 6% of leagues, posted 11 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block across 31 minutes in the team’s win. 

Martin isn’t the best scoring threat, but he usually fills the stat sheet pretty well every game. He plays plenty of minutes, so I like the idea of adding him in deeper leagues to see if he can keep producing similar statlines.

Indiana Pacers rookie Ben Sheppard, owned in 1% of leagues, scored 15 points in just 12 minutes of action in the team’s win over the Dallas Mavericks. He also had four assists, two steals and a rebound.

Sheppard has gotten some decent playing time in three straight games, and has done some solid things on the court. His strong shooting (including going 5-for-5 on 3-pointers) should get him some more playing time moving forward. I’d keep an eye on him in deeper leagues, but until he consistently plays over 20 minutes, he’s definitely a risky fantasy play.

Houston Rockets rookie Cam Whitmore, rostered in 22% of leagues, recorded 12 points, three rebounds and one steal and block across 17 minutes in the team’s loss to OKC. Whitmore had 15 points, three rebounds and an assist across 21 minutes in the team’s win over Phoenix on Friday.

Whitmore continues to do some good things while on the court, but until he gets some more playing time, his ceiling is limited. You probably still should roster him in deeper dynasty leagues.

OKC’s Vasilije Micic, rostered in 4% of leagues, posted 21 points, 10 assists, four rebounds and two steals across two games this weekend.

Micic has played around 20 minutes per game over the past six contests. He’s averaging 9.7 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 0.3 steals per game over that span. It’s solid production, and he’s playing enough to consider in deeper leagues and dynasties, but his own percentage won’t jump too high until he gets closer to 25 minutes per game.

Saturday’s Best Outings

Detroit’s Simone Fontecchio, rostered in 42% of leagues, contributed 17 points, five assists, three rebounds and one assist across 31 minutes in the team’s loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

Fontecchio has found a nice groove since joining the Pistons, averaging 15.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.8 steals across 28.6 minutes over a five-game span. He should be added in deeper leagues.

Orlando’s Moritz Wagner, rostered in 29% of leagues, recorded 14 points, seven rebounds and one assist and steal across 17 minutes in the team’s win.

Wagner’s playing time jumps all over the place, with between 13-25 minutes over the past three games. It’s resulted in wildly different scoring outputs (2-22 points), which makes it hard to roster him in any leagues. I still like the idea of rostering him in deeper leagues, but there’s probably also better options out there.

Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr., owned in 70% of leagues, totaled 29 points, 20 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block across 56 minutes played on Saturday and Sunday. 

Those two games show he can provide fantasy value consistently in points and rebounds, with the other stats being nice bonuses. His scoring will fluctuate from night to night, but I think he does enough consistently to roster if you have the room for him.

We continue the Orlando theme with Cole Anthony, who is rostered in 43% of leagues. He had 28 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and two blocks and steals across two games this weekend.

Anthony has scored in double figures in four straight games, with decent rebound and assist numbers in three of those contests. He’s a good option in deeper leagues, but needs more games like this to consider in standard leagues.

Friday’s Standouts

Phoenix’s Bol Bol, owned in 12% of leagues, finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and one steal and block across 27 minutes in the team’s loss to the Rockets. 

Bol has played a little bit over the past couple of weeks. He’s shown the ability to score and rebound quite well, so he might continue to get some run. With so much untapped potential, you might need to add him soon in order to avoid missing out on him - he’ll be a big waiver wire add with another game or two of decent production.

Clippers’ Terance Mann, rostered in 7% of leagues, recorded 23 points, 12 rebounds and one assist and steal across 31 minutes in the team’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies. He also had 14 points, six boards and four assists over 39 minutes on Sunday.

These two scoring outputs were his first time in double figures since early February, so he might be worth streaming for the time being, but probably only in deeper leagues.

Atlanta Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter, rostered in 58% of leagues, finished with 22 points, five rebounds and two assists across 25 minutes in the team’s loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday. In the team’s first game without Trae Young, who will be out for at least four weeks, Hunter had 18 points, seven boards and two steals and assists across 28 minutes in a win over the Magic. 

Hunter might be a player to add in any formats until Young gets back. I plan to write a full story on that, so check back for that soon.

Toronto’s Gradey Dick posted 18 points, two rebounds and one assist across 22 minutes in the team’s win on Friday. He’s owned in 12% of leagues.

Dick has enjoyed some nice scoring nights over the past few weeks, but he’s been a little too inconsistent to roster in more leagues. He also doesn’t do much else besides score when out there.