It’s Week 11 in the NBA and it’s also almost 2020! So Happy New Year to all you fantasy basketball owners out there, scouring the wire to replace injured players or add depth to your roster. We have some interesting names on the list for this week. A few are to capitalize on a couple big injuries going on with two All-Stars. The Washington Wizards lost Bradley Beal to a leg injury last week and he’s questionable heading into Monday night vs. the Miami Heat. Beal may return, but it seems like the Wizards could opt to rest Beal on back-to-back sets throughout the season. If load management is on the horizon, it may be a good idea to handcuff Beal. The other big name is Karl-Anthony Towns (knee), who has missed the past six games. It also doesn’t look like Towns is ready to come back and he’s on another team playing for very little right now. The Timberwolves could be cautious with KAT moving forward.
Here are the top waiver wire targets for Week 11.
Damion Lee, SG, Golden State Warriors (8.9 percent owned on ESPN)
Lee had a coming out party on Christmas Day in the Warriors’ unlikely win over the Houston Rockets. He scored a season-high 22 points with 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals for 38 fantasy points. He followed up that performance with a couple of strong outings, most recently 24 points and 12 rebounds against the Mavericks in 33 minutes. Lee is showing very strong rebounding numbers for a guard and should continue to see playing time as long as Stephen Curry is sidelined. Lee is also a decent 3-point shooter, so he has appeal as a cross-category contributor for the Dubs.
Troy Brown Jr., SF, Washington Wizards (9.2 percent)
As I mentioned above, Beal is questionable to play Monday and could return to the lineup. He could also be held out again and get additional games off in the future, so I think it’s a good idea to snag Brown if you own Beal. Injury to the All-Star aside, Brown has produced pretty admirably over the past seven days, averaging 16 points and 7.7 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game. The Wizards are one of the most injury depleted units in the NBA, but Brown has been able to stay healthy and should continue to see around 30 minutes per game. He’s produced at least 10 fantasy points in nine of his past 10 games. It also helps the Wiz are playing four games this week.
Gorgui Dieng, C, Minnesota Timberwolves (3.6 percent)
With Towns out, Dieng has been starting in place of the All-Star for the T-Wolves. In the six games with KAT out of the lineup, Dieng is posting these averages: 29.8 minutes, 13.8 points, 9.3 rebounds. That’s nearly a double-double in 30 minutes per game. Not too shabby if you ask me. The T-Wolves are a mess, but Dieng is in a very favorable spot as long as Towns remains sidelined. And again, I think Minnesota will want to ease KAT back into action and won’t overuse him when he comes back, so Dieng should see more run off the bench if that’s the case. But for now, I think Dieng is a good pickup in deeper formats. Minny also has four games this week and three are soft matchups.