The Playlist: Week 1 fantasy basketball wavier wire pickups and schedules notes |Max Sporty|

Welcome to The Playlist: my weekly column that lets you know who and what to play — when it comes to music or other things in my rotation — for the upcoming week in fantasy basketball.

Each week, you’ll see a compilation of the pickups you need to make, lineup notes (which is in and out of rotations), followed by takeaways on the schedule.

Press play and mix in the latest fantasy basketball information.

🎧 Who’s in My Rotation: Waiver Traps

As a general strategy note, look in the waiver for players with the INJ name. Take them and store them in an IL location (if you have one). Shaedon Sharpe comes to mind as he is only 29% listed.

Oh and for those with IL+ points, there are tons of players who are listed as GTD. Send them to IL+ if they don’t play so you can pick up another player on waivers.

Payton Pritchard – PG, Boston Celtics (14% listed)

The Celtics play Tuesday and Thursday, so you’ll get two quality games out of Pritchard in a three-game week. What is better? After playing the Knicks on opening night, the Celtics face the Wizards and the Pistons. Pritchard could go for 30.

Trolling or not, the Celtics will be heavily favored in every contest, so Pritchard has a good chance to increase minutes and production this week. He should be the Celtics sixth man, so stream him and see where it goes. Sam Hauser is an alternative option if you’re looking for 3s.

Taylor Hendricks – SF/PF, Utah Jazz (48% listed)

The second-year pro did not have a good preseason. However, he starts at PF and can hit 3s and generate shares. He averaged six boards as a starter as well, so with more minutes, he could inject some vague value into the back end of your team.

Kelly Oubre Jr. – SG/SF, Philadelphia 76ers (31% listed)

We don’t know when Paul George will be ready for the start of the season, so Oubre Jr. could get a nice boost in opportunity if PG misses any floor time this week. As a starter, he’s safely in the 30s, but more shot volume, rebounding and steals are a reasonable expectation if George doesn’t play.

Nick Richards – C, Charlotte Hornets (12% listed)

The Hornets are still mum on Mark Williams’ return date, so Richards becomes a fluid option for rebounding, blocking and FG%. Williams hasn’t been able to stay healthy and Richards is a useful big if you need depth at the position. Richards averaged 10 points with 8.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks with Mark Williams out of the lineup last year.

Al Horford – PF/C, Boston Celtics (39% listed)

Playing big Al in a three-game week without back-to-backs? A wise choice. Without Kristaps Porziņģis in the lineup, Horford averaged 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 3s and 1.8 shares in 30 minutes. He enters Year 18 in the league as an underrated but solid 3-point shooter and functional defender. If you’re not feeling Horford, go with Xavier Tillman Sr. – especially against the Wizards and Pistons.

Jaden McDaniels – SF/PF, Minnesota Timberwolves (24% listed)

Like the Celtics, the Timberwolves play Tuesday and Thursday, so McDaniels is guaranteed to fit into your lineup. McDaniels shot particularly well in the preseason, finishing an exhibition game 12-for-21 from the field (57%), 5-for-8 from 3 (63%) and 6-for-7 from the line (86%) across four. games Should that carry over into the regular season, which makes a solid run along with his stock potential.

🗓️ Schedule Highlights:

“We all need something to help us through our daily events” – AZ, I’m coming back

• Teams playing three games: Bulls, Cavaliers, Celtics, Clippers, Grizzlies, Hawks, Hornets, Lakers, Nets, Pacers, Pelicans, Pistons, Raptors, Rockets, Suns, Thunder, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers and Warriors

• Teams playing two games: Heat, Jazz, Kings, Knicks, Mavericks, Nuggets, Spurs and Wizards

• Main Flow Days: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• Back-to-backs:

  • friday/saturday: Bulls, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Hornets, Lakers, Magic, Pistons, Raptors, Rockets and Suns

  • Saturday/Sunday: Scissors and Thunder

  • Sunday/Monday: Bucks, Hawks, Pacers and Trail Blazers