Hot Fantasy Basketball Pickups - Week 13

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On Friday night, Lou Williams tore his ACL in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season. While it's a terrible injury for Lou and his fantasy owners, there are a number of Hawks that stand to benefit from the additional opportunity.

On Saturday night, rather than moving Devin Harris into the starting lineup to replace Lou, the Hawks opted to go with a bigger lineup starting Teague, Korver, Smith, Horford and Pachulia. Devin Harris got banged up on Saturday night, but had been averaging 16 points and 2.3 threes in his last 3 games. Harris missed Monday's game, and has been injury prone in his career, so it's unlikely he will be back for a little while.

Kyle Korver seen here with the Jazz

The biggest beneficiary here is Kyle Korver, who has been averaging 37 minutes per game in his last three games. He has already been a solid player all season based on his elite three point shooting and well rounded game, but with Lou out, Korver becomes a must add player in standard leagues. Zaza Pachulia (who has started the last two games at center), John Jenkins and newly signed Jannero Pargo (who had 16 points and 4 threes on Monday) are also going to benefit and are good guys to consider for deeper leagues.

If you haven't checked out the recent Hot Pickups columns for Week 12, Week 10 and Week 9, please do so since a lot of those players are still playing very well and are available in a lot of leagues. Now lets look at some of the other hot pickups of the week:

Al-Farouq Aminu, NO - Aminu started the season on fire before struggling through December, which resulted in his being dropped in a lot of leagues. In January, Aminu is back, averaging 7.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks on 48% and 81% FG and FT shooting. Over the past 3 games however, Aminu has picked it up a notch, averaging a double of 16 points and 10 boards and has been a top 50 player over the last 2 weeks. Aminu's role should even increase after Anthony Davis suffered another ankle injury on Monday. He should continue to post massive stats and needs to be owned in all leagues.

Alan Anderson, TOR - Anderson’s returning 9th round value over the last week with averages of 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 three’s, and 1 steal. After playing over 34 minutes in his previous two games, he came off the bench for 28 minutes on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers and ended up with 14 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 3 three’s. His ability to score beyond the arc makes him more valuable than teammate Landry Fields. He’s worth a pick up in all standard leagues.

Alonzo Gee - Gee’s been a headache for most of the season. Consequently, he may have been dropped in your league and it’s completely understandable. However, there is still some upside here because he’s the starting small forward with the ability to make threes and grab steals. With Varejao out for another seven weeks, Gee can still make some noise in fantasy hoops. Give him a hard look if you need a guard/forward.

Earl Clark - Clark has been relied on heavily by the Lakers with their front court running thin at the time and has delivered, at least in the rebounding department. He’s returning 6th round value over the last week and 4th round value over the last two weeks. His ability to shoot and make the three ball makes him more valuable. He had 14 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 three pointer against the Raptors. Monday night it was announced that Clark will stay in the starting rotation, moving Pau Gasol to the bench. As a result, Clark should be owned in all leagues going forward.

Elton Brand has been a solid backup big for the Mavs

Vince Carter - Carter’s quietly returning seventh round value throughout this season. He doesn’t provide upside, but just contributes enough (mainly his 2 threes per game) to maintain value in standard leagues even while coming off the bench with Dirk in the lineup. He backed up his huge 29-point performance against OKC two nights ago with 15 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 three’s, 1 steal, 3 blocks and zero turnovers in 29 minutes against the Magic. He’s going to be frustrating to own, but he's a solid pickup while he's hot.

Elton Brand, DAL - This former fantasy stud is a shell of his former self, but that doesn't mean he cant be a good contributor for your fantasy team. He's only been playing 21 minutes/game on the season (24 in January), but he's been making them count, scoring double digit points in each of his last 5 games and averaging 9 boards, while shooting 56% from the field and 100% from the line. His role has been growing at the expense of Chris Kaman, so he's definitely worth the add if you need a big man. Just keep in mind he doesn't play until Friday this week.