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Week 17 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: D.J. Augustin

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By @bradberreman24

D.J. Augustin, Fantasy Basketball

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Part of the flurry of activity at the NBA‘s trade deadline on Thursday was a three-team trade that sent guard Reggie Jackson from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Detroit Pistons and center Enes Kanter from the Utah Jazz to Oklahoma City. Among the other players the Thunder acquired in the deal was guard D.J. Augustin, who will now replace Jackson as Russell Westbrook’s backup at point guard.

Augustin stepped into a prominent role for the Pistons after Brandon Jennings tore his left Achilles’ tendon in January, starting all 10 games since that point and averaging 20.3 points, 8.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game over more than 34 minutes per contest. He obviously won’t see that kind of playing time in Oklahoma City, as long as Westbrook is healthy of course, and the numbers Augustin put up prior to Jennings being sidelined (8.4 points and 4.2 assists per game over 21.4 minutes per game) is a more realistic expectation for him over the rest of the season.

The peak of Augustin’s fantasy value for this year is probably gone, with or without the trade to the Thunder that altered things, but his stock would rise substantially once again if Westbrook were sidelined for more than a game or two at any point over the rest of the season. That possibility means Augustin should not automatically be dropped by fantasy owners that added him when Jennings went down, unless a solid upgrade can be found on the waiver wire at this late stage of the season. But I also can’t make a case for adding him, and if Augustin is available in your league you can continue to avoid him right now.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist/Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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