Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
With Kobe Bryant on the mend this year, SG Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat was the consensus number one shooting guard in most fantasy basketball drafts. He has been a superstar fantasy option for years and his career average of 24.5 points per game has helped him anchor his position.
It is no secret that Wade has been extremely electric this season when he has been on the court. He is averaging 19.5 points per game to go along with 4.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists. These seem to be typical numbers from D-Wade, but the veteran obviously don’t come without some baggage.
Unfortunately, Wade has the knees of a 60-year-old man and he has recently become quite the headache for fantasy fans to own. The guard is almost never completely healthy and he will be a threat to sit each game. He has already missed eight games this season and the superstar will likely miss another 8-10 games before it is all said and done.
Even worse, Miami will likely have a playoff spot secured fairly early this season, so Wade could end up sitting out more games as the season moves forward. The team wants him to be healthy for a playoff run and it isn’t unrealistic to think that Wade will sit out at least one game per week down the stretch in order to be healthy for the final months of the season.
Wade is much easier to keep tabs on in daily leagues, because it gives owners enough time to reshuffle their lineup. The uncertainty surrounding his daily status makes him hard to trust for an entire week, though, and he is almost impossible to plug in consistently in weekly formats. Either way, you get what you paid for.
If you drafted Wade and are starting to get frustrated with him, it is too late to start panicking. Simply stay updated on his health status each week and hope for the best.
Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.
