Pickups to help your playoff chances

Special to Yahoo Sports

Although there is as much parity this season as there has been in recent memory, the NBA regular season is still starting to wind down, slowly but surely, with more teams slipping out of the playoff race and shifting the focus to developing the young talent.

The playoffs have already begun for some fantasy leagues, while others are nearing that stage. With differing timelines in mind, this week’s waiver wire article separates the suggested pickups into two categories: players widely rostered whose availability should be double-checked, and players widely available who are rostered in no more than one out of every five leagues.

Without further ado, here are nine players to consider adding heading into Week 20.

DOUBLE-CHECK

Marvin Bagley, Detroit Pistons (47% rostered)

After missing a month due to fractured fingers on his non-dominant hand, Bagley has benefitted from the recent absences of Isaiah Stewart (hip) and Jalen Duren (ankle), combining for 50 points and 39 boards in his first three games since rejoining the rotation. However, even once Stewart and Duren are healthy, Bagley’s offensive agility and Stewart’s spacing ability may allow Detroit to regularly roll out lineups with two of their four big men (including James Wiseman). As such, Bagley could be more than a short-term streaming option, so see if he’s still available.

Bruce Brown, Denver Nuggets (46% rostered)

Brown is having his worst rebounding season (3.9 RPG) since his rookie year. Nevertheless, he’s producing career highs in scoring (11.1 PPG), dimes (3.5 APG), threes (1.3 3PG) and minutes (28.6 MPG) while maintaining a solid field-goal percentage (48.7% FG) and chipping in defensively to the tune of 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. Brown has been rostered in more than 50 percent of leagues for most of the season but that’s fallen following a couple of underwhelming outings after the All-Star break. If another manager in your league dropped him, don’t hesitate to…