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Jim McCormick, Special to ESPN.com
Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the marathon campaign, we’ll need to source stats from free agency to maximize imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last few spots on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding. When curating this fluid collective of statistical contributors, it helps to consider your end-of-bench players in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
The goal of this weekly series is to identify players at each position widely available in free agency in ESPN leagues. Some nominations are specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and important statistical offerings. In the breakdowns below, I’ve ordered players at each position with the priority of acquisition in mind, rather than roster percentage in ESPN men’s basketball leagues.
Point Guard
Keyonte George, Utah Jazz (Rostered in 12.3% of ESPN Leagues): A newfound scoring touch has propelled George to new heights as a fantasy option. Not only does the rookie from Baylor have nice creation vision for others, but his leap as a scorer is adding dimension to his profile. The Jazz are likely to empower him in the final weeks of the season.
Jeremy Sochan, San Antonio Spurs (20.2%): Eligible at power forward and point guard thanks to the early-season experiment with him at the helm of the offense, Sochan has since settled into a rewarding role as a two-way glue guy for the Spurs. Retaining such eligibility adds value, however, especially as he’s found his groove cleaning the glass over the past month.
Dalano Banton, Portland Trail Blazers (5.4%): Popping off with some massive scoring lines in recent games, Banton has taken his opportunities and made the most of them for a Portland roster in need of offense past Anfernee Simons. If Banton can keep up the playmaking, he could sustain value given Malcolm Brogdon’s propensity to miss games.
Kyle Lowry, Philadelphia 76ers (13.0%): It won’t always be pretty, but Lowry is quite busy as a veteran leader and steward of the Philly offense. The team badly needs his secondary creation next to Tyrese Maxey given the wave of injuries limiting the rotation, so steals and dimes are going to flow as long as the minutes do.
Shooting Guard
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans (31.2%): The most popular waiver addition of the week in ESPN leagues, Murphy merits such attention thanks to returning to elite form as a 3-and-D archetype. The Pelicans know they have a unique two-way talent in Murphy, as the minutes and shot diet confirm in recent weeks.
Vasilije Micic, Charlotte Hornets (4.6%): Injuries to LaMelo Ball and Tre Mann vault this former Euro League standout to a major starting role for the Hornets. He’s often responded with strong distribution results and even some scoring savvy.
Gary Trent Jr., Toronto Raptors (17.3%): Eligible at both backcourt spots and finally back in the mix as a heavy-minute cog for the Raptors, Trent Jr. is a high-volume 3-point specialist who also has been among league leaders in steal rate the past few seasons.
Ayo Dosunmu, Chicago Bulls (24.9%): The Bulls have looked to Dosunmu to help carry the offensive load left in the wake of Zach LaVine’s injury. The results aren’t always pretty in the scoring column, but enough passing and defensive prowess helps buffer such outings.
Small Forward
Deni Avdija, Washington Wizards (46.6%): An ability to clean the glass has been huge for Avdija’s minutes and impact lately, as the team badly needs such possession-ending results in the wake of getting smaller at the deadline. The fantasy finish could be strong for Avdija on a team that will feed him minutes and touches.
Kelly Oubre Jr., Philadelphia 76ers (52.5%): Speaking of minutes and touches, Oubre is a shot-happy forward in a spot that rewards this mentality. The aforementioned Sixers are in need of offense on most nights, thus Oubre’s confidence on that side of the ball can result in some big numbers.
Isaac Okoro, Cleveland Cavaliers (10.8%): A former top lottery pick who never really developed that much on offense, Okoro is playing big minutes lately and while the shot never really came around, his unique defensive skills surface enough to drive fantasy success.
Power Forward
Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors (57.9%): A breakout young player for a team in need of such an infusion, Kuminga’s call for more minutes and work earlier in the season turned into a major positive trend for both he and the roster. With Stephen Curry ailing, Kuminga’s scoring load is even bigger of late.
Kelly Olynyk, Toronto Raptors (22.7%): The Raptors are missing two key starters in Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, which fuels tons of high-post touches and creation opportunities for this savvy big.
Kyle Anderson, Minnesota Timberwolves (19.9%): Like with Olynyk, the scoring column might look lean some nights, but the passing, rebounding, and defense rates are all healthy enough to overcome such results.
Center
Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves (49.2%): An injury to Karl-Anthony Towns has meant Reid will be tasked with helping to space the offense next to Rudy Gobert, while also consuming center minutes himself whenever Gobert is off the floor. Both the fantasy floor and ceiling for these roles are quite impressive.
Paul Reed, Philadelphia 76ers (13.2%): This roster is somewhat thematic in a waiver wire sense in that the absence of Joel Embiid trickles into many spots, namely Reed’s role as a rim-running center for a team that needs his work on the boards and as a busy defender.
Special Teams:
This section focuses on specialists; players who flash in a singular category and can provide specific value to those in category and roto formats. Nominations are based on which category such players are helpful in and will rotate throughout the season.
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3-pointers: Murphy is second in the league in added value via 3-pointers the past two weeks via the Player Rater. The Knicks’ Donte DiVincenzo (55.1%) is fifth in this index over this sample. The Suns are getting efficient volume from Grayson Allen (31.7%), as well.
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Steals: With more minutes of late, Matisse Thybulle (2.8%) is back to league-leading steal production over the past month. Alex Caruso (25.7%) is similarly valuable, but also brings some offense to the floor. The Thompson twins also bring value on defense in this sense.
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Rebounds: Of the widely available player population, it’s tough to find many volume rebounders. One name of interest would be Wendell Carter Jr. (44.8%), who is 25th in added value on the glass the past two weeks. Avdija is 29th in this index of rebounding value over the same sample.
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Blocks: The Knicks keep running out Precious Achiuwa (22.0%) as a two-way force, with the rim protection rates rising to career levels in recent weeks. Reed is also helpful for those in need of swats.
Source: www.espn.com