Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the season, we need to source stats from free agency to maximize our imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last spot or two on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding, so it can help to consider those end-of-bench players as in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
In this weekly series, I identify players available in more than 40 percent of ESPN leagues at each position. Some nominations are purely specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and important statistical offerings. Either way, I believe the names below -- ordered positionally by the percentage of rosters each player is on -- can contribute positively to fantasy teams.
Point guard
Milos Teodosic, LA Clippers (Rostered in 16.5 percent of ESPN leagues): The team is bringing along Teodosic conservatively from injury, but with 12 rebounds and 11 assists over his past two appearances in his busy gig as the Clippers' lead distributor, he's a fine addition for those thin at point guard.
Yogi Ferrell, Dallas Mavericks (6.1 percent): Patching together a series of rewarding rentals is a great way to maximize utility and bench spots during the marathon NBA campaign. Ferrell qualifies as a short-term investment given his interim promotion. Dennis Smith Jr.'s injury allows for Ferrell to see extended exposure, and he should be rostered for the next several games until the rookie returns.
Jarrett Jack, New York Knicks (4.9 percent): There is nothing so special about Jack's production profile, but he does offer a high floor for assists thanks to steady minutes and touches.
Shooting guard
Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics (39.3 percent): As the resident sixth man for the Celtics, Smart -- and not Kyrie Irving -- leads the team in assists and is a consistent source for steals. Shooting efficiency will never be part of the recipe for Smart, but I remain convinced the market taxes him too much for his poor field goal rate.
Courtney Lee, New York Knicks (39.2 percent): There isn't any buzz about Lee's hot scoring stretch of late. He's averaging 16.7 PPG with helpful rates in steals and 3-pointers over the past 12 starts. The Knicks' backcourt has been written off for the most part, but we're finding real value in Lee at a shallow shooting guard position.
E'Twaun Moore, New Orleans Pelicans (25.4 percent): The fantasy market needs to appreciate Moore, well, more. He's averaged 17.9 PPG and a whopping 37.9 MPG over the past nine games as the Pelicans' lone competent wing. With quietly stellar 3-point numbers, you need to embrace Moore's scoring volatility given how many minutes he's afforded each night.
Nik Stauskas, Brooklyn Nets (4.6 percent): Among the most added shooting guards of the past week thanks to a rousing debut with the Nets, Stauskas is an interesting flier for those in need of shooting in deep leagues.
Small forward
Caris LeVert, Brooklyn Nets (29.4 percent): As simplistic as it seems, minutes are a form of currency in fantasy basketball; we simply need them to net positive fantasy production. The Nets have deployed LeVert for 28.9 MPG over the past five games, which has resulted in solid assist and steal rates. He merits interest as a flier for the next few weeks.
Lance Stephenson, Indiana Pacers (10.4 percent): Stephenson's modest scoring results are often tough to look past, but his versatility and ability to build out diverse lines is useful in leagues of at least 12 teams.
Josh Richardson, Miami Heat (11.3 percent): A big scoring outing this past Saturday night should see Richardson rostered in more leagues as the week progresses, but as is the case with LeVert, we should already value him thanks to playing 33.1 minutes per game over the past eight games (all starts).
Power forward
Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz (39.2 percent): Would you want to roster a player who an objective standard deviation model values as the 55th most impactful fantasy producer this season? Ingles is in lofty company on the Player Rater, ahead of Myles Turner and just behind DeAndre Jordan, yet is available in 60 percent of ESPN leagues. Maybe the market isn't warming to Ingles since he's netting a modest 10.5 PPG, but a rich line rife with rebounds, assists and some of the most efficient 3-point production in the league culminates in top-60 value for the Australian import.
Trey Lyles, Denver Nuggets (6.5 percent): Just behind Kevin Durant at 10th on the Player Rater among players eligible at power forward over the past seven days, Lyles has averaged 29.3 MPG and 18.3 PPG over the past four games. It's certainly surprising to see him thrive in place of Paul Millsap, but his unique stretch skill set appears ideal for this offense.
Center
John Collins, Atlanta Hawks (32.5 percent): Back from injury, Collins offers help across several categories with some awesome opportunity rates in regards to rebounding chances and minutes available to him in the games ahead.
Alex Len, Phoenix Suns (21.0 percent): The Phoenix frontcourt -- particularly at center -- has been inscrutable for much of the season. With the volatility of this rotation in mind, Len has been the hot hand of late and could be worth rostering until his next eventual benching (only sort of joking).
John Henson, Milwaukee Bucks (17.9 percent): Blocks are arguably the toughest category for consistent production, so Henson makes some sense at the pivot in deeper leagues given he's tied for seventh in the league with 1.59 per game.
