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'll need to source stats from free agency to maximize our imaginary rosters.
In this weekly series, we identify players available in at least half 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.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last spot or two on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding. It can help to consider your end-of-bench players in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
With the All-Star break in the background and the fantasy playoffs looming, I've decided to pivot from our traditional position-by-position format and instead focus on the widely available players who can help managers in specific statistical categories. With general guard, forward and utility spots to fill, fantasy hoops has become increasingly positionless, following the NBA's trend.
The trade deadline has passed in ESPN standard leagues, leaving the waiver wire as the sole source for reinforcements. On the doorstep of the fantasy playoffs, it's time to aggressively seek out remedies to the statistical categories that trouble our rosters.
Scoring
It's really difficult to acquire consistent scoring from the waiver wire at this point in the season, so the best approach is likely to follow DFS content in order to identify which players appear due for big leaps in minutes and usage in a given night. The impending tankathon set to unfold will afford players on rosters like Memphis, Sacramento and Chicago uniquely big nights. I discuss this trend in this week's Forecaster.
While the market is thin for steady scorers, there are some names of note if you are seeking points above all else. Orlando's Mario Hezonja (rostered in 29.0 percent of ESPN leagues) is 25th overall in added value in points scored on the Player Rater over the past 15 days. His usage and minutes could be a bit compromised now that the Magic's rotation is getting healthy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this heat check specialist average around 15 PPG down the stretch.
If you are willing to embrace the variance in efficiency and effectiveness, Josh Jackson (40.2 percent) will endure as a rookie; he's tied at 23rd in the NBA in shots per game with Stephen Curry over the past 10 games.
Chicago's Bobby Portis (41.2 percent) enjoyed an aberrational explosion with 38 points against the 76ers this past week, but I'm more intrigued by the fact he's scored at least 10 points in eight straight thanks to a significant leap in offensive workload sans Nikola Mirotic.
The Nuggets have struggled to get scoring pop from their forwards with Paul Millsap sidelined, but it's worth targeting Wilson Chandler (38.2 percent) for a surge after the break. The versatile wing has been relatively awful on offense this season, but over the past four games has averaged 18 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.3 APG and 2.5 3PG. Most valuably, he's averaging nearly 15 shots over this period. Even upon Millsap's return, Chandler could sustain a valuable scoring role.
Shooting
If elite scoring is tough to find on the waiver wire at any point during the season (only Donovan Mitchell really comes to mind this season), it's far easier to find difference-makers from beyond the arc.
Even as Brooklyn's incentive to lose games is gone -- given Cleveland holds the rights to their pick -- the Nets are still affording tons of offensive freedom to complementary players such as Allen Crabbe (17.2 percent). Crabbe has lofted 14.7 shots per game over the past 10 games, which his 34th in the NBA and just ahead of Gary Harris and Marc Gasol over this sample.
Crabbe isn't just a volume shooter, he's specifically prolific from beyond, as he's fourth overall in the entire league in added value on 3-pointers over the past 15 days on the Player Rater.
The MVP of the Rising Stars game, Sacramento's Bogdan Bogdanovic (26.9 percent), is 19th on the Player Rater in added value in 3-point production over the past 15 days. You'll also net some nice assist production from Bogdanovic, suggesting he should be rostered in far more leagues.
Even as he's cooled off in regards to efficiency, it's still amazing to consider Wayne Ellington (6.4 percent) is eighth in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game this season. If Bogdanovic does more than simply shoot, it's basically all that Miami's veteran wing offers. Cleveland's JR Smith (11.9 percent) is a similarly limited specialist.
Steals
If you can stomach some low-scoring outings and relatively few 3-point attempts, T.J. McConnell has become a really fun source for assists and steals. Fourth overall in added value from steals over the past 15 days, the Arizona product regularly earns around 23 minutes a game, with some upside for more in small-ball matchups.
Hezonja crops up again with the sixth-best valuation in steals over the past 30 days, suggesting he's a really nice addition to consider for the fantasy playoffs.
It's possible we don't see John Wall play again in the regular season, so shares of Tomas Satoransky could help those in need of assists and steals; he has at least two steals in seven of the past 10 games.
Assists
Rajon Rondo (50.7 percent) is likely rostered in most competitive leagues of at least 10 teams, but if he's still floating in your format, he's ninth in added value in assists over the past month, just ahead of Chris Paul. McConnell and Satoransky also provide value as passers in addition to proving adept at larceny.
The Mavericks' J.J. Barea (20.0 percent) trails only Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, Spencer Dinwiddie, Rondo and LeBron James in potential assists per game over the past five outings. Even as the Mavs allocate tons of touches to Dennis Smith Jr., Barea remains the key distributor for Dallas.
Rebounds
During the past five games, Portis is tied with Al Horford with 13.6 rebounding chances per game (within 3.5 feet of an available rebound). Throw in a quality steal rate, and Portis is a fine utility addition.
Leveraging the league's tracking data on rebounding chances, we find John Collins (42.5 percent) and Willie Cauley-Stein (55.6 percent) among the league leaders in such opportunities over the past month. Both young frontcourt players are averaging more than 15 potential rebounds over the past 10 games.
The Trail Blazers' Al-Farouq Aminu (18.5 percent) serves as a "glue guy" in the rotation for Portland and is reaping the rewards of his hustle-driven game lately; he's 17th in added value in rebounding over the past 15 days on the Player Rater. Ed Davis (9.2 percent) is similarly busy on the boards for the Blazers.
Blocks
The Raptors' best defensive lineups often include Jakob Poeltl at center; he's produced the fifth-most blocks in the NBA over the past 10 games.
If he ever is afforded more minutes, Skal Labissiere (2.1 percent) is an impressive help defender in regards to swats. If the Kings are wise enough to go young down the stretch, both Cauley-Stein and Labissiere could ascend as key fantasy gems.
The Knicks' Kyle O'Quinn has produced multiple blocks in four of the past seven outings and is fifth in added value in blocks on the Player Rater over the past 15 days.
