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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 our imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the final 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-the-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 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 listed players at each position in order of priority, rather than roster percentage, in ESPN men’s basketball leagues.
Point guard
Scotty Pippen Jr., Memphis Grizzlies (Rostered in 45.1% of ESPN leagues): Following an impressive 30-point, 10-assist game in a win against the Bulls this past weekend, Pippen is up to nearly six dimes per night serving in the carved-out Tyus Jones role in Memphis. While we wouldn’t bank on such scoring success, it has become clear that Pippen is an integral part of offensive creation for this new-look Grizzlies rotation.
Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs (27.9%): Slashing for 16 points and six assists over the past week, Castle is building a strong foundation as a complementary playmaker for the Spurs. The most encouraging metric has been minutes, as Castle has clearly gained trust from the team’s veteran staff. It never hurts to be under Chris Paul‘s wing.
Ty Jerome, Cleveland Cavaliers (15.1%): Serving as the Cavaliers’ Payton Pritchard, in that Jerome has somehow emerged as relevant based on outlier shooting success. This could be merely a hot streak, but Jerome’s savvy in a Kenny Atkinson system meshes well.
Shooting guard
Shaedon Sharpe, Portland Trail Blazers (37.6%): Sharpe loves to watch the spin of his shot. This is a positive given how much freedom to find his own shot this Portland rotation supports. There isn’t much here beyond shooting, scoring and a respectable steal rate, but these stats do tend to surface in bunches for Sharpe.
Jared McCain, Philadelphia 76ers (63.4%): The most popular addition to fantasy rosters over the past week, McCain has emerged as the truly rare positive in an otherwise disastrous start for the 76ers this season. While Jerome’s spike in scoring and shooting read like a blip more than trend, McCain’s arrival as a player who can find his own shot and work through screens suggests this could all prove sustainable.
Gary Trent Jr., Milwaukee Bucks (3.1%): The Bucks don’t really have the luxury of toggling Trent much in the rotation, as the team is quite thin in the backcourt. This leads to steady minutes for a shot-happy off-ball guard who is also known to gamble on defense for steals. While his defensive reputation has rightfully downgraded in recent years, there’s enough steal production to merit the “3-and-D” tag for Trent at the moment.
Small forward
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans (24.8%): The Pelicans welcomed Murphy back to the floor a few weeks ago, as he now appears fully comfortable as a productive two-way wing. The fact he just logged nearly 40 minutes in a win over the Warriors reveals growing confidence in his health and game.
Bennedict Mathurin, Indiana Pacers (60.7%): Like Sharpe, Mathurin is a classic score-first wing. Unlike Sharpe, Mathurin is also a bully on the glass and has even flashed some rim protection over the past week. The fact that the Pacers are also still missing a few wings from the rotation cements Mathurin into a big role most nights.
Kelly Oubre Jr., Philadelphia 76ers (31.5%): A chaos creator in both positive and negative regards, Oubre has found a home as a glue guy in Philadelphia with a mix of scoring and defense. The team remains in disarray, but Oubre claims one of the most stable roles on the team.
Peyton Watson, Denver Nuggets (7.6%): Mimicking the Aaron Gordon role as best possible, Watson’s rim protection rates reveal real value. You won’t get big scoring results from this complementary combo forward, but the minutes are real for as long as Gordon is on the mend.
Power forward
P.J. Washington, Dallas Mavericks (57.6%): The rare player averaging at least one steal and one block this season, Washington appears truly comfortable in Dallas. We’re seeing career-best rebounding results to go with a really rare mix of shooting and defensive metrics. We’ve seen fun fantasy stretches from Washington from his Hornets days, but this feels more bankable.
Santi Aldama, Memphis Grizzlies (51.5%): It’s always cool when a player, multiple years into his career, reveals a new skill at the NBA level. Aldama is suddenly showing off impressive passing prowess, confirmed by posting nearly four dimes per game the past week and 3.5 per game on the season. With the team relying on his size and savvy around the paint, Aldama has become underrated.
Harrison Barnes, San Antonio Spurs (9.7%): A good way to age yourself is to reflect on when Barnes was the young lottery gem on a juggernaut Warriors team. Remember that era? That was 13 years ago! Now a proven journeyman, Barnes is particularly hot from the field of late, leading to some fun, if not entirely trustworthy, recent lines.
Center
Isaiah Hartenstein, Oklahoma City Thunder (55.7%): The Chet Holmgren injury remains upsetting, but at least the Thunder just got back this bruising big. Hartenstein was stellar right away for Oklahoma City and had a game with 13 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and four blocks last week against Portland. This should be a universally rostered player.
Isaiah Stewart, Detroit Pistons (9.5%): The rule this week at center was that your first name had to be Isaiah and you need to be a berserk glue guy for your team. Kidding aside, Stewart is maximizing his minutes lately, especially with some awesome block results. The floor can be low at times, but Stewart can compile a rewarding box score in most matchups.
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.
3-pointers: Trent and McCain are found near the top of the list of players providing surplus value from deep the past week. We also find Barnes and Detroit’s Malik Beasley surface as specialists.
Steals: Houston’s Tari Eason is quite larcenous. If the minutes were more robust, he might be a league-winning type of wing. But for now, he’s more of a defensive specialist. Oubre comes in at 10th in added value via steals on the Player Rater the past week.
Blocks: The team manages his minutes carefully, but if you can handle some light scoring nights in a category or roto league, Jonathan Isaac is back to swatting nearly every shot when he’s on the floor for Orlando. The aforementioned Watson sports atypically strong rim protection rates.
Rebounds: Does Moussa Diabate do much beyond rebound? Not really. But man, he can rebound. Trayce Jackson-Davis likely would need an injury ahead of him in the rotation to really help fantasy rosters, but there will be some big nights on the glass, even in a reserved role.
Assists: The Suns are getting great passing production from Tyus Jones, while T.J. McConnell will always be a nice source for both dimes and steals.
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