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Jim McCormick, Special to ESPN.comDec 16, 2024, 01:30 PM ET
- Jim McCormick is a fantasy football and fantasy basketball analyst for 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
Keyonte George, SG, Utah Jazz (Rostered in 27.4% of ESPN leagues): The Jazz opened the season seemingly unsure about George’s handle on lead playmaking duties, but we’ve witnessed increased trust in recent weeks. This isn’t to suggest George is suddenly a fixture at the position for Utah, but this is clearly a runway for the Baylor product to assert his talents. The results, so far, are encouraging.
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Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics (62.4%): A common inclusion in this space, Pritchard is a certified shooting specialist with a realistic trajectory for a top-10 finish in makes and attempts from deep. Boston’s ability to add layers to their offense is uncanny, with Pritchard also adding passing production to an already fun fantasy profile.
Andrew Nembhard, SG, Indiana Pacers (3.2%): As an offense that pushes the pace and empowers nearly every perimeter player to initiate sets, Indiana produces a unique amount of assist-heavy players. Even with the team having two awesome pure point guard options, Nembhard delivers value as a combo guard who can serve multiple roles. Recently, this has meant really nice assist results worthy of attention in deeper leagues.
Shooting guard
Ayo Dosunmu, Chicago Bulls (44.5%): We saw this fun playmaker ascend to a new level of production when given a heavy workload for Chicago’s depleted backcourt last year. Even with some competition for minutes this year, Dosunmu is confirming last season’s play is part of a trend. Over the past two weeks, for instance, he ranks ninth among shooting guards on the Player Rater.
Caris LeVert, SF, Cleveland Cavaliers (47.5%): As a complementary scorer and playmaker on a revitalized Cleveland offense, LeVert isn’t going to deliver fun numbers each night out. There will, however, be some spike outings that are rewarding. One trend seems to be more offensive equity for LeVert in blowouts, so maybe give him a shot on nights when the spread indicates such an outcome.
Small forward
Trey Murphy III, SG, New Orleans Pelicans (48.5%): Injuries over the past two seasons have served to throw fans and fantasy managers off the trail of Murphy’s very real rise as a two-way force. Sometimes, his game can go a bit quiet given he’s a catch-and-shoot specialist more than a self-creator. Then again, the team currently needs as much offense from the forward spots as possible, which means Murphy is a name to target in the weeks ahead.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
Bilal Coulibaly, SG, Washington Wizards (28.0%): The Wizards don’t seem as directionless in regards to building a core when we consider the growth of Coulibaly combined with their recent draft class. There is already a floor established with defensive rates, as Coulibaly is a gifted defender with one of the better steal rates among high-minute players.
Royce O’Neale, Phoenix Suns (13.1%): A gritty glue guy who has a bit of passing creativity to his game, O’Neale has been productive enough in this role over the past two weeks to merit more attention. How he produces in lineups with Kevin Durant back in the mix will be a good test of O’Neale’s value this week.
Power forward
Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors (57.6%): No longer battling for a prominent role in the offense, the new challenge for Kuminga is finding a path to consistent production. Cutting and cleaning up off-ball has been a signature of his growth the past year, aiding Kumgina’s impact as a utility player for fantasy rosters.
Obi Toppin, Indiana Pacers (9.0%): The “T.J. McConnell of forwards” in that he’s become productive even in a very specific role for the team, Toppin has emerged with incredible steal production to go with his efficient offense the past week.
Center
Moritz Wagner, Orlando Magic (12.5%): While Goga Bitadze remains a worthy fantasy option in that he’s a good source of blocks, Wagner has more upside whenever the Magic run out smaller looks. We just saw a spike game from Wagner over the weekend, suggesting a hot stretch could be coming while the team tries to overcome missing their two top players.
Yves Missi, C, New Orleans Pelicans (15.5%): A rebounding magnet with a respectable block rate, Missi is a traditional center option for those in need of these categories.
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: It’s not surprising to see Pritchard fourth in added value from 3-point range on the Player Rater the past two weeks, but seeing O’Neale ranked sixth among all players during this stretch is a welcome sight.
Steals: Washington’s two-way wing Coulibaly is 14th in added value via steals during the past two weeks. The 76ers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. is also a busy defender worth your time at either shooting guard or small forward.
Blocks: Bitadze remains a strong source of swats for those in need.
Rebounds: Missi is a glass cleaner, but we can also look at Bobby Portis and Bitadze.
Assists: Nembhard and Vasilije Micic are pass-first guards widely available in most leagues.
