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 available in at least half of ESPN leagues at each position. 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 priority of acquisition in mind, rather than roster percentage in ESPN leagues.
Point guard
Tomas Satoransky, Washington Wizards (rostered in 6.7 percent of ESPN leagues): Eligible at both backcourt spots for fantasy purposes and now consuming a valuable blend of touches and shots as the lead distributor for the Wizards in the wake of John Wall's season-ending ailment. Fresh from his first career triple-double, Satoransky is among the best point guard prospects to pick up this week.
Derrick White, San Antonio Spurs (10 percent): The Player Rater is a simple standard deviation model for a given player's contributions in each category in the context of their position. White is found at sixth on the Player Rater among point guards the past two weeks and is among my favorite acquisitions now that the Spurs have empowered him as a key scoring source from the backcourt.
Deep additions (players available in at least 90 percent of ESPN leagues): De'Anthony Melton (0.0 percent) has an ownership rate similar to an Animal House GPA these days, but the rising rookie is 14th on the Player Rater the past 14 days among point guards and has 16 assists the past two games even while playing aside a high-usage combo guard in Devin Booker.
Shooting guard
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Sacramento Kings (36.6 percent): Clean shooting rates and helpful playmaking results (solid assist and rebounding rates for a wing) drives standard league value for Bogdanovic. The Kings have found a good role for Bogdanovic as a reliable sixth man, making him a strong addition for the second half of the season.
Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics (7.5 percent): Steals, assists and 3-pointers are basically what we covet from a combo guard in fantasy valuation. This defensive bulldog actually posts respectable assist and rebounding rates, and while Smart doesn't produce many points, many of them come from beyond the arc and his elite steal clip is entirely underrated in roto leagues.
Terrence Ross, Orlando Magic (0.7 percent): While Ross could be dealt in the coming weeks, I would assume he could maintain an approximation of the value he's presented as the scoring microwave and floor-spacer for the Magic in a new destination. Teams such as the Sixers or Pelicans might even help Ross increase his production, making him a viable speculation target as a shooting specialist.
Deep additions: The Cavs are giving Alec Burks (0.2 percent) some real run of late, and he has responded with some solid scoring results. This all could merely be an audition to promote Burks on the trade market, but minutes, as they say, are the coin of the realm, affording the veteran wing some immediate value.
Small forward
Justise Winslow, Miami Heat (15 percent): With a team-leading 54.6 passes and 9.6 potential assists created per game the past 10 games, the point guard experiment for Winslow in Miami is going quite well from a fantasy perspective. Given what is basically a working man's Westbrook role in Miami (make plays and crash boards at all costs), I consider Winslow the best possible addition of all the players listed this week.
Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz (36 percent): A shooting slump saw Ingles dropped in a good deal of leagues, but I'm still intrigued by a combo forward who can deliver strong 3-point metrics and a solid blend of assists and rebounds for a wing.
Deep additions: Kelly Oubre Jr. (6 percent) has been clutch for Phoenix in helping close out some wins of late and is particularly valuable when playing opponents that run small lineups (affording him more opportunities).
Power forward
Marcus Morris, Boston Celtics (26.6 percent): You might not believe this, so I've provided a reference to consider; Morris is posting 15.6 PPG while producing an effective field goal percentage of 60.8 percent (a measure of scoring efficiency that weighs traditional field goals and 3-pointers) and is hitting 45.2 percent of his 3-pointers on 5.2 attempts per game. Only Steve Nash in 2006-7 and Stephen Curry in 2015-16 have ever sustained such thresholds over an entire season, placing Morris on an unanticipated trajectory for a historically efficient campaign. Thriving as the stretch forward for Boston, Morris should continue to shine even if his efficiency metrics regress in the second half.
Al-Farouq Aminu, Portland Trail Blazers (6.2 percent): A glue guy is a player who can help clean up mistakes with savvy and hustle and can perform efficiently without the need for much usage. Aminu is a glue guy; he'll have games with 14 rebounds, others with four 3-pointers, another with two blocks and another with two steals. Rarely is he putting these statistical surges together in singular outings, but rather Aminu steps up in different ways almost every night. Look past his modest scoring totals, especially in deeper roto leagues where defensive rates stand out, and embrace the glue guy.
Deep additions: It's possible but unlikely that JaMychal Green (1.2 percent) could be dealt from Memphis in the coming weeks. For now, he's a worthy streaming asset getting steady minutes as a stretch forward for the Grizzlies, especially with Kyle Anderson injured.
Center
Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies (37.4 percent): The Grizzlies' gifted rookie is 16th among centers on the Player Rater the past 15 days and is the first rookie since Nerlens Noel in 2014-15 to average at least one steal and 1.5 blocks per game. Just this season, Jackson joins Noel and six other NBA players averaging at this unique mix of defensive stats. If Memphis were to pivot to a rebuild by trading some frontcourt vets (such as Green), we could see "JJJ" take off down the stretch.
Thomas Bryant, Washington Wizards (4.5 percent): The market has been slow to recognize Bryant's ascent as a worthy depth addition at a somewhat shallow center position past the elite tier. Washington isn't feeding Bryant enough minutes to chase him in 10-team formats, but those with at least 12 teams or deep rosters might want to take a flier on an efficient post scorer with solid rebounding and scoring upside.
Deep additions: Miami's Bam Adebayo (3.5 percent) gets plenty of run for a backup center (29 MPG the past week) given Hassan Whiteside's issues closing out games (lack of spacing and perimeter defensive skills) and is converting exposure into strong defensive rates; he's averaged 1.7 combined blocks and steals for the season and 3.1 during the past seven days.