It’s Thursday. You know what that means: We are looking ahead to Week 12 of the NBA season.
On a weekly basis, I’m going to look at the waiver wire for the players you should be targeting for both short- and long-term success.
We’ll look at players that you should consider picking up who are rostered in four different rostership tiers:
- 50-60%
- 30-49%
- 15-29%
- 0-14%
What’s more, we’ll give you a breakdown of how many games each team has for the upcoming week so that you can maximize the minutes of your streamers.
Without further delay, let’s get to it, starting with the schedule of games being played for next week.
Check out the latest fantasy basketball expert consensus rankings —
Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Week 11
Five games:
N/A
Four games:
BOS, CHA, CHI, HOU, IND, LAC, MIA, MIL, MIN, OKC, POR, SAC, UTA
Three games:
ATL, DAL, DEN, DET, GSW, LAL, MEM, NOP, NYK, ORL, PHO, SAS, TOR, WAS
Two games:
PHI
One game:
BKN, CLE
Rostered in 50-60% of leagues:
Despite returning from injury, it’s been Goga Bitadze who continues to take the lead role at center for the Orlando Magic. There’s no questioning it – WCJ has been disappointing this season, mainly due to injury. But this feels like a perfect buy-low window as he looks to reclaim his starting role for good.
It’s not that it’s hard to trust Ivey, but it’s hard to trust his coach, Monty Williams, who inexplicably didn’t play Ivey down the stretch of the Detroit Pistons’ overtime loss against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. Despite the up-and-down season, Ivey is a fringe top-100 player over the past two weeks in spite of Williams.
Rostered in 30-49% of leagues:
I’m surprised that Kuminga isn’t rostered in more than half of leagues at this point. He seems to be taking over for Andrew Wiggins – so it’s not just a Draymond Green thing here – and has scored in double-figures in every game since Dec. 2, 2023. The easy money of late has been taking Kuminga’s Over total in rebounds if you’re a bettor and looking for more than one way to have Kuminga help you out this year.
Donte DiVincenzo (SG/SF – NYK)
OK, so the career-high 38 points came when the Knicks traded away Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett to the Raptors for OG Anunoby, but we know how Thibs operates. DiVincenzo is already a top-75 player in 9-cat leagues on the season, and his role should only increase with Barrett and Quickley out of town. He’s played 25.5 minutes in the two games since Anunoby arrived in New York.
Rostered in 15-29% of leagues:
Nance returned to the court for the Pelicans, and he immediately turned heads. Yes, we are talking about the same Larry Nance Jr., here. He’s averaged 22.5 minutes since his return, which is great for him but is a shot to Jonas Valanciunas‘ value. Nance is worth putting on the watch list for now with his ability to contribute on the defensive side of the ball (he has five steals in his return game), as well as offensively and on the boards.
Rostered in 0-14% of leagues:
Kennard struggled when coming over to Memphis this past year, as he looked hesitant to shoot the ball from behind the arc when that’s literally why he has a job. While he didn’t hit any shots from three-point range in the Grizzlies’ loss to the Raptors on Wednesday, he did hit eight during his previous two games. It’s a huge dub for a Memphis team that is struggling from behind the arc, and there’s a chance that his expiring deal is traded at the deadline to a team who is also in need of three-point shooting (the Lakers make sense).
Martin was supposed to be a key role player for the Hornets last year but he was hurt all season. The injuries carried into this year, but he’s finally back on the court. The Hornets are a mess (for so many reasons), and Martin is starting while Brandon Miller is hurt. His main contribution is defense, so if you need STOCKs, he’s worth a short-term stream.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
