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The deeper a fantasy basketball league, the harder it is to hit a winner with your last few picks. It is also harder to find decent help from the waiver wire if your late-round picks don't do you justice. If you picked up a few stinkers, don't lose hope just yet. I will try to help you pick up a winner.
Here are my deeper league fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks rental or a long-term fix to a problem your team is having.
If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 11
Nic Claxton (C, BKN) - 17% rostered
After missing the month of November entirely, and with three starts already under his belt by then, Claxton came back to the court on Dec. 3 (just 3 MP, though) and he's appeared on eight games through Christmas starting four including the last three in a row. It's not that Brooklyn has many more options outside of Claxton when it comes to big men, so he should find it easy to retain his prominent role even if it doesn't come with huge opportunities to thrive on offense as part of a loaded (if healthy/available) first unit.
Claxton, though, is making the most of his chances. Although he's played "only" 26 MPG in the past two weeks of play (four games, as he got forced out for a few games in the past week) and getting usage rates below average (14.4%), he's still able to put up some 14-5-1-1-2 line in his last three starts including Saturday's Xmas game. Claxton is not going to score double-digit points often, but he operates in the paint exclusively (good percentages from the field), is grabbing almost 5+ RPG on the season, but most interestingly comes with huge upside on the blocks department (1.3 BPG this year, 2.5 BPG in the past two weeks, four games in a row with 1+ block and three of those swatting 2+ shotsw).
Gary Payton II (PG/SG, GSW) - 16% rostered
With Klay Thompson expected to miss a few more games as he goes through the final stretch of his ramp-up days, Gary Payton should stay on the court for his customary, post-October 18 MPG at least. The absences of Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole opened the door to GP2 to get a couple of starts on Dec. 23 and Christmas, but don't get lost into that as it won't stay like that for long. Even then, though, Payton is a solid WW target for those in deeper leagues needy for very specific category boosts.
Payton is a good-not-great three-point shooter, but he's also a menacing dunker--in other words, a high field-goal percentage getter on a nightly basis. The volume is really low, mind you, but GP2 hits pretty much everything he touches: 64/42/58 are the splits on 4.7 FGA and 2.9 3PA on the full season. It's been eight games in a row for Payton scoring at a 54.5%+ clip on 6.8 FGA. Payton has a nice-for-a-guard 3.2 RPG average and also comes with a quite high upside in the steals cat (1.25 SPG in all 33 games, 1.5 in the last week of play). He also avoids turnovers entirely, so take that as the cherry on top if you are in a TO-factored league.
Lonnie Walker IV (SG/SF, SAS) - 15% rostered
For someone with Walker's production, the 15% doesn't make much sense. Walker is playing off the Spurs pine pretty much every day (he only has started three games, all of them at the end of October and start of November), and getting around 23 MPG this season. He is, though, the leading man in the second unit as his high 22.9 USG% (up to 24.1% in the last six games he's played) shows. That's why Lonnie is excelling on the points cat (16+ PPG in the past seven matches) while shooting 12 FGA per game.
The average is just a bit lower on the full season, but still high with LW4 averaging 10.3 FGA of which more than half (5.2) come from beyond the arc. Lonnie Walker is scoring 40.5% of his field goals and a nice 31.6% of his three-pointers--only 14 players in the League (LW4 included) are hoisting 5+ treys per game while playing fewer than 25 MPG and hitting 30%+ of them. Walker ranks second among those players in APG (2.4) and is tied for second in BPG (2.9). Still soon to know if it's real, but Lonnie has lowered his turnovers this past two weeks to just 0.5 TOPG compared to his season-long 1.1, while he's raised his 3PM per game mark from 1.5 before Dec. 9 to 2.1 after that date (seven games played).
Facundo Campazzo (PG, DEN) - 14% rostered
With the three of Jamal Murray, P.J. Dozier, and now Markus Howard also injured and missing at least six weeks of playing time, it's all about Facundo Campazzo manning the point for the Denver Nuggets off the pine. No matter the fact that Monte Morris remains healthy and getting first-unit minutes at the point guard position, Campazzo has found a very solid role in the second unit and has ramped up his time on the court of late. Facu has played 27+ minutes in all but one of his last six games played, getting back to Dec. 11 (two weeks of play). In all of those matches (included the only one in which he dropped to just 20 minutes), Facu put up 6+ points, 2+ rebounds, 5+ assists, and averaged a per-game 8-2-6-1-1 line.
Facu's individual numbers are even better, as his true averages are up at 8.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 6.6 APG, and 1.6 SPG. He's also hitting 1.5 3PM per game, and although his shooting percentage is going through a very deep slump (34.3% from the field in the past two weeks) he's still making threes in bunches, dishing out ample dimes, and stealing balls like a champ. Low usage, spot-up shooting, and good dimes/steals numbers are what make Facu a solid WW target.
Cory Joseph (PG, DET) - 7% rostered
With all three guards Rodney McGruder, Killian Hayes, and Saben Lee entering the protocols as recently as last Thursday, it is not that Detroit has many options left other than rookie Cade Cunningham and veteran Cory Joseph to get minutes at the one- and two-guard spots these days, and for a few more games until we flip the calendar page next weekend. Joseph's case is quite interesting and kinda-Kemba-reminiscent in that he was out of the rotation entirely just last week (logging DNP-CDs) but he came back on Dec. 19 and in three games he's been fantastic, probably earning more chances ROS.
Joseph played 24, 25, and then 42 (!!!) minutes in those three matches starting the latter two at the point. He averaged a 15-3-4 in those three outings, shooting 44.4%+ every game and attempting 10.6 FGA per game. The usage rate wasn't remotely close to being high (19%) but Joseph shot quite efficiently and that compensated for his low opportunities (and he turned the ball over 2 times per game, which makes the usage/production even better). Joseph is often used as a three-point sniper with super-low amounts of shots for him to attempt but has some assists upside (3.6 APG on the season) while stealing around 0.8 SPG in his 28 games played. Definitely not a target for anyone in shallower leagues, but a nice-enough one if you're hurting for help through the last days of this calendar year--until the protocol-shelved bodies get back.
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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
