RADIO
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 15
Torrey Craig (SG/SF/PF, IND) - 13% rostered
With Myles Turner out for a while (definitely don't expect him back before the All-Star weekend/trade-deadline), Torrey Craig was slotted as the starting PF of the Pacers back on Jan. 17 (last Monday) and started all four games played by Indy this past week. The last one, played on Saturday night against Phoenix, also saw Domantas Sabonis out of the rotation, with him sustaining an ankle injury that will keep the big man out "for a few games", per Coach Carlisle. To wit: roster Torrey Craig ASAP.
Craig's four starts have translated to nearly an average 7-7-2-1-1 per-game line on 28 minutes of playing time. Things looked even better from Wednesday on, though, as Craig only played 15 minutes in his first start of the week (8-8-1-1-1 to close the week). Craig had a relatively impactful month of November (almost 20 MPG) but didn't do a lot before and after that until he re-entered the rotation on a healthy basis starting in late December. Craig has logged 22+ minutes in 11 of the last 12 games he's played and his usage rate is sitting at a super-low 13%. The pros, though, come down to good scoring and rebounding numbers, lack of turnovers, and nice shooting percentages (46/31/83) given he is good to hoist nearly 2.5 3PA per game.
Caleb Martin (SG/SF, MIA) - 12% rostered
As expected, Jimmy Butler came back to the rotation and instantly hit the starting lineup. That's reasonable, and the obvious thing to do by Coach Spo. Caleb Martin, his replacement when absent, saw his minutes crater for three games (21-17-22) but he's back to a rather bulky playing time in the past two which is why we are highlighting Martin here for the second week in a row. Martin has played 33 and 28 minutes in the last two Miami games through Saturday, and he was fantastic while at it, getting an above-average 21.1% usage rate compared to a 16% figure in the prior three games.
The numbers Martin was able to put up as a start, of course, are probably out of the realm of possibilities for him coming off the pine--no more 13+ FGA per game is what I'm saying. Even then, though, Martin will keep shooting his fair amount of shots (12 and 10 in the past two) and he's been absolutely fantastic in the 2022 calendar year, hitting almost 55% of his shots from the field while attempting 9.5+ FGA in 10 games played this year. Only twice in the past 10 matches has Martin scored fewer than 10 points, he's a virtual lock to score at least one 3PM per game (he's at 1.4 3PM a game in that span), comes with fantastic rebounding upside, and he's sustaining a rather high 1.5 SPG mark in the past three weeks of play.
Day'Ron Sharpe (PF, BKN) - 5% rostered
This is one of, if not the most, riskiest moves in this week's column. Of course, we're talking about adding a player that is worth rostering in super-deep leagues, so that kind of softens the potential blow, but still. Sharpe has grabbed hold of the Nets' starting center slot as starter-to-date Nicolas Claxton has missed more than 10 days of play and six games through Saturday in that span. Sharpe is the only other viable big man on Brooklyn's roster, so it's easy to see this coming. Now, while we should expect Sharpe to hit the pine once Claxton is back available, Sharpe has been good enough to merit a bigger role once everything gets back to normal.
Sharpe has started six in a row and also played 24 minutes right before that first start. Prior to this late seven-game span, he was playing just seven MPG (!), which is basically a fantasy no-go. He's now up at a healthy 21 MPG starting. His numbers since Jan. 10 are up to an average 11-7-1 per-game line to go with 1.1 BPG on top of that. He's hoisting around eight FGA per game and given his null court-stretching tendencies, he's always going to maintain a high shooting percentage (62% in the past seven games). Odds are Claxton gets the starting gig once more, but Sharpe's per-36 line of 19-12-2-0-2 very well rivals Claxton's 16-8-1-0-2. This surely looks like a role battle to keep an eye on.
Rodney McGruder (SG/SF, DET) - 2% rostered
The Pistons acquired Bol Bol in exchange for Rodney McGruder just a few days ago... only they ultimately didn't. The trade got voided, so McGruder is still in Detroit. Oh, and after recently coming back to the rotation, RMG has done so with a passion and appetite for destruction. McGruder's played three games since Tuesday (included) and all he's done is averaging a ridiculous 16-4-1 in just 26 MPG while shooting 10 FGA in each of those three matches, hitting a nonsensical 60% of those 30 total field goals. Best of all? 12 of those 18 shots were three-pointers. Uh oh.
I mean, it's reasonable to expect some regression here, and in fact, it seemed to be already showing on McGruder's recent logs: he's gone from 70% to 60% and lastly 50% from the field in the past three games, housing the same number of shots in all of them, so watch out for a potential long-running decrease in those percentages in case they totally crater. That said, the points and rebounds are fantastic for a pine-rider performer while the turnovers are almost nonexistent. McGruder has missed ample time through the season, but he should keep his value up at least for a few days while Frank Jackson and Killian Hayes fully recover from their ailing injuries/health woes.
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