Working the waiver wire is pivotal to succeeding in fantasy basketball. With so many games, injuries and endless shifts in rotations throughout the season, we'll need to source stats from free agency to maximize our imaginary rosters.
A willingness to entertain competition for the last spot or two on your fantasy hoops roster can prove rewarding, even though it's difficult to open space this early in the season. The final few rounds of a draft are often used for speculation on sleepers, so it can help to consider those end-of-bench players as being in direct competition with the talent floating in free agency.
In this weekly series, we identify players available in more than 40 percent of ESPN leagues at each position. Some nominations are purely specialists capable of helping in one or two categories, while others deliver more diverse and important statistical offerings. Either way, we believe the names below -- ordered by position and the percentage of rosters each players is on -- can contribute positively to fantasy rosters.
Point guard
Ish Smith, Detroit Pistons (rostered in 24.5 percent of ESPN leagues): Reggie Jackson suffered a significant ankle injury that could keep him out for multiple months, which means Smith has the reins of the Detroit offense going forward. Smith has averaged 31.4 MPG and a slash of 18 PPG, five RPG and 4.5 APG over the past two starts. Smith is inarguably the best free agent addition of the week in fantasy hoops.
Tyus Jones, Minnesota Timberwolves (12.8 percent): The Wolves will miss Jeff Teague multiple weeks with a knee ailment, so Jones will play around 35 minutes per game in his absence. In his past five games with at least 30 minutes, Jones has amassed an amazing 21 steals, revealing a potential impact stat for the young guard.
Shabazz Napier, Portland Trail Blazers (11.6 percent): LeBron James' favorite prospect is finally living up to the hype as a dynamic scoring guard. Napier burned my Philadelphia 76ers for 23 points in a key win recently, and he's been electric with Damian Lillard sidelined for much of the past week. It'll be tough to trust Napier once Lillard is back in full swing, but I think he's established real value for whenever one of the Blazers' elite combo guards is sidelined.
Shooting guard
Justin Holiday, Chicago Bulls (39.6 percent): Zach LaVine isn't in the lineup just yet, which means the Bulls still rely on Holiday to consume a rewarding workload from the perimeter. Over the past four games, all starts, Holiday has netted 32.8 MPG and helpful rates in blocks, steals and scoring. However, once LaVine returns, it's likely back to fantasy free agency for Holiday.
Tyler Johnson, Miami Heat (21.2 percent): Putting in work for much of the past month, Johnson has been particularly valuable over the past six games, all starts, slashing 17.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.3 SPG and 1.5 3PG with a robust 35.3 MPG. Don't worry about his slow scoring nights, as Johnson is a player who will deliver value across a variety of categories given his awesome minute allowance.
Small forward
Taurean Prince, Atlanta Hawks (35.2 percent): It's become a ritual to include Prince in this column. The market simply isn't appreciating the sum of his statistical slash. Over the past 15 days, Prince ranks 11th on the Player Rater among small forwards. At the risk of sounding righteous, the fantasy public often values scoring too much, with defensive versatility or a balanced floor game sometimes flying under the radar. Maybe the market will appreciate Prince now that he posted 30 points in Toronto recently or after his consecutive double-double performances.
Kelly Oubre Jr., Washington Wizards (23.0 percent): Oubre isn't dependent on Otto Porter Jr. being out to deliver fantasy-relevant results, as he's averaged 28 minutes with 14 PPG and solid shooting metrics over the past eight outings.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Sacramento Kings (5.7 percent): Delving deeper at the wing, we find Sacramento's exciting rookie shooter currently enjoying a hot stretch from beyond the arc (he's hit half of his 3-point attempts over the past five games). As the Kings reshuffle the rotation, Bogdanovic has remained a consistent perimeter player for Sacramento, as he's sneakily providing value in steals and shooting efficiency for those in deeper leagues.
Power forward
Caris LeVert, Brooklyn Nets (31.6 percent): It's fun to leverage LeVert's valuable positional eligibility, as he's available at shooting guard and both forward spots. Playing some point guard of late given Brooklyn's decimated depth chart at the position, LeVert has averaged a rewarding 5.3 assists over the past 12 games to go with respectable scoring (14.7 PPG) and shooting metrics (1.6 3PG). The Nets love to push the pace, so there is real upside in securing a key distributor on such a scheme.
Markieff Morris, Washington Wizards (27.4 percent): There have been sustained stretches when Morris has been a top-30 fantasy option -- not just at his position, but overall. This stretch forward can get white hot from beyond the arc at times. It's unclear if we're witnessing the beginning of a scoring bender, but Morris has hit half of his 3-point attempts over the past seven starts and is an interesting streaming target for those in need of some upside in the frontcourt.
Ersan Ilyasova, Atlanta Hawks (18.1 percent): A classic stretch forward who relies on perimeter scoring and defensive rebounding, Ilyasova is enjoying quality usage for Atlanta of late. Over the past seven games, the veteran forward has averaged 15 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 1.9 3PG.
Center
Kelly Olynyk, Miami Heat (25.0 percent): Rostered in a quarter of leagues, Olynyk isn't getting enough shine for his savvy stretch big production. He has averaged a rewarding 14.5 PPG with 7.7 RPG and one steal and block per game over the past six outings.
Jordan Bell, Golden State Warriors (19.7 percent): This gifted rookie has thrived with a recent promotion, averaging 9.8 PPG, eight rebounds and 1.3 steals and blocks per game over the past six outings. With Bell overtaking Zaza Pachulia, he could emerge as an enduring part of the league's best lineup.