Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 11 (2024-2025): January 6 - January 12

We enter January with a snowstorm in the Northeast and a loaded slate of games, with the majority of NBA teams playing four games (the Suns play five!) this week, and we have at least seven games every night this week!

Most leagues have a moves cap weekly, and some have season-long caps, too. Always check your league settings so you can plan out how many moves you want to make each week, and if you have a season-long cap, make sure to save some of those moves for the playoffs!

I am a big advocate of being aggressive on the waiver wire. If your league has daily lineups, you should use that to your advantage and maximize your weekly games in H2H formats. I'll give you my top adds for standard leagues (20-40% rostered) and deeper formats (less than 20% rostered) every week and the schedule breakdown for all 30 teams. Let's see who we should be eyeing to add to our teams in Week 11!

Week 11 Schedule Breakdown (1/6 - 1/12)

• Teams with FIVE (5) games: PHO
• Mon-Tues B2B: DAL, MIA, MIN, PHO
• Tues-Wed B2B: DEN, NO, WAS
• Wed-Thurs B2B: CLE, DET, POR, TOR
• Thurs-Fri B2B: GSW, ORL
• Fri-Sat B2B: NONE
• Sat-Sun B2B: CHA, PHO, UTA

Standard Leagues - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire for Week 11

Percent owned numbers for Yahoo! "Standard Leagues" refer to 10- or 12-team leagues.

Malik Beasley - SG/SF (36% rostered)

With Jaden Ivey out, Beasley is simply going to have to step up and help provide more scoring for a Detroit team that doesn't have that many pure scorers or shooters.

Malik Beasley nails the three over Naz Reid just as the shot clock was about to expire 🙌pic.twitter.com/kMIpbMc6oy

— Pistons Nation (@PistonsNationCP) January 5, 2025

He dropped 23 points with six threes on Saturday against Minnesota. Look for him to keep playing minutes in the low 30s and taking a ton of shots. If you can handle the shaky FG%, he's going to be very valuable in points, threes, and steals.

Scotty Pippen Jr. - PG/SG (29% rostered)

The Memphis guard was a hot commodity earlier in the season, only to get his minutes cut back in a big way once the rest of the backcourt got healthy.

Well, they are all injured again, thrusting Pippen Jr. into a much larger role, and I think he's a standard league player if he gets 25+ minutes a night. There is some inefficiency to his game, but he's a very good passer and can chip in with a lot of steals, too.

I will hold him until we get a definitive return date for Ja Morant and Marcus Smart. Even Luke Kennard is hurt, now, too - the Grizz just don't have many ball handlers healthy.

Tristan Da Silva - SF (21% rostered)

The rookie has looked tremendous at times while getting an opportunity to play big minutes and take on a bigger role while Orlando deals with even more injuries (now Jalen Suggs, too).

The Orlando Magic have a Franz Wagner variant in Tristan Da Silva

Blink and you’d think it’s Franz with a lethal jumper out there pic.twitter.com/Nzz7wHckzH

— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) January 4, 2025

There will be some bad nights mixed in, but da Silva has impressed with enough upside to make him at least a short-term add until Paolo Banchero returns.

Quentin Grimes - SG/SF (21% rostered)

Grimes was on my list last week, and he just turned in an awesome week for Dallas, so I am not sure why he's not being added more often than he is!

Over his last seven games, he's giving us 13-5-3 with two threes on 45% shooting. I'd love to see more defensive stats, but beggars can't be choosers!

Max Christie - SG/SF (20% rostered)

I'll admit, I didn't think Christie had this type of production in him, but he's been very solid for the Lakers now for several weeks and is benefitting from the D-Lo trade and the minutes it opened up in the backcourt.

Max Christie a year ago would pass this ball back out instead of looking for his own shot.

The growth in his game under JJ Redick compared to what it was with Darvin Ham is night and day, he got that starting spot and he is NOT letting it go. pic.twitter.com/XZtoDUq2te

— LakeShow Highlights (@LSH_lakeshow) January 4, 2025

Christie has been posting top 50 value over the last two weeks with averages of 15-3-1.7 to go along with 2.4 threes and 1.1 steals. He's shooting 53% from the field in that stretch, too. Whether the Lakers decide to keep giving him this much playing time or make a trade for another veteran remains to be seen, but Christie is worth an add in all formats in the meantime.

Grayson Allen - PG/SG/SF (17% rostered)

With five games this week and a very real chance that he moves into the starting five, Allen is a priority add for me. I was high on him coming into the season after he had a fantastic year in 2023-2024 but has battled injuries.

Allen is one of the most efficient three-point shooters in the league and looked great in his first game back on Saturday, posting 13-4-6 with three triples.

Deeper Leagues - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire for Week 11

Percent owned numbers for Yahoo! "Deeper Leagues" refer to 14-team leagues or more.

Cole Anthony - PG (17% rostered)

The Magic are a mess, and Anthony has been pulled off the scrap heap and fed 34 and 28 minutes in Orlando's last two games. He's mainly only good for counting stats, and his FG% is hard to stomach, but if you're willing to eat the bad shooting and turnovers, he could help in points, rebounds, assists and threes.

Nikola Jovic - PF/C (17% rostered)

Jimmy Butler's absence from the lineup continues to open up playing time and opportunities for some of the younger Heat players. While Jaime Jaquez Jr. plays Butler's position on the wing, he has been fairly inconsistent, and it's been the stretch-four Jovic who has been putting up some solid numbers instead.

Nikola Jovic stretching out his RANGE 🎯pic.twitter.com/f3VO74LwY0

— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCP) January 5, 2025

I've been a big fan of his game since he broke into the league, and Jovic is still very young, so don't forget. He's able to contribute threes, boards, assists, and some defensive stats with solid percentages. He simply needs consistent playing time, and he will likely work his way onto rosters in shallower leagues, too.

Keon Ellis - SG/SF (15% rostered)

Ellis is a tremendous defender and steals machine. However, he's only rosterable when he can get 25+ minutes per night, as he's a very low-usage player who doesn't do much on offense. His minutes are trending up lately, having played 20+ in four straight, and he's producing as a result. He has a whopping 11 steals in his last four games, and that's some week-winning upside if he continues to play this many minutes.

Keon Johnson - PG/SG (14% rostered)

Johnson has held onto his starting gig in Brooklyn for now, with Cam Thomas being eased back into the rotation. Now Thomas is hurt again, and so is Cameron Johnson. That means Johnson should get plenty of playing time and usage this week alongside D'Angelo Russell.

Johnson had an impressive 15-8-8 against Philly this weekend and is capable of stuffing the stat sheet with enough minutes.

Lonzo Ball - PG (12% rostered)

The good news is that the Bulls play four games this week and have no back-t0-backs in there, so Ball is not likely to get a game off to rest. That makes him a very sneaky addition this week if you need assists and steals, as Ball has been very productive in his limited role off the bench and has seen his playing time slowly increase.

He has nine steals in his last four games and an eight-assist game mixed in there as well. Lonzo's shooting percentage is never going to be good, but he's not shooting enough to bring your averages down, either.

Brice Sensabaugh - SF/PF (10%)

When a guy scores 61 points in two games after being a 10-minute per-night bench player for most of the season, he's going to get some attention. That's what has happened in Utah, as multiple injuries have opened up big minutes for Sensabaugh (and others).

Brice Sensabaugh 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting in 28 minutes off the bench 🪣

He’s scored 61 on 23/37 over his last two https://t.co/Y4lFA9lpOf pic.twitter.com/tAQxpAmYyE

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) January 6, 2025

Feel free to add him for the short term, but just know that he's mainly a volume scorer and pretty limited as a fantasy player, as he doesn't do much defensively, on the glass, or as a passer.

The Single Digit Crowd (Super Deep Leagues)

Jaylen Wells - SF (8% rostered)

Ryan Dunn - SF (8% rostered)

Cam Whitmore - SF/PF (7% rostered)

Mason Plumlee - C (6% rostered)

Corey Kispert - SG/SF (5% rostered)

Ziaire Williams - SF/PF (4% rostered)

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