X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Stats & Leaders
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
24x7 News and Alerts

NBA Bench Risers: Waiver Wire Sleepers for Fantasy Basketball (Week 12)

NBA teams have a multitude of players coming off the bench, each with a unique role to fill. As a fantasy owner, you need to decide which of those players can contribute across multiple categories and have the potential to make the most of their time on the court.

To find bench players that can contribute more than just energy and defense during their time on the court, I will analyze usage rate and Per 36 statistics. Below are my Week 12 bench risers and waiver wire adds for fantasy basketball. These are some bench players whose stock should be rising based on their recent play and could be great fantasy pickups for deep leagues.

Editor's Note: New users that sign up on FantasyAces, make a $20 deposit, and enter any game will receive BOTH our full season NBA and NFL Premium Passes for free, a $119.99 value. Just email [email protected] with your new FantasyAces username - and boom, that's it! We will email you with your Premium Passes.

 

Rising NBA Bench Performers

Note: I will only be selecting players who are not regular starters and who are owned in less than 50% of Yahoo! leagues.

Doug McDermott (SF, CHI) 28% owned - DMC is finally starting to look worthy of a lottery pick. Starting on December 30th, McDermott had a five-game stretch scoring in double digits. That point production has come with some other benefits and pitfalls, however. In Saturday's game against the Raptors, he scored 17 and gathered 10 boards, but shot a poor 6-for-17. Another positive is that his AST% is climbing each season, up to 7% so far this year. 1.6 assists per 36 won't help anybody, but at least it's a step in the right direction so he won't be a liability in that category.

McDermott may become more important for the Bulls down the stretch as Dwayne Wade will get more days off in preparation for the playoffs. He is seeing more minutes already with Rajon Rondo benched and more shot attempts as a result. He's played three games of 30 or more minutes in January - he only had two such games in the 2016 portion of the season. McDermott has some way to go before he is a true contributor in 9-cat leagues, but he could at least provide a scoring boost for owners at the forward position.

Donatas Motiejunas (SF/PF, NO) 17% owned - Motiejunas posted his best numbers two years ago in Houston, when he averaged approximately 12 points and six boards. Now he's a Pelican, making his season debut just days ago. It may take a couple of weeks before he's playing major minutes, but he has the chance to carve out a nice role off a fairly thin bench in New Orleans. He only has Terrence Jones and Dante Cunningham competing for playing time at the moment; neither has the offensive potential of Motiejunas.

With just two games under his belt this season and a total of 37 played last season, let's look at his per 36 averages from the 2014-15 season when he played significant minutes. Motiejunas scored 15.1 points per 36 in each of the last two seasons, contributing to a 14.8 career average. He doesn't shoot many threes, but he did so at a .368 clip that year, contributing to a .501 FG%. A 7.4 rebounding average per 36 keeps him playable at the power forward position, although he won't help whatsoever in blocks. Motiejunas is nothing more than a speculative pick at this point, but if he strings together a few good games, he could be worth adding.

Justin Hamilton (PF/C, BKN) 6% owned - The biggest change for Hamilton has been a dramatic increase in minutes played this season. In another week or so, Hamilton will already have established a career high for MP in the NBA in his third year. Hamilton's usage isn't any different, staying just under 15%, but he has been more efficient in recent days. He has scored 16 points in two of the last three games, after not scoring in double digits for nearly six weeks. Hamilton averages a respectable 8.1 rebounds per 36, but only 1.1 blocks.

His strength at the position is as a long distance shooter. Hamilton is making roughly two out of six treys per 36, but that number has also started to creep up lately. He drained four three-pointers against the Pacers last Thursday and is shooting .343 behind the arc. Hamilton will need to catch a break in order to become a major part of the rotation, but has the size/skill combination to help deep league owners in points, rebounds and threes if his minutes surpass 25 a game.


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.



POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Stats & Leaders
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
24x7 News and Alerts

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Jo Adell7 mins ago

Angels Avoid Arbitration
Andrew Kittredge15 mins ago

Inks One-Year Deal With Baltimore
Robert Thomas42 mins ago

Nets Two On Thursday
Ilya Sorokin50 mins ago

Posts 30-Save Shutout On Thursday
Mikko Rantanen59 mins ago

Tallies Point No.60 On Thursday
Zach Werenski1 hour ago

Tallies Two Points In Victory
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen1 hour ago

Shuts The Door On Thursday
Sidney Crosby1 hour ago

Tallies Three Points On Thursday
Nikola Jokic12 hours ago

Questionable Versus Brooklyn
Framber Valdez13 hours ago

Astros Avoid Arbitration
Santi Aldama13 hours ago

Will Return On Thursday Night
Jazz Chisholm Jr.13 hours ago

Yankees Avoid Arbitration
Jarred Kelenic13 hours ago

Braves Avoid Arbitration
Jaren Jackson Jr.13 hours ago

Will Suit Up Versus Houston
Desmond Bane13 hours ago

Active Against Rockets
Steven Kwan13 hours ago

Guardians Avoid Arbitration
Randy Arozarena13 hours ago

Mariners Avoid Arbitration
Ja Morant13 hours ago

Back On Thursday Night
Robert Williams III13 hours ago

Resting On Thursday
Daniel Gafford13 hours ago

Ready To Return On Thursday
Michael King13 hours ago

Padres Do Not Come To Settlement
Tim Hardaway Jr.13 hours ago

Will Not Play Against The Warriors
Bruce Brown13 hours ago

Out On Thursday
Davion Mitchell14 hours ago

Available Thursday
Moses Moody14 hours ago

Will Not Play On Thursday
Mauricio Dubón14 hours ago

Astros, Mauricio Dubon Settle On $5 Million Deal
Dennis Schröder14 hours ago

Dennis Schroder Available Versus Pistons
Draymond Green14 hours ago

Good To Go Thursday
Kutter Crawford14 hours ago

Red Sox Avoid Arbitration
Stephen Curry14 hours ago

Upgraded To Available Thursday
Giannis Antetokounmpo14 hours ago

Probable Against Orlando On Friday
Mason Marchment14 hours ago

Recovering From Surgery
Jalen Hurts14 hours ago

Practices In Full, On Pace To Play On Sunday
Samuel Ersson14 hours ago

Returns To Action Against Stars
Sean Monahan14 hours ago

Placed On Injured Reserve
Khris Middleton14 hours ago

Probable For Friday
Evgeni Malkin15 hours ago

A Game-Time Call Thursday
Filip Chytil15 hours ago

Will Not Play Thursday
Robert Williams III15 hours ago

Questionable On Thursday
Igor Shesterkin15 hours ago

Returns To Rangers Crease Thursday
Brock Faber15 hours ago

Out On Thursday
Jerami Grant15 hours ago

Ruled Out On Thursday
Damian Lillard15 hours ago

Likely Available For Friday
John Metchie III15 hours ago

Listed As Questionable For Wild-Card Weekend
Cade Otton16 hours ago

Upgrades To Full Participation On Thursday
Quentin Johnston16 hours ago

Questionable For Wild-Card Weekend
J.K. Dobbins16 hours ago

Questionable For Wild-Card Weekend
Jake Knapp16 hours ago

Withdraws From Sony Open
Joshua Palmer16 hours ago

Ruled Out For Wild-Card Weekend
Michael Thorbjornsen16 hours ago

Withdraws From Sony Open
Davion Mitchell17 hours ago

Probable Against Cleveland
Ochai Agbaji17 hours ago

Ruled Out Thursday Against Cleveland
Kyle Bradish17 hours ago

Orioles Avoid Arbitration
Luis Arraez17 hours ago

Padres Settle On $14 Million Deal
Jose Trevino17 hours ago

Reds Avoid Arbitration
Leody Taveras17 hours ago

Rangers Avoid Arbitration
A.J. Puk17 hours ago

And Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration
A.J. Brown18 hours ago

Being Rested On Thursday
Tarik Skubal18 hours ago

Tigers Avoid Arbitration
Michael Kopech18 hours ago

Dodgers Avoid Salary Arbitration
Brandon Marsh18 hours ago

And Phillies Avoid Arbitration
Isaac Paredes18 hours ago

Astros, Isaac Paredes Settle To Avoid Arbitration
Dylan Cease18 hours ago

And Padres Avoid Arbitration
Logan Gilbert18 hours ago

Mariners Avoid Arbitration
Tyreek Hill18 hours ago

"Committed" To Dolphins
Las Vegas Raiders18 hours ago

Raiders Fire General Manager Tom Telesco After One Season
Zay Flowers19 hours ago

Officially Out For Wild-Card Game
Zay Flowers20 hours ago

Not Practicing Friday, Highly Unlikely To Play Saturday
Matthew Tkachuk1 day ago

Tallies Two Helpers In Victory
Petr Mrazek1 day ago

Stands Tall Against Colorado
Connor Bedard1 day ago

Tallies Goal, Assist On Wednesday
Logan Thompson1 day ago

Leads The Way In Overtime Victory
Pierre-Luc Dubois1 day ago

Scores Twice On Wednesday
Jeff Petry1 day ago

Placed On Injured Reserve
Trent Miner2 days ago

Set For First Career Start On Wednesday
Beck Malenstyn2 days ago

To Remain Out On Thursday
Davis Thompson2 days ago

Starts 2025 Season Well
PGA2 days ago

J.T. Poston Disappoints At The Sentry
Chris Kirk2 days ago

Sputters At The Sentry
Billy Horschel2 days ago

Looks Forward To Sony Open
Brian Harman2 days ago

Gets 2025 Started With A Rough Start
PGA2 days ago

Cameron Davis Finishes Strong At The Sentry
Keegan Bradley2 days ago

Starts 2025 Season Well
NFL2 days ago

Bill Belichick Has No Plans To Return To The NFL
Deebo Samuel Sr.2 days ago

49ers Plan To Bring Deebo Samuel Sr. Back Next Year
Zay Flowers2 days ago

Absent From Wednesday's Practice
Taylor Pendrith2 days ago

Is A Dark-Horse Pick For Sony Open
Jalen Hurts2 days ago

Expected To Practice On Wednesday
Eric Cole2 days ago

Looking For Bounce-Back Performance At Sony Open
Zay Flowers2 days ago

A Long Shot To Play On Wild-Card Weekend
Sahith Theegala2 days ago

A Big Name To Stay Away From At Sony Open
Nick Dunlap2 days ago

Looks To Bounce Back At Sony Open
Tom Kim2 days ago

Making Season Debut At Sony Open
Hideki Matsuyama2 days ago

Looks To Make History At Waialae
NFL3 days ago

Ashton Jeanty Declares For 2025 NFL Draft
Tua Tagovailoa3 days ago

Dolphins Have "No Concern At All" About Tua Tagovailoa's Long-Term Health
Las Vegas Raiders3 days ago

Raiders Fire Head Coach Antonio Pierce
David Montgomery3 days ago

Expected To Return For Divisional Round
Tyreek Hill3 days ago

Dolphins Say Tyreek Hill Did Not Request A Trade
Luke Clanton3 days ago

A Player To Watch At Sony Open
Thomas Detry3 days ago

In Solid Form Ahead Of Sony Open
Russell Henley3 days ago

A Course Horse At Sony Open
Stephan Jaeger3 days ago

A Risky Option At Sony Open
Kurt Kitayama3 days ago

Makes 2025 Debut At Sony Open
Maverick McNealy3 days ago

Looks To Stay Hot In Hawaii