Pierre Camus analyzes NBA bench players as Week 23 fantasy basketball sleepers & waiver wire adds. Their per 36 minutes & usage rates show a rise in fantasy value.

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 23 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.

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.

K.J. McDaniels (SF, BKN) 3% owned - If you aren't too familiar with McDaniels, I don't blame you. The little-used third-year vet has suddenly started seeing some run and appears serviceable in deeper leagues as a scoring threat. The Brooklyn Nets have nothing to play for at this point (not even a good draft pick) and have a dearth of talent, so a bench player like McDaniels may get his chance to shine over the last couple of weeks. He's played more than 20 minutes in every game since last week and scored in double-digits in all four of those games.

McDaniels actually has a solid 13.4 scoring average per 36 minutes for his career and his brief time with Brooklyn has so far led to a career high of 15.9. Oddly, his .484 FG% is also his best of any stint, but his .273 three-point percentage is his worst. If he is ever to be a fantasy factor, that 3P% will need to climb quite a bit. McDaniels is also averaging 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per 36 since joining the Nets, so sticking him at the small forward spot could make for an adequate fill-in over any star players you have that are resting down the stretch.

Kris Dunn (PG, MIN) 37% owned - Dunn has been mentioned in this series before, mainly due to the fact that Ricky Rubio was rumored to be on his way out of Minnesota. Instead, Rubio has been playing inspired ball in the second half. Now, as we wind down to two weeks left in the regular season, Dunn is finally seeing the big jump in minutes we anticipated earlier. The T-Wolves want to see what they have with their rookie PG of the future and he is mostly delivering.

Dunn isn't a knock-down shooter by any means, evidenced by his .393 FG% and .303 3P%. His season averages are pretty ugly overall, so we really need to focus on the last week only to justify adding him in fantasy leagues. Three of Dunn's highest minute totals have all come in the last eight days, resulting in his highest point total as an NBA player (17) and third-highest of the season as well (11). The assists just aren't there, but that's to be expected as long as Rubio is around. Where he can give you a last-minute boost in steals. Dunn has tallied 11 in the last four games alone. If you find yourself battling it out with another owner to win that category and make a slight jump in the standings, Dunn is still available in almost 2/3 of Yahoo leagues.

Brandon Jennings (PG, WAS) 10% owned - Our last bench riser for the week (and the 2016-2017 season) is another repeat member of this list. Brandon Jennings may not be a starter these days, but he's never shy about increasing his own usage rate on any team he's with. You would think playing behind John Wall would be worse for fantasy value than being behind Derrick Rose, but Jennings has been on fire since joining the Wiz. Not shooting-wise, mind you, but in terms of assists. You'd be hard-pressed to make great gains in scoring at this point in the season, if you're in a rotisserie league, but assists could still go down to the wire.

Since becoming a Wizard at the beginning of March, Jennings is averaging 12.8 assists per 36, which translates to 5.2 assists per game in his bench role. He's had two quality scoring games (10 & 18) in the last five, but has otherwise been invisible on the stat sheet. The Wizards just clinched the division for the first time in 38 years, but they will still be scrapping for a higher seed the rest of the way - possibly #1 overall in the East. Jennings won't get major run and isn't likely to help you in multiple categories, but then again we are talking about bench players here, aren't we?