Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Adds and Weekly Planner: Week 12 (1/8-1/14)

The injuries are piling up and therefore the waiver wire is getting thinner and thinner when it comes to finding players to add who can make an impact for your team. Does that mean you should just "churn and burn" players through streaming? Maybe, but some leagues have pretty tight restrictions on how many player adds can be made. One thing is for sure, you are going to have to add wisely this week as we have fewer overall games and a few teams that hardly play at all.

I think it's become conventional wisdom to some extent, but I will restate this anyway. The key to winning fantasy basketball leagues is NOT about how you draft, but what you do afterward with waiver additions and trades. And while you might make a handful of trades during a season, you're most certainly going to make dozens of waiver adds and drops as you try to cope with injuries to players or just try to maximize your games played each week in H2H formats.

Working the wire is an incredibly important skill and being one step ahead of your fellow league managers means always planning and keeping tabs on players who starting to play better or earn more minutes. Every week, I will do my best to help you plan out your week and give you my top recommendations to add off waivers in both standard (10-12 team leagues) and deeper formats (more than 12 teams).

Week 12 Schedule Breakdown

Notes:

Teams playing only one game: Cleveland, Brooklyn

Teams playing only two games: Philadelphia

Milwaukee has the coveted back-to-back on Saturday-Sunday AND a four-game week.

Standard League Adds For Week 12

Percentage owned numbers in parentheses are from Yahoo! Note: We are digging deeper even for standard/shallow leagues so no player over 40% will be recommended this week.

Jeremy Sochan - PG/SF (35%)

The Spurs rotations can be maddening and their players' minutes have been all over the place. But whether he's starting or not, Sochan has been able to string together some decent numbers - mainly in counting stats. He's not efficient and doesn't help much with defensive stats, but 11 points, 5.5 boards, and 4.0 assists are certainly useful. The Spurs have a trio of plus matchups this week with Detroit, Charlotte, and Chicago on the schedule.

Trayce Jackson-Davis - PF/C (32%)

He's back on the list for at least one more week. Draymond's suspension is lifted, but he's going to take another week to ramp up his conditioning. TJD started at center last night and posted 16 points, 11 boards, and 3 blocks in just 26 minutes. He's a great fantasy asset with minutes, so enjoy the ride as long as you can before Draymond returns to muddy things up.

Goga Bitadze - C (23%) and Mortiz Wagner - C (23%)

Both Orlando big men have continued to thrive even with Wendell Carter Jr. returning to the lineup. WCJ just hasn't been very good and Goga's defensive presence has won him the starting job going forward. Carter Jr. has missed the last two games and his balky knee might force him to miss more time yet.

From the brink of obscurity to crucial role player, Goga Bitadze has found his role entering 2024. His defensive prowess and revamped offense have made him one of the best pickups in the entire league, writes @klaytheist11.

Read: Finding a Role - Goga Bitadze ⬇️… pic.twitter.com/kORoYzqAeb

— Swish Theory (@SwishTheory) January 4, 2024

In the meantime, both Goga and Wagner can put up very useable numbers in 20-25 minutes each.

Duop Reath - C (18%)

So I was down in rebounds last week and added Reath for Sunday's game against the Nets...and damn, I am glad I added that guy! Reath played a season-high 41 minutes and crushed it with 15 points, 13 boards, 3 blocks, and 3 made threes.

With Deandre Ayton constantly injured, Reath has a nice shot at minutes and has shown that he can produce. The three-point range from a guy with a double-double upside is nice. Portland has nothing to play for and we are going to see these younger guys gets minutes on and off again for the rest of the season.

Deep League Adds For Week 12

Larry Nance Jr. - PF/C (18%)

The playing time for Nance is dropping, which is why he's finding himself on the wire in shallower leagues. I get it, but this guy should not be on waivers in 14-team leagues or deeper. He's a proven stat-stuffer and is going to get a chance to produce on nights when Zion and/or Jonas are rested.

Derrick Jones Jr. - SF (16%)

DJJ is no stranger to this column. He continues to be pretty badly under-rostered in my opinion. Consider that he's inside the top 100 over the last two weeks with averages of 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 1.4 blocks, and 1.0 threes. Until the Mavericks finally get some help on the wings and at PF, Jones is going to keep getting minutes and he's shown he can produce in the peripheral categories.

Christian Wood - PF/C (12%)

Wood has found himself back into the Lakers' rotation after an injury to Hachimura opened up some bench minutes. As always, he's a productive guy on a per-minute basis so it's no surprise to see him putting up 10 points, 6 boards, and a block in only 18-20 minutes. There's no guarantee he will stick in the rotation, but for now, he's streamable with that type of production.

Josh Richardson - SG (10%)

Richardson is healthy again after missing some time and he's been given some solid minutes since returning while Jimmy Butler is still on the mend. His 10-8-7 line from the other night on 22% shooting is such a classic J-Rich line. He can help with counting stats and a few threes/steals, but he will tank your FG% so be careful if you value efficiency.

STASH OF THE WEEK

Cam Whitmore - SF (3%)

Whitmore finally got the call up to the big league team and has shown a nice shooting touch in limited minutes. He scored in double-digits in five of six appearances despite playing just 14 minutes per game. He's getting an opportunity with injuries to Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason, so the playing time might dry up at some point. His offense and efficient scoring might force Houston to keep him in the rotation at some point down the stretch.

Cam Whitmore just put somebody in the spin cycle. He’s ready pic.twitter.com/obWndLaKJD

— V̷a̷t̷o̷r̷ (@VatorSports) January 7, 2024

That's it for this week, good luck in your leagues, and thanks for reading!

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