Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 10 (2024-2025): December 30 - January 5

Happy Holidays, my fantasy basketball friends, and welcome back to another edition of my weekly waiver wire column!

We ring in the new year in only a few days, but the fantasy basketball season has been going strong for over two months. We're approaching the season's mid-point, and you're likely now starting to see what weaknesses and holes your team may have, so it's time to address those by adding some fresh players off the wire!

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 10!

Week 10 Schedule Breakdown (12/30 - 1/5)

• Teams with ONLY 2 games: PHO
• Mon-Tues B2B: CLE, LAC
• Tues-Wed B2B: TOR
• Wed-Thurs B2B: MIA, PHI
• Thurs-Fri B2B: BOS, OKC
• Fri-Sat B2B: ATL, DET, DEN, NYK, SAS
• Sat-Sun B2B: UTA

Standard Leagues - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire for Week 10

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

Scoot Henderson - PG (29% rostered)

There's quite literally only a handful of players rostered in the 30-40% range right now, so we jump down under 30% to lead things off here with Scoot.

Fresh off an 18 & 10 game that saw him hit a game-winner, Scoot Henderson followed it up with a 19/6/4 and 5 steal performance. For Scoot his focus HAS to start on the defensive end, where he has the tools to be impactful on and off the ball immediately.pic.twitter.com/D3vOLq0SRV

— Hot Hand Theory (@HotHandTheory) December 29, 2024

Last year's second-overall pick in the draft is still coming off the bench but is outplaying Anfernee Simons and putting up some impressive numbers. Over his last five games, he's averaging 14 points, five assists, two threes, and 1.8 steals. He's the future in Portland and the time to buy is now, he's being scooped up off wires quickly!

Andrew Nembhard - PG/SG (29% rostered)

His game is less exciting than Scoot's, but Nembhard has been supplying managers with similar numbers lately. You don't get the steals, but Nembhard is delivering points and assists while also maintaining excellent shooting percentages.

He's comfortably in the top 100 over the last two weeks because of that efficiency. Don't sleep on him just because his game is rather dull!

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - SG/SF (26% rostered)

Injuries in Orlando have forced KCP into a bigger role lately and heavy minutes. He's still not scoring much, but he has increased his steals to 1.6 per contest on the season and has added 1.0 blocks per game over his last five.

Orlando plays three times this week but has a dream schedule with Detroit, Toronto, and Utah. Fire him up if you need a 3-and-D guy this week.

Dillon Brooks - SG/SF (22% rostered)

If you picked up Dillon Brooks last week only to see him get hurt and miss three games, I am sorry! But Brooks returned to the lineup last night and played 40 minutes while scoring 22 points and knocking down five threes.

We all hate Brooks - he's a huge jerk, but he's dialed in from behind the arc right now and getting as many minutes as he can handle. He's easily one of the best adds off the wire this week.

Spencer Dinwiddie - PG/SG (20% rostered)

People love to trash Spencer Dinwiddie, but he's been a very good NBA player for many years and in the right situation - a solid fantasy asset, too.

He's been thriving this season off the bench back in Dallas and will be relied on in a big way to help get the Mavs through the next month of games without their star, Luka Doncic.

Spencer Dinwiddie tonight:

17 Points
8 Rebounds
4 Assists
5/5 FT
+3

Consistent. 🫡#MFFL@SDinwiddie_25 pic.twitter.com/Af8rWlQJ40

— Lucas (@SIPPINJUlCELUKE) December 29, 2024

The shooting percentage is always going to be a concern, but Dinwiddie can deliver points, assists, and steals on a nightly basis with a sparkling free throw percentage. He's a great fit alongside Kyrie Irving, as he can play on or off the ball. Whether he becomes a full-time starter or not, I'd expect to play close to 30 minutes a night for the next month and put up some really solid fantasy value.

Deeper Leagues - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire for Week 10

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

Quentin Grimes - SG/SF (19% rostered)

I prefer adding Dinwiddie over Grimes, but if Dinwiddie is already gone or your team needs more rebounding instead of assists, then Grimes might be your guy.

Grimes will take on some of those missing Luka minutes and has already played 24, 29, and 28 minutes in the three games since Doncic went down last week. I wish he offered more upside in defensive stats, but you can't argue with his steady production in points, threes, and boards from the SG/SF positions.

Noah Clowney - SF/PF/C (17% rostered)

Run, don't walk to the wire right now to see if Clowney is available. I'll wait...

The Nets just dealt Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Lakers for D'Angelo Russell, opening up a pathway to more consistent playing time for one of their emerging young talents - Clowney.

In 6 games without Dorian Finney-Smith, Noah Clowney is averaging 15.2 points, 4.0 threes, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists on INSANE 49/50/78 shooting splits

That’s right, he’s hitting 50% of his 3s on 8 (!!) 3PA/g across those 6 games

The breakout is here pic.twitter.com/o025ZvJa67 https://t.co/ZcG5XYXl0E

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) December 29, 2024

Don't be fooled by some of the game logs; Clowney is a toolsy player who is oozing with potential. As we get further into the season, his role should only continue to grow, and we are about to get a much better look at what he's capable of doing for fantasy purposes as he starts playing more regular minutes.

Keon Johnson - PG/SG (13% rostered)

The other Net I'm adding is Keon Johnson, who should continue to have a clear path to minutes even after Russell suits up for Brooklyn. Dennis Schroder is gone, Milton is now gone, and the Ben Simmons experiment at point guard is over as D-Lo takes over.

Johnson has thrived as the starting shooting guard lately, scoring in double figures in four straight while adding seven steals over that stretch. Cam Thomas is still out for a while, and so is Ziaire Williams, so we should continue to see Johnson getting heavy minutes for at least another week or two.

Patrick Williams - PF (12% rostered)

I know we have been here many times before - and before you close this article and call me a quack, I have to ask the question, "Is it finally P-Will season this time?"

Williams was playing well as the starting power forward in Chicago before getting hurt and missing nearly a month of action. He's been eased back into action but has looked good since returning and is slowly getting that minutes cap removed (he played 27 and 29 minutes in his last two starts).

I know we have done this before, but this guy has such potential. He has the perfect skill set for the modern NBA Stretch-Four. Even as the fifth option on offense, he usually produces enough threes, steals, and blocks to deserve a spot on the end of your bench. And maybe this will be the year that the Bulls blow it up at the deadline, moving Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic - who knows?

The Single Digit Crowd (Super Deep Leagues)

Tristan Da Silva - SF (9% rostered)

Caleb Martin - SG/SF (8% rostered)

Garrison Mathews - SG/SF (6% rostered)

Corey Kispert - SG/SF (5% rostered)

Vasilije Micic - PG/SG (4% rostered)

Jay Huff - C (3% rostered)

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