If you have some dead weight on your roster and could use a center to better fill that spot you're in the right place.
We will be taking a look at some potential Week 15 waiver wire pickups for power forwards and centers who should help your team become even more competitive.
This year, RotoBaller is separating its waiver wire recommendations by position a little differently. In our three position breakdowns, we'll be separating players into GUARDS, including point guards (PG), shooting guards (SG), and combo guards (PG/SG); WINGS, including small forwards (SF), swing men (SG/SF), and small ball fours (SF/PF); and BIGS, including power forwards (PF), centers (C), and bigs who play both front court spots (PF/C).
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Standard League Waiver Wire Big Adds
Jon Leuer, PF/C, DET (43% Owned)
Jon Leuer started the season as a bench player. But his strong performances didn't go unnoticed. He was inserted into the starting lineup by his coach Stan Van Gundy and is playing 27 minutes a game so far this season. In those 27 minutes, he is averaging 10.9 PTS with 0.8 3PM on 51.7 FG% and 88.1 FT%, 5.9 REB, 1.7 AST, 0.5 STL, 0.4 BLK and 0.9 TO. Pretty decent stats right?
Leuer suffered a knee injury which made him miss five games in mid-January and that is the main reason he is not owned in more leagues. But he's back now. He had two decent games before turning in a dud on Jan. 28 against the Miami Heat. His averages still look okay in those three games with 11.0 PTS with 1.3 3PM on 63.6 FG% and 50.0 FT%, 3.3 REB, 2.3 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.7 BLK and 1.3 TO in 26 minutes a game.
We should expect Leuer to keep up similar stats, and maybe pick up a few extra minutes as he gets back to full health. If you're in the market for a big with decent percentages, three-point range and a few defensive stats too, Leuer should be on your radar.
Ivica Zubac, C, LAL (20% Owned)
Ivica Zubac is a 19-year-old rookie from the small town of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I've never been there myself, but I've got a great friend who was born there and I gotta tell ya, some good men come from there!
Zubac didn't have much space in the Lakers rotation in the beginning of the season, having played in just seven games out of their first 42. But he has now appeared in eight straight games and turned a few heads doing it. In his last two games, he is scoring 14.0 points on 42.3% from the field and no misses in his three attempts from the line, grabbing 10.0 boards, dishing out 1.5 assists, blocking 1.5 shots and turning the ball over 2.0 times in 27 minutes a night. Whooa! Where did that come from?
If his minutes stay in the high 20s, Zubac might be a hot pickup from the wire. His rebounding and shot blocking is top notch at the moment and with the Lakers having nothing to play for the rest of the season it's not impossible for them to give advantage to young Zubac ahead of the veteran Timofey Mozgov. It's all about future in L.A. after Kobe Bryant retired so they could use the rest of this season to give Zubac time next to the likes of future franchise players Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram to try to develop some chemistry.
If you are in a deep league and need some rebounding and blocking, or if you believe Zubac will be getting more and more time on a young Lakers roster, give him a go. He might just pay you back with dividends.
Standard League Honorable Mentions: Bismack Biyombo (52% owned), David Lee (44% owned)
Deep League Waiver Wire Big Adds
Willy Hernangomez, C, NY (21% Owned)
Here's another rookie looking for his place in his new team. The Knicks are packed at the center position with Joakim Noah starting and Willy Hernangomez and Kyle O'Quinn sharing the responsibilities of backing him up. Both of them have had some nice lines this season, but without getting more time on court, neither one is fantasy relevant in most leagues.
But Hernangomez is just 22 and he's already shown he is capable of great things. He strung together a couple of nice performances lately and his averages over his last six games are 9.5 PTS on 52.2 FG% and 90.0 FT%, 11.0 REB, 1.2 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK and 1.2 TO and he's doing it all in just under 20 minutes per outing. Meanwhile Noah has been abysmal with 2.2 points on 30.8% from the field and 38.5% from the charity stripe, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.2 steals, 0.8 blocks and 1.0 turnover in just as much time on court as young Willy here. The tides seem to be turning.
If Willy can get more time on court his contribution to his fantasy owners would surely increase. And with him playing this well recently and Noah being in a slump, we might just see that happening. Furthermore, Noah had a lot of trouble with injury last season, having played in just 29 games and he was to go down again, Hernangomez would instantly become a must own player in most leagues.
Deep League Honorable Mentions: Frank Kaminsky (16% owned), Kelly Olynyk (26% owned)
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.