Week 5 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Centers

Now a few weeks into the 2014-15 NBA season, the waiver wire has taken its typical place in the weekly/daily routine of fantasy basketball managers. The following centers, whether of the “sleeper” variety or just cashing in temporarily on an unforeseen opportunity, almost certainly deserve attention across the various formats.

Position Eligibility & Ownership Rate Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Player List

Waiver Wire Center in Standard Leagues

Kris Humphries (WAS, PF/C) – 7% Owned

Humphries, the former Net, Celtic and Kardashian, has a great opportunity in the short term with the Wizards. Nene Hilario has developed plantar fasciitis in his right foot (as opposed to his left foot, which is the foot that has caused him to miss many games over the last two seasons). While it is unclear if Nene will miss games, plantar fasciitis is a persistent injury that is going to require management and reduction of minutes. Some of those minutes may go to Kevin Seraphin or Drew Gooden, but it appears Humphries is the early favorite to be the first guy off the bench in Nene’s place.

You may remember stretches of last season when Humphries got plenty of run with the Celtics, particularly later in the year, in which he regularly threw up double-doubles in points and rebounds. In the month of March, for example, he averaged just under 24 minutes per game, but put up marks of 11.0 points and 7.5 rebounds. During the same month, Humphries also averaged 1.0 block per contest while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 75 percent from the charity stripe. Those are very solid stats, especially when considering the modest amount of minutes he needed to produce them.

Humphries's minutes were already starting to amp up even before Nene’s injury, as he averaged 22 minutes per game between November 12th and the November 22nd game when Nene first showed signs of the ailment. If the minutes keep coming his way, Humphries should turn into a very serviceable option for rebounds and the percentages.

Waiver Wire Center in Deep League

Ian Mahinmi (IND, C) – 2% Owned

The hits keep coming for the Indiana Pacers, as Roy Hibbert went down with a rough looking sprained ankle on Saturday. As if injuries to Paul George, George Hill, David West and Rodney Stuckey were not enough, adding the two-time All-Star center to the mix is quite a blow. There is not a lot of information right now as to how much time this may cost Hibbert, but it is likely he will be limited or out for at least the next week.

Filling in for Hibbert is likely to be French-born journeyman Ian Mahinmi, who put up some nice numbers in 26 minutes on Saturday, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and a block. Mahinmi has not shown over the course of his career that he can consistently score at even that rate, as his lack of offense is the main reason he has bounced around the league. His free-throw shooting is also a definite minus. However, the rebounds are for real and he should be able to contribute consistent numbers in steals and blocks.

Mahinmi might just be able to keep scoring a bit in the short term if he continues getting looks close to the basket and delivering 63.4 percent of the time on his field-goal attempts. With Luis Scola, Chris Copeland, Solomon Hill and Donald Sloan starting at the other positions for Indiana, it is not like the Pacers have significantly better scoring options.