Further into the season, harder it is to find decent help from the waiver wire in deeper leagues. Most of the pleasant surprises have already been rostered and most options that are left are either inconsistent, contribute in only a few categories while hurting in some others or just have short term value. We will take a look at the wire and try to find the best of the rest.

Here are my Week 10 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks rental or a long term fix to a problem your team is having. If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.

Editor's Note: New users that sign up on FantasyAces, make a $20 deposit, and enter any game will receive BOTH our full season NBA and NFL Premium Passes for free, a $119.99 value. Just email [email protected] with your new FantasyAces username - and boom, that's it! We will email you with your Premium Passes.

 

Deep League Waiver Wire Add

Amir Johnson, PF/C, BOS (14% owned in Yahoo! leagues)

Boston has a pretty deep frontcourt with Al Horford, Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson, and Tyler Zeller. Even Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko get some minutes at the four spot. In such competition it's not too hard to believe Amir Johnson is playing only 20 minutes per game this season. That lack of minutes is the primary reason for Johnson being available in so many leagues. That is just too little time for him to get enough stats to be really fantasy relevant. His averages are 6.5 PTS with 0.3 3PM on 54.1 FG% and 70.5 FT%, 4.4 REB, 1.9 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.5 BLK and 0.8 TO.

The best thing about Amir is that he contributes across the board. He even gets his owners a three-pointer every third game. The field goal shooting, rebounding and defensive stats are above average, and if Amir were to get minutes in the mid to high 20s, he would pile up even more of those. In his four games before a dud against the Cavaliers on Dec. 29 he averaged 10.3 PTS with 0.5 3PM on 55.2 FG% and 63.6 FT%, 6.8 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.5 STL, no blocks and 0.5 TO in 25 minutes per game. So when he is given the time he can contribute. It's just unlikely for him to get that time in such a crowded rotation in Boston at the moment.

If you need a big who gets decent rebounds and defensive stats along with a few assists and points on good FG% and don't care much about his poor free throw shooting, give Amir a go.

Super Deep League Waiver Wire Add

Iman Shumpert, SG/SF, CLE (7% owned in Yahoo! leagues)

Iman Shumpert was a backup off the bench for J.R. Smith playing just 23 minutes per game. But on December 20th, Smith got injured, and will not return before mid-March at the earliest. Since that happened Iman has seen his playing time rise to 29 minutes. And although he can't seem to find his shot, his other stats have taken a slight bump in the right direction during those six games. He is averaging 7.8 PTS with 1.3 3PM on just 30.6 FG% and 75 FT%, 3.0 REB, 2.0 AST, 1.2 STL, 0.3 BLK and 1.0 TO in that period.

His contribution in steals and threes is significant if you take into account that he is owned in only 7% of Yahoo! leagues. He is a shoo-in to get minutes in the upper half of the 20's for the rest of the season. If he can get back the confidence in his shot he can contribute even more in three-pointers and even points, without hurting in those field goal percentages. Furthermore, Cleveland is a clear cut favorite to finish at the top of the Eastern Conference. Even though they are fighting for that spot with Toronto at the moment, coach Tyronn Lue will probably be resting his Big Three down the line so that might mean even more touches for Shumpert come fantasy playoffs. This could translate into some decent stat lines.

Insanely Deep League Waiver Wire Add

T.J. McConnell, PG, PHI (4% owned in Yahoo! leagues)

When the season started, T.J. McConnell was labeled the number three option at point guard for Philadelphia. Since then, Jerryd Bayless suffered a season ending injury and the new 30 year old starting point guard Sergio Rodriguez tweaked his ankle on December 29th, and will not be playing against the Nuggets on December 30th. McConnell will draw a start and get all the run he can handle in that game. That will show us for sure weather or not McConnell has what it takes to challenge Rodriguez for more minutes.

After a slow start to the season, McConnell has found form in his last eight games. In that period he is scoring 6.8 points on 47.9% shooting from the field and 70.0% from the line, grabbing 2.6 boards, dishing out 6.0 dimes, stealing the ball 1.8 times and turning it over 2.5 times in 24 minutes per game. Now while 2.5 turnovers is a bit much from a guy at the end of your roster, so are the 6.0 assists. His FT% doesn't hurt as much as it seems, since he only has 0.7 free throw attempts a night.

If McConnell can battle it out and get stable minutes at the mid to high 20s, his contribution in assists, rebounds and steals along with some nice field goal shooting will come in handy, especially from a guy off the waiver wire.

 

NBA & DFS Premium Subscription

Get an edge on your NBA DFS competition, every single night of the week:

• DFS Cheat Sheets and Lineup Picks: Access to 10 deeply researched lineup picks, and sample lineups - seven days a week! Includes advanced stats to unlock NBA player values, and boost DFS success.
• DFS Optimizer Tool: Generate optimal DFS lineups in seconds. Use advanced features and stats for including/excluding players, cash games vs. GPPs, stacks and more.
• DFS Value Picks: Our Optimizer helps you find, sort and filter the best lineup values and DFS sleeper picks. Premium stats like "Usage Rate" and "Points/$1K" give you a leg up on the DFS competition.
• Daily NBA Projections: Our secret sauce - the Optimizer Tool provides DFS points projections for FanDuel, DraftKings and Yahoo scoring.

 

Lineup Optimizer/Generator & Sleepers Tool

Click here to see a full size version of the tool

Click here to see a full size version of the cheat sheet

 

Premium NBA DFS Lineup Picks & Cheat Sheet

Click here to see a full size version of the cheat sheet

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.