Week 14 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Deep Sleepers

January 30, 2015

In his Week 14 NBA Waiver Wire column, David Sass focuses on some deep-league sleepers for your fantasy basketball purposes.

Now in Week 13 of the 2014-15 NBA season, the waiver wire is in its typical place in the weekly/daily routine of fantasy basketball managers. The following group of players are not of the typical standard-league variety, but rather options for those participating in deeper formats.

Unless you have the roster space to stash one of these fringe contributors as a sleeper, there is little reason to own any of them outside of leagues with 12 or more teams.

Position Eligibility & Ownership Rate Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Leagues

Deep League Waiver Wire Options

Jerryd Bayless (MIL, PG/SG) - 4% Owned

Due to injuries the Milwaukee Bucks have gone extremely small. They are playing with traditional small forwards at power forward and so on. This greatly benefits small men off the bench such as Bayless.

Bayless has always been a prolific scorer and getting minutes now is no different. He has scored in double digits in his last three games and over the last week has averaged 13.3 points, 5.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Those are fantastic numbers for a player that is available in 96 percent of all Yahoo leagues.

Jordan Clarkson (LAL, PG) - 9% Owned

Clarkson has recently said that he is being mentored by Steve Nash and that it is really helping his game. With Kobe Bryant officially being shut down for the season and Nick Young going through injuries woes himself, Clarkson is racking up some minutes.

Clarkson is quick and has the ability to creatively finish around the hoop. He can draw fouls and hit his free throws when he goes to the line. Thursday night, Clarkson was second on the Lakers in minutes which is a great sign going forward for fantasy owners that need to pick someone up.

Clarkson averaged 13.5 points and 3.3 assists last week which is good but not great. Hopefully as Clarkson keeps getting large minutes his numbers will continue to climb.

Donatas Motiejunas (HOU, SF/PF) - 31% Owned

I have already written about Motiejunas, but he is still only 31% owned. HE SHOULD NOW BE OWNED IN ALL LEAGUES. I cannot shout it loud enough.

With Yahoo reporting that there is a good chance Dwight Howard misses an extended period of time, Motejunas is a must own in all leagues. He is putting up fantastic numbers and only going to get more minutes with Howard going down.

Wednesday, without Howard, Motiejunas scored 16 points while knocking down two three treys and grabbing five rebounds. His numbers should only continue to climb upwards. Pick him up immediately.

Keeper League Pickup of the Week

Otto Porter (WASH, SG/SF) - 3% Owned

Porter's NBA career has not gone as planned so far. He was supposed to step in right away for the Wizards and be the “missing” piece to bring them to the playoffs. Turns out Porter needed some grooming and that is exactly what he is getting from Paul Pierce. The savvy veteran is taking Porter under his wing and showing him the ropes.

You can already see much improvement in Porter's game this year. Recently, in a spot start, he shot 5-of-9 from the field while scoring 12 points in 30 minutes.

Porter is not worth owning now in standard leagues, but if you are in a deep keeper league, then he is worth stashing. He is the small forward of the future in D.C. and could be a dynamic scorer for years to come.