Week 16 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Deep Sleepers

February 12, 2015

In his Week 16 NBA Waiver Wire column, David Sass focuses on some deep-league sleepers for your fantasy basketball purposes.

Now in Week 16 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

Evan Fournier (ORL, SG) - 14% Owned

After a blazing start to the season, Fourier has slowed down significantly and all fantasy value was lost. Recently though, Fournier has picked up his game again and has earned over 30 minutes a night recently. The Magic have been having some injury troubles as of late and Fournier, being extremely versatile, gets a lot of spot starts. Yesterday he started for the injured Tobias Harris. Fournier, through his struggles can still be relied on to score. Over the past week, he has averaged 1.5 threes, 11.3 points and 3.3 assists per game. That’s a very solid stat line for a player available in 86% of all Yahoo leagues.

Omri Casspi (SAC, SF) - 1% Owned

Casspi is a very tricky player. The Israeli sharpshooter came into the league with the promise of being a Mike Miller or Kyle Korver type. Unfortunately for him, that has not been the case. He has not been able to get open or find a solid spot in the rotation. With the Kings being terrible and trying new line-ups, there is reason to hold onto some hope involving Casspi. Casspi got the start yesterday because the Kings wanted to play small-ball. With the sharpshooting Casspi at the four there is reason to believe he will get plenty of open three pointers. Now we just have to wait and see if he can hit enough shots to be productive and to continue to get minutes.

Tony Snell (CHI, SG/SF) - 7% Owned

The 23 year old out of New Mexico always had the athleticism but needed to hone his basketball game just a little. It looks like the hard work he has put in is starting to pay off. He can shoot and score inside no matter who is protecting the rim. His three point shot is on fire and he just scored a career high 24 points. There are no signs of him slowing down and if he continues to tear it up, he will only get more minutes. Over the last week Snell is averaging an absurd 3.7 threes per game, 17 points, and 3.3 rebounds. A very impressive stat line that I’m sure most fantasy teams could use on a nightly basis.

Keeper League Pickup of the Week

Kostas Papanikolaou (HOU, SF/PF) - 1% Owned

Papanikolaou has zero fantasy value right now because the Rockets front court is so deep and talented. With that being said though he has shown some bright spots for the future. With Terrence Jones being ill, Papanikolaou got 21 minutes and drained two threes. His NBA game is a little awkward right now but that can be fixed with time. I can see Papanikolaou being a real contributor next year for someone. There are no guarantees and this is just a hunch, but I believe he is better than people give him credit for.