Week 19 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Deep Sleepers

March 5, 2015

In his Week 19 NBA Waiver Wire column, David Sass focuses on some deep-league sleepers for your fantasy basketball purposes.

Now in Week 19 of the 2014-15 NBA season, the waiver wire is a crucial part of 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

Shane Larkin (NYK, PG) - 1% Owned

If you are not in a fourteen team league or deeper, stop reading right now. Larkin is a short term pick up while Calderone is hurt in leagues that are so deep you need to look at player that are 1% owned. Larkin is getting minutes, plenty of them in fact recently, he is just so inconsistent. He is yet to score back to back double digit games and once or twice a game makes you question if he belongs in the NBA or not. On the contrary, once or twice a game he makes a great blow by or pass and he makes you ask where that is the rest of the game.

Can Larkin put the total package together? Nobody knows. What I do know, is that he is a nice short term pick-up at point guard in deep leagues.

Nikola Mirotic (CHI, SF/PF) - 36% Owned

I am cheating by putting Mirotic on this article because he is over 30% owned, but not owned enough. He available in way too many leagues. The Bulls need to score. Most of the Bulls scorers are hurt. With Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson hurt, Mirotic is a top scoring option for the Bulls right now and he has been doing just that.

Mirotic has been there go-to option at the end of games and he has been making Thibodeau look very smart. Last week, he averaged 1.3 threes, 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. Pick him up!

Alexey Shved (NYK, PG/SG) - 2% Owned

The Russian scorer is getting a chance to prove himself with the Knicks. The Knicks completely depleted roster is giving certain players enormous minutes and Shved is taking advantage. Drawing praise from coach Derek Fisher recently, Shved has been on a tear.

Over the past week, Shved has averaged two threes, eight points, and two rebounds. He will continue to improve with the minutes he is receiving and will only be a positive contributor to any fantasy team that is in need.

Keeper League Pickup of the Week

Aaron Gordon (ORL, PF) - 10% Owned

The promising rookie has been dealing with injuries this season and has not shown 100% what he can do. He is a very good defender and he is very physical which will get you minutes in the NBA. On the season he is averaging 5.6 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Gordon has a promising future and I expect him to get a lot of minutes towards the end of the season to show the Magic what he can do. If you are in need of a power forward, he could help your team now but will be way better in the future.