Nearly one month into the 2017-18 NBA season, the fantasy basketball waiver wire may be beginning to dry up, particularly in leagues with 12 or more teams.
A wave of early injuries created unforeseen opportunities for a handful of players — here’s looking at you, Jayson Tatum and Spencer Dinwiddie — but no one of note has suffered a season-ending injury since that catastrophic first week. While that’s undeniably great news for fantasy owners who aren’t suddenly forced to adjust on the fly, it creates challenges for those searching for new blood in the free-agent pool.
A number of the usual suspects are still owned in far too few ESPN.com leagues — players such as Taurean Prince (29.6 percent owned) or Joe Ingles (40.8 percent owned), each of whom will continue to find their way into the “previously mentioned” section of these waiver-wire rankings until they pass the 50 percent ownership threshold — but desperation is causing ownership percentages to soar whenever an under-the-radar player shows any flashes of life. Memphis Grizzlies swingman Tyreke Evans went from fantasy afterthought to a 76.2 percent ownership percentage in the span of two weeks, putting him ahead of Danilo Gallinari (62.1 percent owned), Trevor Ariza (70.1 percent owned) and Lauri Markkanen (64.5 percent owned).
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Is there another Evans lurking out there? The following five players, all of whom are owned in 50 percent or fewer of ESPN.com leagues, at least merit a spot on fantasy rosters in case they do take off in the weeks to come. And if Marcus Smart (50.1 percent owned) or J.J. Redick (49.5 percent owned) are available, those two deserve to be added as well.
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