Top Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets This Week

Injuries are shredding fantasy rosters again, but the waiver wire is quietly overflowing with opportunity. This isn’t the week to sulk. It’s the week to pounce.

Below are players still available in most Yahoo leagues who can keep your season alive — and in some cases, change its direction.

9-Cat League Targets

Grayson Allen, Charlotte Hornets (46% rostered)

Kon Knueppel barely made it through opening night before his hamstring gave out again. Now he’s out at least four weeks. Brandon Miller’s groin issue kept him sidelined for a second straight game on Thursday. Suddenly, Charlotte is stripped of two of its best scorers.

Allen has walked straight into the void.

He torched the Cavaliers for 27 points, six assists and six threes on Monday, then followed with 14 points, six assists and four threes against the Suns. This isn’t a random hot streak tacked onto a quiet season. He’s sitting at 15.2 points, 3.3 assists and 3.5 three-pointers while shooting 46.1% from the field.

Minutes? Safe. Shot volume? Rising. Role? Essential.

In 9-cat formats, that blend of threes, efficiency and playmaking is exactly what wins tight weeks. As long as Knueppel and Miller are out, Allen isn’t just a streamer — he’s a lineup lock.

Aaron Wiggins, Atlanta Hawks (44% rostered)

The Hawks shuffled their backcourt, sliding CJ McCollum to the bench and handing Kingston Flemings the starting job. Yet it’s another reserve who has quietly become the heartbeat of the second unit.

Aaron Wiggins hasn’t started a game. He hasn’t needed to.

He’s carving out 26 minutes a night — the highest mark of his career — and turning them into 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3.0 threes. That’s not empty scoring, either. He’s drilling 46.3% from the field and 41.9% from deep.

Atlanta plays at the second-fastest pace in the league. That tempo feeds Wiggins a steady stream of possessions, and his efficiency does the rest.

He’s not flashy. He is reliable. For fantasy managers tired of boom-or-bust bench guys, Wiggins offers something rarer: week-to-week stability worth holding all season.

De’Anthony Melton, Golden State Warriors (32% rostered)

Golden State’s dream start had a clear script: Yaxel Lendeborg emerging, Jimmy Butler waiting to return, Stephen Curry steering another run in the West.

Then the news hit.

Curry will miss at least two weeks with an oblique tear. Some reports suggest it could be closer to a month. Butler is still out with a knee issue. Brandon Williams has joined the injury list with a hamstring problem and will sit at least a week.

That’s how a role player becomes a necessity.

De’Anthony Melton has been productive in just 22 minutes per game: 10.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 threes. He has a history of battling injuries himself, so expecting 30-plus minutes every night is unrealistic. But a jump to the 24–26 minute range in this depleted rotation is very much in play.

With his ability to contribute across points, boards, assists, steals and threes, Melton is built for 9-cat formats. If he stays on the floor, he can be one of the most profitable short-term adds of this injury stretch.

Pelle Larsson, Miami Heat (29% rostered)

Miami went all-in when it traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The cost was steep: a wave of young talent out the door, replaced by veterans like Klay Thompson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis. Solid names, but their fantasy ceilings are set.

Pelle Larsson is the outlier — and the upside play.

The Heat recently promoted him to the starting lineup ahead of Andrew Wiggins, who has labored through the season at 8.7 points and 2.8 rebounds despite 26 minutes a night. Larsson, mostly working off the bench until now, has been far more lively: 11.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 threes.

The shooting leap jumps off the page. He went from 32.3% from deep last season to 46.9% this year. That number will almost certainly come down, but context matters. Playing next to Giannis and Bam Adebayo guarantees a diet of clean looks.

Even if the three-point percentage cools, Larsson’s across-the-board production should hold. In 9-cat leagues, that kind of multi-category profile is exactly what plugs holes when injuries pile up.

Points League Target

Jared McCain, Oklahoma City Thunder (50% rostered)

When Oklahoma City picked up Jared McCain from the 76ers last season, he was more luxury than necessity. The Thunder were loaded, deep, and chasing a title. Minutes were scarce.

Then came the injuries.

Jalen Williams (leg), Chet Holmgren (knee) and Cason Wallace (shoulder) all went down, and suddenly McCain was no longer a fringe piece — he was part of the plan.

Over his last nine games, he’s averaged 28 minutes with 13.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals. The blemish is obvious: he’s shooting just 40.7% from the field, and last season’s 42.5% mark with the 76ers and Thunder suggests this isn’t a fluke.

In category leagues, that inefficiency hurts. In points formats, it doesn’t.

What matters there is volume, usage and counting stats. McCain is getting all three, and as long as Oklahoma City’s injury list stays crowded, his role should remain secure. He’s exactly the kind of mid-season points-league pickup who can swing a playoff race.

High-Score League Target

Brice Sensabaugh, Utah Jazz (4% rostered)

Utah’s scoring core has been gutted. Jaren Jackson Jr. is already out with a knee problem. Now Lauri Markkanen joins him on the shelf with a hand injury that will keep him out at least four weeks.

Keyonte George will carry the primary scoring load. The Jazz will also lean harder on their last two first-rounders, Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson. Behind that trio, though, the bench looks light on natural scorers.

Except for one.

Brice Sensabaugh is a pure bucket-getter. Last season, he averaged 14.9 points and 2.2 threes in only 24 minutes per game. On Wednesday against the Magic, he reminded everyone what happens when his minutes climb: 19 points, three threes and a season-high 23 minutes in a losing effort.

Give him around 30 minutes on any night and he has the tools to breeze past 20 points. The catch is volatility. There will be quiet games, stretches where the shot doesn’t fall or the rotation tightens.

That inconsistency makes him risky in standard formats. In high-score leagues, though, where raw points and ceiling matter more than week-to-week smoothness, Sensabaugh is exactly the kind of low-rostered scorer who can turn a random Tuesday into a matchup-winning explosion.

The injuries aren’t stopping. The schedule isn’t slowing. The managers who adapt fastest — and grab these roles before everyone else notices — will be the ones still playing when the fantasy season hits its sharpest edge.