Last Updated on October 28, 2025 7:15 pm by André Lemos | Published: October 28, 2025

Welcome to the maiden voyage of our newest feature! We’re going to spend a little time helping out the managers playing in deep leagues, where the talent pool thins out quickly and the right pickup at the right time can change your whole season. Before getting into the writing game it was tough to find the proper advice for leagues that go beyond the standard setups; all of the players getting shoutouts were long gone, with no attention paid to the options at at this writer’s disposal. You have to be the change you want to see in the world, after all, so here we are.

We’ll point out targets for leagues of all depths, from those just outside the 12-team range to the 30-team monstrosities. Every league is a little bit different in terms of roster size and manager decision-making, so let’s establish some overall principles first.

When we talk about “standard leagues,” we’re talking 12 teams with a roster of 13 players, starters and bench. That is 156 players; add in the IL stashes out there and you’re probably up around 160ish to 170.

That roster size of 13 is going to be our assumption. You can also scale up the amount of IL stashes in deeper leagues; more injured players will end up on rosters and larger leagues tend to be populated with more managers who will actively stash to make use of those IL spots. When we bring up 14-team leagues, that means 182 players in the pool plus another 15 or so for IL stashes — say we’re looking at a pool of 200 players overall.

The rest is basic math plus some estimates for stashes: 16-team leagues take you to about 225 players, 18 teams to 250ish, 20 to 300, so on and so on. Feel free to calibrate this to your own league; if you have 12 teams but 20 roster spots, you’re probably operating in the same area as an 18-team manager with a more typical roster size. If you have 20 teams but 10 roster spots, you’re working in the 16-team range for the purposes of our discussion.

After you hit 20 teams, it’s really more about finding players who are either active enough to have some kind of floor or boast enough upside to potentially pay off later. At that point the numbers don’t matter quite as much since you’re free to choose whatever profile you like. If you want to spend a bench spot on the 496th ranked player because he might shine in silly season, it doesn’t matter that he’s not inside the top-400. The difference between those guys is going to be negligible anyway unless you need a pure specialist type.

With that out of the way, let’s see what we have to work with a week into the season.

Quick Hits

These are the players under 30% rostered that really should be, even in standard leagues. You’re going to start seeing them talked about in your regular waiver columns as well so if they’re available in deeper formats, feel free pick them up right now.

Season-long potential: Neemias Queta (24%), Aaron Nesmith (26%), Kelly Oubre (27%), Ryan Kalkbrenner (21%), Davion Mitchell (29%)

Streamable in the short term, maybe more: Grayson Allen (28%), Kon Knueppel (24%), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (29%), Rui Hachimura (27%)

Boring but reliable: De’Andre Hunter (21%), Wendell Carter Jr. (24%), Ayo Dosunmu (21%)

14, 16, 18 Teams

We’re going to be referencing Yahoo roster percentages for the most part. In one of my 12-team leagues, the highest-rostered player who is still a free agent is Rui Hachimura (27%), but there are only three other players at 20% or above (and two of them were just dropped to waivers yesterday). As such, we’re going to set the guardrails for this between 10% and 20% rostered — for the most part.

That doesn’t mean that Hachimura shouldn’t be rostered in 14-team leagues — with the Lakers’ injuries he’s actually a respectable add — but he may not be available enough to help out the bulk of deep-league GMs. You’re going to get told to add him even in shallower formats right now anyway, so we’re going to bypass that. Remember, just because someone isn’t in a certain section of the article doesn’t mean you can’t bend the rules. If there’s a player that’s 4% rostered that’s a perfect fit for your build, go ahead an add him, even in a 14-team league. Things get increasingly flexible as leagues get deeper.

Tre Johnson, SG, Washington Wizards (19%)

Want full access to Mike’s Deep League Pickups? You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! Premium Access Required  

  Join our Discord:  Click Here to Join!

• About the Author
• Latest Posts

Mike Passador

Mike graduated from Boston University’s Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

• Deep League Pickups: Early Impressions
• Fantasy Basketball Daily Cheat Sheet: Saturday, October 25th Streamers & Adds
• Fantasy Basketball Daily Cheat Sheet: Friday, October 24th Streamers & Adds