Fantasy Basketball 2023: Deep NBA Sleepers After October 22

It’s go time, folks.

The first week of the 2023-24 NBA season has arrived, bringing along with it a host of decisions for fantasy basketball managers to make.

One of the first items of business is scanning the waiver wire for potential pickups. The preseason made strong arguments to consider adding these sleepers—available in 50-plus percent of Yahoo leagues, per FantasyPros—to your rosters already.

The Hawks cleared out a starting spot this offseason by finally letting go of trade-rumor-mill regular John Collins. Saddiq Bey seems poised to capitalize on this opportunity.

Despite a not insignificant push from Jalen Johnson this preseason, Bey seemingly did enough to stick with the first five, at least for now.

His 14.3 points per game were the team’s second-most during the exhibition season. His efficiency was even better than his volume, as he pieced together a pristine 58.3/45.5/90.9 shooting slash. He was also Atlanta’s leading rebounder, gobbling up 6.7 boards in his 22 minutes.

He may not have the most diverse skill set, but if you’re looking for a support source of points, threes and boards, he could check those boxes.

If you can stomach a middling scoring average and rough shooting percentages, Jeremy Sochan has plenty else to offer.

The 6’8″, 230-pound forward has been named San Antonio’s starting point guard, which should immediately clue you in on the fact we’re talking about a unique talent.

He sees the game like a floor general and thinks it like a genius. He plays like the second coming of Draymond Green, a two-way playmaker who forever seems two steps ahead of the opposition.

Sochan stuffed stat sheets aplenty as a rookie last season, averaging 11 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 stocks (steals plus blocks) in 26 minutes. All of those categories could grow as his role expands, and his assists have major growth potential, due both to his new point guard gig and the arrival of highly celebrated freshman Victor Wembanyama.

The Bulls have been on the hunt for a starting point guard ever since losing Lonzo Ball to a knee injury in Jan. 2022. Coby White might be in the process of finally filling that void.

The 6’5″ lead guard made it clear pretty early there wouldn’t actually be a competition between him, Jevon Carter and Ayo Dosunmu. White pulled the right strings more often than not, taking the shots available to him but moving the ball when he didn’t have a look or someone had a better one.

He paced the Bulls with 4.0 assists this preseason and was third on the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game. He shot a head-turning 54.3 percent from the field and a solid 81.8 percent at the stripe.

Obviously, five preseason games do not a strong season make, but this appears to be a continuation of White making things happen. He was good for a lot of the 2022-23 but especially down the stretch, when he averaged 14.2 points on 52.1/41.8/100 shooting and 5.2 assists against 1.6 turnovers over his final 13 outings.