How is waivers picks process in fantasy basketball? Entire process for ESPN and Yahoo explained

A brand-new NBA season is set to begin later this month. It's also time once again for fantasy basketball owners to test their “managerial” skills against others for supremacy in their respective leagues.

While every manager has their own preference for players to choose come draft day, some of them do not perform as expected, and owners may opt to change and shore up their rosters. That's where where waivers come in.

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So what are waivers in fantasy basketball?

Waivers are the process where team owners/managers can choose from the pool of available players who are not on a team’s roster in the league. These players may have been undrafted or dropped by owners.

This option is available in both ESPN and Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball.

Knowing how to make use of waivers is an important in-season roster management strategy for any owner and is crucial for fantasy league success. One must be careful on which players to claim from waivers, as it also entails players being dropped from rosters.

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How is waiver order determined in fantasy basketball?

Players not included in a fantasy roster are placed on waivers. They're individually ‘frozen’ at the start of the team's first game of the day. Their status changes from FA (Free Agent) to Claim.

Waiver claims can be made at any time before the player clears waivers. Players who're let go of by the owner stay on waivers for at least two days before clearing waivers.

However, league commissioners in private leagues can change it from up to seven days if they so choose. Once they're cleared, the player is assigned to either a team if a claim is made or the free-agent pool if no claim is made.

Unclaimed players not acquired during the waiver period become free agents and can be picked up by other teams on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are instances, though, where multiple claims are made for a particular player. Those are resolved based on the waiver position of the involved teams.

A team's waiver position is related to the power one has in selecting a player off the waiver wire. When more than one team requests a player in waivers, the player is awarded to the team with the better waiver position (closest to "1"). The priority rank is usually determined by the league’s draft.

When a claim is resolved, the waiver position for the team that receives the player is changed to the lowest possible priority (10), and all the other teams move up a position.

To help prevent cycling players through free agency or putting players on waivers and make them unavailable to other teams, a player who's added and released on the same day remains a free agent.

Knowing how to better use the waivers process in fantasy basketball can maximize your chances to make a run at the title. Dig in it, and all the best in your fantasy leagues.