What exactly is the waiver wire, and what can I do with my position in it (6th)?

Based on my experience with fantasy basketball, and assuming your league hasn't changed the rules pertaining to the waiver wire:

The waiver wire is a pool of players that are not on anybody's fantasy roster. They consist of: (1) players that weren't initially drafted to someone's fantasy roster and were never picked up, and/or (2) players that were dropped from somebody's fantasy roster.

Unless a player on your roster is labeled as undroppable by your league or by the fantasy football site you are using (e.g. Calvin Johnson or Drew Brees), you can drop any player on your roster and pick up a player from the waiver wire anytime. Unless your league's rules are different, those player(s) will be added to your roster on the same day if you made the transaction before the the first game of the day, or the next day if you added them after that day's games have started. However, there are two exceptions to being able to pick up a player off the waiver wire at anytime, which are: (1) right after the fantasy draft and (2) right after someone drops a player.

For those exceptions, a player(s) cannot be added to anyone's roster until a certain waiting period is over. The players that cannot be added until that waiting period is over are said to be "on waivers". When a player is on waivers, you can bid for that player, but so can every other person in your league.

There is a ranking system in place that determines which person in your league will win the bid. In a 12-team league, the person that had the first pick in the draft will be the last place on the waiver wire, the person with 2nd pick in the draft will be the second-to last place on the waiver wire, and the person with the 12th pick in the draft will be the first place on the waiver wire. If the person that is 6th place on the waiver wire and the person that is 4th place on the waiver wire bid for a player that is currently on waivers, say, Chris Gragg, the person that is 4th place on the waiver wire will win the bid and have Chris Gragg added to his/her team once the waiting period is over. The person that added Chris Gragg will have his/her rank on the waiver wire changed to 12th place and the person that is 6th place on the waiver wire will become the 5th place. Bear in mind that, depending on your league rules, the person that added a player off the waiver wire may or may not have his/her rank change. You'll have to check to see what rules your league has.

Because you had the 7th pick in a 12-team league, you became 6th place on the waiver wire ranking system. You should add players on the waiver wire to your team if one your players is out for so long that he would damage your chances of making the fantasy playoffs or if there is a player on the waiver wire that would contribute more to your fantasy team than one of the players already on your team.


Hope this helps.