Trust or Tank: NBA Teams to Target or Avoid for Fantasy Basketball Playoffs (2026)

February 17, 2026

As the basketball fantasy playoffs near, which teams can we trust to stick to their rotations? Which teams will resting players and tank? Andrew Ball breaks down all 30 teams.

In your best Mugatu voice, say it with me: "Tanking, it's so hot right now!"

Take a stroll through NBA X, and there's far more conversation about the teams that aren't trying to win, compared to the teams atop the standings. The 2026 NBA Draft is generational, with at least three (or four or five, depending on who you ask) franchise-altering prospects.

With the fantasy basketball playoffs on the horizon, which teams can we trust to stick with their regular rotations, and which will have several 'DNP - Rests' in their box scores? Here's a ranking of the least to most trustworthy teams in the second part of the NBA regular season.

The Obvious Tankers

30. Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards acquired two players during the season, who have a combined 14 All-Star Game appearances. Neither will play for them until Fall 2026.

The Wizards have a top-eight protection on their first-round pick. With the second-worst record in the league, they aren't currently in danger of losing that selection. But that's why we won't see Anthony Davis or Trae Young suit up until next season (not to say they don't have serious injuries, but they'd be back if they needed them).

There will continue to be some eyebrow-raising shenanigans in the nation's capital, outside of the All-Stars. In a hotly contested game against the Kings for the bottom of the standings earlier this month, the Wizards trotted out a lineup of Will Riley, AJ Johnson, Sharife Cooper, Anthony Gill, and Skal Labissiere, who has played in seven NBA games since 2020. They tried a similar strategy two games later in Detroit. Cooper and Riley combined for 38 points. Hilariously, they won both games.

Finally, they said enough is enough, dressed the minimum eight players, and took the dishonorable loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

Saturday's starters 🖐️#ForTheDistrict | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/Zls0HckugZ

— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) February 7, 2026

Long story short, Alexandre Sarr and Kyshawn George, well, you can trust them to produce as much as you can trust that shady-looking hitchhiker on the side of the road.

29. Utah Jazz

Tanking isn't new to the Utah Jazz. They've been doing it for the entire Will Hardy era.

Last season, they were fined $100K for randomly resting Lauri Markkanen. This time around, Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic were active but did not play in the fourth quarter in the February 7th loss to Orlando and the February 9th win over Miami.

That led to a $500K fine for what Commissioner Adam Silver called "overt behavior that prioritizes draft position over winning." But that won't stop their quest for more ping balls! One game later, Utah shut down Jackson Jr. for the rest of the season to prioritize his long-term health and remove a growth in his knee.

Not to say the injury isn't legit, and Jackson wanted to play a home game for his new team before taking the rest of the season off. But, if he had remained in Memphis, would the Grizzlies and Jackson made the same decision?

Like Washington, the Jazz's first-round pick is top-eight protected. As of this writing, they have the sixth-worst record in the association. That's a dangerous game they're playing. The losses will keep coming.

28. Indiana Pacers

One season removed from an NBA Finals appearance, it wasn't expected that Indiana would be in the position, even with Tyrese Haliburton sidelined with an Achilles injury. A litany of injuries contributed to a 2-16 start to the season, and the allure of Darryn Peterson or AJ Dybansta became too enticing.

So, they've been sitting the main contributors - Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard - here and there. They got fined $100,000 for doing so earlier this month. Then, they played their All-Star 37 minutes in an overtime win over the Knicks, before promptly sitting the starters again the next night.

The acquisition of Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline sent their tanking to a new level. For one, Zubac hasn't played since he moved east, despite being healthy enough to play on his ankle for the Clippers. More importantly, the first-round pick they sent back to Los Angeles is protected 1-4 and 10-30. Indiana has the fourth-worst record right now, giving them about a 50/50 chance of keeping the pick.

Look. You could make the case that any of these three teams should be ranked at the bottom of the trust list. Maybe, as a result of the NBA issuing fines to the Jazz and Pacers, they take things ever-so-slightly more seriously.

Only Lottery Odds To Lose

27. Sacramento Kings

Two decades' worth of ill-advised front office decisions (like trading your All-Star point guard away and then scrambling to find a serviceable lead guard) have led to this point. The Kings, who weren't actively tanking to begin with, have the worst record this season because of an awful roster.

Inexplicably acquiring De'Andre Hunter at the trade deadline predictably changed nothing, so the ethical tank is slowly turning into an unethical one. The Kings are in no rush to get Domantas Sabonis back in the lineup. The same applies to Keegan Murray. Zach LaVine is being shut down for the rest of the season.

Expect a lot of Maxime Raynaud, Devin Carter, and Nique Clifford for the last two months of the season. There are some streaming opportunities there, as long as the starters stay out of the way.

26. Memphis Grizzlies

25. Brooklyn Nets

From Cedric Coward to Cam Spencer to Taylor Hendricks and everything in between, the Grizzlies are (almost) all-in on a rebuild. The young Grizzlies are getting all the minutes, to inconsistent fantasy production, especially with Ja Morant (elbow) in street clothes.

The Brooklyn Nets are in a similar boat. The team already has the youngest roster, with two players 27 or older. Michael Porter Jr. will sit out some games here and there to keep the tank moving in the right direction. He's in lineups if he's active. Otherwise, it's a simple flow chart: If Nicolas Claxton is active, he's a usable fantasy asset. If he's not, Day'Ron Sharpe enters the streaming conversation.

24. Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks have their next face of the franchise. The goal for the offseason is to get Cooper Flagg a running mate, however that may be. The West is in trouble if they land another top-3 pick.

23. Chicago Bulls

The Bulls may finally be giving up on the Play-In dream. A participant in each of the last three seasons, the Bulls were in position to make another appearance. At the trade deadline, however, they dealt score-first guard Coby White and long-time center Nikola Vucevic, signaling the start of a purposeful tank. They've now lost six in a row, and nine of their last 10.

The Pendulum Could Swing Either Way

22. Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are tied with the Atlanta Hawks in the loss column and 1.5 games back. The question is,  "How bad do they want it?

Is the arrival of Cam Thomas, another scorer to carry the load when Giannis Antetokounmpo has to rest, enough for the latter to return from injury and make a Play-In push?

Giannis is loving what he's seeing from his new teammate!

What a shot by Cam Thomas (34 PTS, 12-20 FGM) to seal the deal 💰 https://t.co/nypkdJP5Ui pic.twitter.com/K7ortQg27b

— NBA (@NBA) February 12, 2026

Or is the long-term plan to lose more games, trade a healthy Antetokounmpo for a haul in the offseason, and build around those assets and the new first-round pick? The decision impacts far more than Antetokounmpo; the fantasy outlooks for Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr., and Bobby Portis hinge on it.

21. New Orleans Pelicans

The team with the third-worst record sitting this far down the list does seem silly, until you remember that New Orleans gave up their first-round pick this year for the pick used on Derik Queen. So, the starters continue to play, including Zion Williamson, who has played in every game since mid-December.

But even the most minor of an injury could take someone out of the rotation, because, in the end, the Pelicans aren't going anywhere this season.

20. Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors aren't championship contenders, especially after the season-ending injury to Jimmy Butler III, but aren't likely to move much, if at all, in the Western Conference standings. Stephen Curry and Kristaps Porzingis may take their time returning to the court, and Steve Kerr is known to frequently tinker with rotations.

The Occasional, One-Game "Injury" Absence

19. Portland Trail Blazers

18. Los Angeles Clippers

With 5.5 games separating the Trail Blazers and Clippers from the five tanking Western Conference teams, the only real opportunity for these two Play-In locks is to move up past Golden State. Kawhi Leonard is due for a game or two on the bench. For the Blazers, it's no different than the first part of the regular season, when rotation pieces would come in and out of the lineup with various ailments.

17. Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers, who will sit Joel Embiid for one game of a back-to-back, have one more set in February (21st and 22nd), and three in the first half of March (3rd and 4th, 9th and 10th, and 14th and 15th). That's at least four games that managers can expect to be without Embiid. Thankfully, everyone else on the roster has no back-to-back constraints.

16. Los Angeles Lakers

Unlike Embiid, LeBron James will play some back-to-backs, as he did twice in January, but not for the Lakers' first one in February. Los Angeles has three more through March 19th. With a shallow roster, the Lakers need their stars healthy come April.

15. Oklahoma City Thunder

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdomen) and Jalen Williams (hamstring) are already injured, so expect the Thunder to be extra cautious with their stars moving forward.

OKC’s Jalen Williams is once again dealing with a right hamstring strain, which recently sidelined him for 10 games.

Williams will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break, per Thunder PR.

— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) February 12, 2026

They're already the heavy favorites to win the NBA championship again. Sacrificing regular-season games and possibly home-court advantage is a small price to pay for a healthy run at the Larry.

14. Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks, unlike other floundering Eastern Conference teams, have no reason to tank. The Spurs have the right to swap first-round picks, part of the 2022 Dejounte Murray trade. It's full steam ahead for the Play-In Tournament again!

The only reason they aren't in the tier below is that, when push comes to shove, what's one extra loss? Anyone who has watched a Hawks game this year knows it's unlikely they advance past the Play-In. Maybe they save themselves and let the Bulls or Bucks take their annual spot.

It may be a coincidence, but it could be something: Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels both sat out one game, a loss to Minnesota, earlier this month. They returned to play the final game before the All-Star break.

It's Playoff Push Time!

13. Miami Heat

12. New York Knicks

11. Denver Nuggets

10. Boston Celtics

Expect this quartet of teams to continue keep their regular rotations throughout February and March. The Knicks, Nuggets, and Celtics are all top-3 seeds with championship aspirations. In the end, however, health matters more than homecourt advantage, so we may see a rest game for their stars more than other teams in this category.

9. Detroit Pistons

Don't expect the Pistons to take their foot off the gas pedal, but they are 5.5 games ahead of the Celtics, so there's a chance that, if that lead swells, they can afford to surrender a back-to-back or third game in four nights in March.

8. Orlando Magic

7. Toronto Raptors

6. San Antonio Spurs

There's no reason to doubt these last eight teams. Deep rotations are the only difference between this group and the next. The Raptors and Spurs, in particular, regularly go nine or 10 deep. Is Harrison Barnes hot from the short corner? He could take Devin Vassell's minutes. An efficient night for Collin Murray-Boyles could force a three-man big rotation in Toronto, preventing him, Jakob Poeltl, or Sandro Mamukelashvili from having a big game.

5. Phoenix Suns

4. Houston Rockets

3. Minnesota Timberwolves

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

1. Charlotte Hornets

Still no trust issues here. These five teams are in the thick of the playoff standings (Charlotte, of course, in the Play-In standings) and have a more concentrated rotation in a fantasy basketball lens.

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