The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks This Season (2025-2026)

April 11, 2026

Thunder Dan Palyo looks back at this fantasy basketball season, reflecting on the best and worst fantasy picks of the 2025-2026 NBA season. Players discussed include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Domantas Sabonis, Jalen Johnson, and others.

The NBA regular season wraps up tomorrow, and most fantasy leagues have been over for nearly a week. Before the playoffs get started, it feels like a good time to reflect upon this season to see what we got right and what went terribly wrong.

There were many injuries to big-name stars that acted as landmines in early rounds, and the NBA dealt with arguably its worst tanking epidemic in the history of the game, which made roster management incredibly challenging throughout the second half of the season.

If you had a winning season, then it's a good bet that you drafted a handful of the best values in each round. Those of you who suffered a losing campaign probably fell victim to several of these underperformers. Here's my fantasy basketball post-mortem, where I'll examine the results of the 2025-2026 NBA season for 9-CAT redraft leagues.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 1

Note: Yahoo preseason ADP is in parentheses for each player. Rounds calculated based on 12-team leagues.

The Best: Nikola Jokic (1.3)

The Jokic vs. Wemby debate with the top pick ended up not really being one after all. Jokic finished as the top 9-CAT asset once again, with Wemby and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishing second and third, respectively. Both Jokic and Wemby played about the same number of games, but Jokic finished with positive z-scores in eight of nine categories (all but turnovers) and remains the best player to build around in fantasy hoops.

The Worst: Anthony Davis (8.9)

You could certainly make the argument here for Giannis Antetokounmpo, too, who was a massive bust of his own. But you got at least 36 games out of Giannis, while AD lasted just 20 games for Dallas before ultimately being traded to Washington and never returning to the court. I was bullish on Davis this year, I'll admit, but I think this season is the last straw, and he's going to be permanently banned going forward.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 2

The Best: Tyrese Maxey (18.1)

Allow me to make one small victory lap here, as I had Maxey ranked inside the top 7 this year, well ahead of the field. He finished fifth overall in 9-CAT value, even with Joel Embiid and Paul George both playing a lot of basketball in Philadelphia.

full speed ahead pic.twitter.com/OFdBOSgsTy

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 4, 2026

Maxey's offensive game continued to improve, but his contributions in steals (1.9) and blocks (0.8) were also huge for fantasy managers. He flirted with SGA-level numbers this year - and he makes threes!

The Worst: Domantas Sabonis (14.4)

Sabonis looked like he was poised for another big year in Sacto, as the centerpiece of their offense. But he dealt with multiple injuries this year, and then was shut down early once the Kings were out of contention. He appeared in a total of just 19 games and never ramped it up enough to even put up the same type of per-game value that we had become accustomed to in years prior.

Unless the Kings overhaul this roster and bring in some players who fit better with Sabonis, or they move him elsewhere in an off-season trade, he'll be a guy I probably avoid next season.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 3

The Best: Jalen Johnson (24.9)

Which "Jalen" you took in the third round made a huge difference this year. Admittedly, I was high on both of them, and there was no way to predict the Trae Young injury and trade that would lead to an insane year for Johnson or Williams' injury lingering so long.

Anyways, Johnson was a triple-double threat nightly and finished 18th overall in 9-CAT. He'll likely be a borderline first-round pick next year as he's shown he can really flourish in the post-Trae Young ecosystem in Atlanta.

The Worst: Jalen Williams (25.2)

Williams played in just 33 games for the Thunder, who were quite comfortable letting him sit out for large chunks of the season because of their impressive depth. He only averaged 28 minutes per game this season, capping his upside, and was a huge letdown for those who were chasing his impressive 9-CAT skill set. I suppose we have to wonder if OKC's depth will limit the ceilings of all their guys going forward (other than SGA, of course).

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 4

The Best: Trey Murphy III (42.4)

Yes, he missed some time this year, but 66 games of first-round value from Trey is more than I thought we'd get this year in New Orleans.

Trey Murphy drops the hammer 🔨 pic.twitter.com/dQh8GCQnJo

— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) April 4, 2026

His offensive game is so smooth as he's really developed into a three-level scorer and is not just the three-point catch-and-shoot guy that he was when he came into the league. Shout out to Jamal Murray here as well, who also finished inside the top-10 and had a similar early fourth-round ADP.

The Worst: Ja Morant (41.6)

I definitely tried to warn folks about Morant, and I hope you listened. Not only is Morant not a great player for 9-CAT formats, but he continues to do serious damage to his reputation as an NBA player. He appeared in just 20 games for Memphis this season and was a healthy scratch for a lot of those games as the Grizzlies decided to tank.

The reality is that Memphis couldn't trade Morant away for a decent return. He might be talented, but there's little demand for a score-first guard who is a defensive liability and a major off-the-court distraction.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 5

The Best: Jalen Duren (56.9)

Duren finished 33rd overall on the player rater in 9-CAT leagues, proving to be one of the top values of the middle rounds. He finished with 19.5 points and 10.5 boards per game on 65% shooting, adding massive value with his scoring efficiency.

The defensive stats still aren't there (just 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks per game), but Duren's emergence on offense was impressive and ensures that he'll be one of the first traditional big men off the board next season.

The Worst: Kristaps Porzingis (52.3)

There are a lot of nominees here, whether you got sucked into Zach LaVine or maybe even Myles Turner. But Porzingis was terribly disappointing - yet again. I got suckered into drafting him a few times, thinking that a new team and a potentially clean bill of health (spoiler alert - it wasn't) could allow him to return to fantasy glory.

But the Zinger couldn't stay on the court, and had a reduced role when he was, averaging only 24 minutes a night this year. He was traded to the Warriors, but appeared in just 14 games for them, totaling 31 on the season between Atlanta and Golden State. It was the fourth straight year that he played in fewer than 60 games. I just don't know how we can ever trust him again.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 6

The Best: Michael Porter Jr. (70.8)

Here's where I will take an "L," as I really didn't think MPJ would produce at the level that he did in Brooklyn this season. I knew he'd be a usage monster, but I didn't think he'd maintain the shooting efficiency to be super valuable. He ended up shooting 46% from the field and posting 24-7-3 with 3.4 treys per game.

The catch is that he only played 52 games, but you still got third-round value from him for nearly two-thirds of the season. That feels like a win, especially when you could have sold high early or cut him down the stretch and streamed players in his absence.

The Worst: Walker Kessler (60.2)

Oh, what could have been! Kessler was flirting with first-round production for the first five games of the season before going down with a season-ending injury. He even flashed a new facet to his offense, hitting 1.2 threes per game, while adding nearly 11 boards and 1.8 blocks.

But because he played so few games, he has to still go down as a bust, since managers did invest a mid-round pick on him, and hitting on these rounds is so important to putting together a winning fantasy basketball lineup.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 7

The Best: OG Anunoby (71.2)

I viewed Anunoby as one of the safest picks in this range during draft season, and he ended up doing pretty much exactly what we thought he'd do. His game is so perfect for 9-CAT, and he doesn't need a high usage rate to add value since so much of his production comes from threes, blocks, steals, and percentages.

Those who were worried about a drop in playing time are in shambles! OG played "only" 33 minutes per game and was still uber-productive, finishing 35th overall on the player rater. He's the ultimate glue guy! I am convinced you could drop him on about 20 different NBA teams and still get the same statistical production.

The Worst: Jordan Poole (72.5)

I suppose managers who drafted Poole envisioned that he would bounce back in New Orleans, but it was more inefficient play from Poole, and ultimately a bench role as New Orleans decided to prioritize the development of Jeremiah Fears and, later in the year, the rehabilitation of Dejounte Murray's value.

At this point, Poole is who he is - a volume scorer who is probably going to be a bench player in this league and a points league fantasy player. The Pelicans even reportedly shopped him this year and had very little interest around the league.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 8

The Best: Donovan Clingan (88.9)

The experts were split on Clingan coming into the season. He'd certainly flashed rebounding and shot-blocking potential, but questions remained about his offensive impact, conditioning, and defense. There were some ups and downs early in the year, but Clingan had a strong second half and finished the year with 11.6 boards, 2.1 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.1 threes per game, which was good for 36th overall in 9-CAT.

Players who are top 5 in both RPG and BPG this season

Victor Wembanyama
Donovan Clingan pic.twitter.com/mr6QYf1gWd

— Underdog (@Underdog) March 24, 2026

He's a relentless offensive rebounder and a solid passer. If he continues to work on his shooting and interior post moves, there's still plenty of room for offensive improvement. But the unique combination of blocks and threes will certainly push his draft value up into the fourth or fifth round next year.

The Worst: Cam Thomas (81.1)

Cam Thomas haters like me were vindicated when he turned in a terrible campaign. He got hurt early in the year, and the Nets showed no interest in bringing him back quickly to hog the ball on offense. They decided to feature MPJ instead and focus on developing their young core of rookies from the 2025 draft.

He was signed later by the Bucks, and had a few classic Cam Thomas games (you know, 25 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 4 turnovers) for Milwaukee, but eventually the Bucks moved on as well. The NBA simply doesn't value these isolation scorers anymore, and Thomas's prototype is being phased out of the league. I won't be surprised if he's never relevant again.

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 9

The Best: Onyeka Okongwu (98.8)

The arrival of Kristaps Porzingis in Atlanta helped to keep Okongwu's ADP down, making him a tremendous value this year as Porzingis couldn't stay on the floor, and Okongwu ended up starting 63 games for the Hawks.

We'd always been enamored with his per-minute production and solid 9-CAT skill-set, but we finally got 30+ minutes per game from Okongwu this year, and it led to career-highs in points, assists, steals, and threes. He averaged a combined 3.0 blocks + threes, while also adding 3.1 dimes per game and solid percentages.

He finished 43rd overall, and now the cat is out of the bag! The pricetag will be substantial next season, as big men who are as versatile as Okongwu are hard to find.

The Worst: Bradley Beal (96.2)

Beal lasted all of two weeks before succumbing to a hip injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the year. Even when he was healthy, he was on a minutes restriction and was not offering much for fantasy managers. His best days are now several seasons behind him, and it's hard to imagine that he'll ever have much fantasy value again.

He had some great years in Washington in terms of fantasy production, but he should be avoided in drafts going forward. Every year, we see some declining players drafted in these late rounds based on their name and reputation alone (yes, I am also talking to you Draymond Green folks). Don't be one of those people!

The Best and Worst Fantasy Basketball Picks: Round 10

The Best: Keyonte George (113.5)

It's a shame that he didn't get to finish out the season, but George's production in Utah was fantastic for the 54 games that he did take the court. He was 39th in per-game value (9-CAT) and likely carried your team for weeks at a time when he was going strong.

The Jazz are such a mess that it's hard to know what team they will be putting on the floor next season, but George's offensive performance this year assures that he will be firmly on our radars if he's given the lead guard role again next year. Maybe if there are some anti-tanking measures put in place by the commissioner (seriously, c'mon, dude), then we can feel a little better about drafting some of these talented young Jazz players going forward.

The Worst: Dereck Lively II (108.2)

There was some optimism around Lively and Daniel Gafford in Dallas this preseason, even if they were to split minutes at the center position. But Lively lasted only seven games and was then ruled out for the year by November.

He's still just 21 years old and will have a chance at a bounce-back next season, perhaps, but his fantasy game is limited to rebounds, blocks, and FG% so he's still going to be nothing more than a late-round flier.

On a personal note, thanks to all of you who read my content this season and followed along!

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