Mid-Round Values To Target In 2026 Fantasy Basketball Drafts

September 15, 2026

Andrew Ball shares his favorite players to target in the middle rounds of 2026-2027 fantasy basketball drafts. Draft these players with confidence and fill out of your rosters with consistent fantasy contributors.

Constructing a 9-category fantasy basketball roster is an abstract puzzle that requires a lot of planning both during the draft and afterwards.

The edges are your first few rounds. After that, play to your star players' strengths. Punt a category, maybe two. No roster will be perfect, but remember that you just need to win five categories consistently.

In this article, I'll highlight some of my favorite mid-round players to target in fantasy basketball drafts this season. Some are well-rounded. Others may be more roster-specific. I'll be using Yahoo ADP for each player.

Paul George, SF/PF - Boston Celtics

• Current Yahoo ADP: 79
• 2025-26 9-CAT Per-Game Value: 34

There's a Paul George injury tax. It's the only explanation for the discrepancy between his ADP and 9-cat value.

PG-13 has tarnished his perennial All-Star status as he nears the tail end of his career. And I get it. He's played more than 60 games once and averaged a not-so-healthy 48 games per season since 2019. But hey, he would have cleared the 60-game mark if not for a 25-game suspension. That's progress!

But the 36-year-old has still been fantastic for fantasy hoops when he's on the basketball court. He's a top-10 steal man (1.7 per game) and knocks down a hair under three threes. Under Joe Mazzulla, Boston has finished inside the top four, including three number-one spots, in three-point attempts per game. Philadelphia was inside the bottom 10. He's going to clear a 3.0 average.

George only really negatively impacts your roster in field-goal percentage. He's a career 44% shooter, a number that's generally gotten worse the higher he is on the offensive pecking order. In Boston, he's the second option behind Jayson Tatum.

Everything else is a bargain at his draft cost: Low turnover rate, 85% from the charity stripe, eight to nine rebounds+assists, and 17-20 points. Please, please, give us one final healthy season and redeem your reputation.

Payton Pritchard, PG - Boston Celtics

• Current Yahoo ADP: 76
• 2025-26 9-CAT Per-Game Value: 72

A second Celtic! With Jaylen Brown's departure, Payton Pritchard is now the second-longest-tenured Celtic, trailing only Tatum. The longstanding veteran is now being asked to do more than ever before in his professional career.

Replacing Brown's 21.7 shot attempts per game will be a team effort. We can whittle that figure down a bit from the jump. Following Tatum's return, Brown's FGA dropped to 19.6. George should account for roughly 15 shots when he's healthy. That leaves another four attempts up for grabs.

Expect a couple of those attempts to go to Pritchard, who took a career-best 13.8 shots last season. The numbers didn't drop with Tatum either, hoisting 13.7 attempts. His percentages slipped a tad: 47.2% to 46.4% and 40.7% from three to 37.7%, but he was still miles more efficient than Derrick White (39.4%). His ADP isn't accounting for new opportunities.

Even if Pritchard's opportunities stay the same, he's quite the boon to 3PM, FT%, and assists categories. And while it may not move the needle enough in your head-to-head matchups, 3.9 rebounds for a 6'1" guard isn't too shabby.

What is in store for late-clock specialist Payton Pritchard in Year 7? pic.twitter.com/8fIrqKio4y

— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) August 12, 2026

Of course, a guard with that height isn't making any headway in the blocks department. Pritchard ranked as a fourth-round value last year if punting that category.

Jarrett Allen, C - Cleveland Cavaliers

• Current Yahoo ADP: 78
• 2025-26 9-CAT Per-Game Value: 69

James Harden's rim-runner has, and always will be, a safe and smart fantasy basketball selection. From February through the end of the regular season, Allen significantly upped his averages as a primary roller for the former MVP.

A funny thing happened, though. Allen forgot how to make free throws. Whether the increased volume was to blame or not, the 28-year-old converted 64.4% of his freebies compared to 76.2% before February.

I'm willing to write that off as an anomaly, and if it's not, I'll still take the increased usage (23+ in February, March, and April) and efficiency as the tradeoff. Punt three-pointers, and Allen's last three months were a second-round value that can be found near the end of the sixth this season. Even without a punt, he's a fourth-round value, which could be even more valuable if he relearns how to make free throws.

Kel'el Ware, C - Milwaukee Bucks

• Current Yahoo ADP: 75
• 2025-26 9-CAT Per-Game Value: 59

Let's lay out the bear case for Kel'el Ware first: The 22-year-old replicates his Miami role in his new city. Milwaukee isn't as bad as we're projecting, Myles Turner bounces back after a down season, and Ware is, once again, a second-fiddle center.

Again, that's the worst-case scenario, and yet, he's being drafted as if that'll happen.* In an extremely deep Eastern Conference, Vegas oddsmakers project the Bucks to finish second-to-last, with an over/under of 26.5 wins. Turner and Kyle Kuzma aren't in the team's long-term plans. The youngins will get plenty of run. Lucky for Ware, Milwaukee's backcourt is far more crowded with young prospects than the frontcourt.

Ware played approximately 22 minutes per game in his first two seasons in Miami, largely due to Erik Spoelstra's willingness to pair him with Bam Adebayo. The duo averaged 6.9 minutes together. Ware's usage (18.0) was eighth among players in Miami's regular rotation.

Despite his limited usage and playing time, Ware finished in the top 20 in rebound value and top 30 in blocks. Per 36 minutes, Ware would have averaged 14.7 boards, 1.8 swats, and 18 points on incredible efficiency (53% from the field) for a three-point shooter (1.9). He and Ty Jerome were the only two players in the top 70 in 9-cat value who played fewer than 25 minutes per game. Punting assists? Remove Ware's weak point, and he ranks 28th in the 8-cat value.

Ware projects to see ~28 minutes of game action in his third professional season. Aside from an injury, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which he doesn't outperform his draft capital.

*Ware has an ADP of 57 on Fantrax. Still not bad, but it's like moving from the 99¢ bin to a 30% discount.

Saddiq Bey, SF/PF - New Orleans Pelicans

• Current Yahoo ADP: 122
• 2025-26 9-CAT Per-Game Value: 85

In a season in which Trey Murphy III played 66 games (second-best mark of his career), Zion Williamson suited up for 62 (second-most), and Herbert Jones started 56, Saddiq Bey does what he always does: 2+ threes, 5+ rebounds, 84% from the line. But this time, he also averaged career highs in points (17.7) and field goal percentage (45.1%), with his lowest turnover rate (0.9 per game).

Nothing has changed in New Orleans! Sure, Dejounte Murray is healthy for what we're hoping is a full season of basketball. He returned at the end of February and averaged 27.8 minutes across 14 games. Still, in the final two months of the season, Bey's usage increased, and his 9-cat value jumped to 64. The rest of his SF/PF peers played the majority of those games (Murphy missed the most, seven, in Murray's active games before everyone of importance in New Orleans sat out the final three games of the season).

One concern is that Bey could be traded midseason. He's on an expiring contract, 27 years old, and not an integral building block for the Pelicans' front office. He's the type of wing who would fit on any contending roster, but he's not putting up the empty stats in Oklahoma City or New York.

Bey's not doing anything extraordinary (although his turnover numbers are very low for a player with his usage and playing time), but as long as he remains in the Crescent City, he's giving more than any other player in the double-digit rounds.

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