Everybody has favorites. Everybody has a favorite athlete, a favorite food, a favorite book, a favorite Pokémon, a favorite in everything that you may have interests in. So with fantasy basketball drafts in full swing as the final weekend before the regular season kicks off, I’m here to show who my favorites are. Blastoise is my favorite Pokémon, but that’s not what this article is about. I’m here to share my favorite fantasy basketball draft picks for each round. Now, the format is 12-team, 13-round drafts. Let’s dive into it and win some fantasy basketball championships this year!
Round 1
Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers
Going with Nikola Jokic is obviously a good time if you’re saddled with the first pick, but I’m on record that Luka Doncic is going to win the MVP this year, so outside of Jokic, he’s the top draft pick of the year. There’s no category Doncic isn’t going to contribute in, and there are legitimate reasons to believe he leads the NBA in scoring and flirts with a season-long triple-double.
Round 2
Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets
There were only 16 players last year that averaged 43 Yahoo! Fantasy points per game, and Alperen Sengun was one of them. He scored the 11th-most fantasy points last year because he does just about everything when on the floor. He’s extremely durable, as he’s only failed to play 72 games once in his five seasons. Sengun is as good as it gets when it comes to stuffing a box score, and when you pair that with durability, he has as high a floor/ceiling as anyone in the second round has to offer.
Round 3
Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors
A fully healthy Kawhi Leonard is a first-round talent, and coming off a healthy 2025-’26, there’s no reason to think that’s not the case in his return to Toronto. The stigma around Leonard not being healthy is starting to go away now that he’s qualified for awards twice in the last three seasons by playing at least 65 games in each. Leonard’s coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 27.9 PPG on 51% FG, 39% 3PT, and 89% FT. In Yahoo! Fantasy leagues a year ago, Leonard averaged 45.7 FP/game, which was ninth in the entire league.
Round 4
(TIE) Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers & Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
I have had an extremely hard time picking between the two, and if you look across multiple platforms, Deni Avdija and Jalen Williams’ ADP is tied at the hip. Avdija turned into a star last year, but some people are clearly bothered by Damian Lillard and Ja Morant’s presence. I’m not one of those people. Let’s not overlook Lillard’s age and the fact that he’s coming off an Achilles tear, and the fact that Ja Morant was ineffective and inefficient at levels he had never been at a year ago. Jalen Williams was an All-Star two years ago and played through multiple injuries last year, which is why he looked like a shell of himself. Williams was a true nine-category darling in 2024-’25, and with a clean bill of health, I expect a lot of that to come back to the fold.
Round 5
Cameron Boozer, Memphis Grizzlies
I’m all in on Cameron Boozer, and I don’t CARE who knows it! He’s an efficient scorer at every level and is a bucket getter, so it’s not efficient because he doesn’t shoot a lot; he’s going to put the ball up a lot. He’s also a plus rebounder, has good hands defensively, and is an elite playmaker at his size. He’s going to get a lot of opportunities with the ball in his hands and has a chance to lead the Grizzlies in multiple categories even as a rookie.
Round 6
Dejounte Murray, New Orleans Pelicans
I’ve written about Dejounte Murray in the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Basketball draft guide, but if his efficiency scoring the basketball sticks, he has top-30 upside in nine-category leagues. We saw in 14 games, coming off a major Achilles tear, that Murray still stuffed the stat sheet, averaging 16.7 points, 6.4 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per night. You don’t find those types of players laying around in the fifth round very often, especially with the expectation that the 27.8 minutes/game he averaged ticks up as the Pelicans are more comfortable with his health.
Round 7
Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
I didn’t bet on Dylan Harper for sixth-man of the year because I think he’ll start too many games to qualify. He’s insanely talented, and the Spurs will have no choice but to continue to run the three-guard lineup made up of Harper, De’Aaron Fox, and Stephon Castle out there and have Victor Wembanyama protect them. If Harper is playing 30 minutes per game, he’s a legit 20-5-5-1.5 guy in the seventh round.
Round 8
Day’Ron Sharpe, Brooklyn Nets
If you’ve watched the Brooklyn Nets over the past couple of seasons, you know Day’Ron Sharpe is a high-motor, high-impact player who rarely saw 20 minutes. Well, that’s changing this year, and Sharpe’s role is expected to expand. Sharpe is a plus rebounder who is a surprisingly good passer and is always racking up stocks. If you want a sneak preview of what a night-to-night Sharpe line could look like, look no further than his latest preseason game against the Miami Heat: 11 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block. He fills it up and is THE center to punt with if that’s your draft approach.
Round 9
Ty Jerome, Memphis Grizzlies
Let’s not sleep on what Ty Jerome did during his 15 games as a Memphis Grizzly last year despite just averaging 22.6 minutes per game. He poured in 19.7 points, 5.7 assists, and 2.8 rebounds during that time. Now, Jerome enters the 2026-’27 campaign healthy, and he’s been a high-usage player in each of the last two seasons. He was at 32.7% usage last year and 23.6% in his final year in Cleveland. Jerome has a massive ceiling at this point in drafts because he’s a great nine-category producer.
Round 10
(TIE) Darius Acuff, Sacramento Kings & Brandin Podziemski, Golden State Warriors
I went with a safe pick in Brandin Podziemski and an upside pick in Darius Acuff Podziemski inked a brand new $110M deal and has played extremely well during the preseason. The Warriors' injury concerns play a huge role in how much Podziemski can be leaned on, coupled with the fact that Draymond Green is 36 years young and Stephen Curry is 38 years old. Acuff, the Kings lottery pick, has a big-time scoring ceiling, and once the Kings season is dead to rights, which will happen quickly, they’ll begin to trade, limit, and shut down veterans while Acuff shines. He’s expected to be in the starting lineup when the season begins.
Round 11
Jaime Jaquez., Milwaukee Bucks
We really got a sneak preview of what putting Jaime Jaquez. on the ball more would look like last year, and he’s a really good player. He averaged 15.4 points, 4.7 assists, and 5.0 rebounds across 28.3 minutes/game and only started once over the course of the entire season. He gets a chance at being a starter with a rebuilding Milwaukee Bucks squad, and his production should tick up.
Round 12
Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder lost a lot of key depth pieces this offseason, which vaulted Ajay Mitchell to the front of the line, a line he was basically already at the front of. He was nearly a 14 PPG scorer while averaging 3.3 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.2 SPG while averaging 25.8 minutes. There is really a possibility he could end up averaging somewhere near 30 minutes per game as the primary option off the Thunder bench. There’s a reason why he checks into many sportsbooks as the favorite to win sixth-man of the year.
Round 13
Keaton Wagler, Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers head into the year with so many injuries, and everything is falling into place for us Keaton Wagler believers. He even ended up starting the Clippers' latest preseason game, and the 6’5” guard put up 12 points, five rebounds, and four assists. He’s a good scorer and, as head coach Tyronn Lue described him earlier this offseason, very good in pick-and-roll, so they want the ball in his hands a lot. It’s very possible we don’t see Wagler come off the bench very much, especially while they’re without Bradley Beal, Brandon Ingram, Max Strus, and Jordan Miller as the season kicks off.