UPDATED 9/18/2025: Added and removed players, along with updated ADPs to account for offseason news, moves, and adjusted draft positions.

We are a little over one month out from the start of the 2025-2026 NBA regular season, and it’s time to start ramping up for our fantasy basketball drafts. Below is a list of fantasy basketball sleepers that you should look to target in your drafts. Everything’s based on standard scoring settings, but applies to most formats.

The fantasy basketball season is right around the corner, and the first stop is the top sleepers available. I expect all of these players to greatly beat out their ADP, which we’re using from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

 

 

 

Fantasy Basketball Sleepers

Josh Giddey, Chicago Bulls (35.8)

Look, I understand that 35.8 is pretty high in terms of fantasy basketball drafts, and you do not typically see a player being slept on that’s being drafted this high, but what if I told you I think there’s a chance that that player could be a top-10 fantasy basketball player this year?

After the All-Star break of the 2024-’25 season, Josh Giddey averaged 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per game along with 50/46/81-percent shooting splits. Over that stretch of 19 games, he had nine double-doubles and five triple-doubles. Only FIVE of his second-half performances resulted in a non-double or triple-double. His 43 steals and blocks across 19 games are a BIG per-game mark because of how valuable stocks are in fantasy basketball. If you extrapolate those numbers over the course of an entire season, here’s where he’d rank amongst all players in the NBA;

  • PPG - 27th
  • RPG - 8th
  • APG - 3rd
  • 3PT% - 1st (yes, first)

When you look at the Bulls roster heading into the 2025 campaign, they added nothing of significance. They drafted Noa Essengue, who is offensively challenged and won’t play massive minutes right away, and traded Lonzo Ball, one of the Bulls’ primary ball-handlers, for Isaac Okoro. Wheels up for Josh Giddey, who, if the plus-shooting continues, is a first-round value in the third round.

Jalen Green, Phoenix Suns (71.0)

Although there’s been a lot of skepticism around the trade the Phoenix Suns made to send Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets to receive Jalen Green, that doesn’t matter in fantasy basketball. The team around him matters, and it’s not a great roster, which means Green should have the ball in his hands a LOT. Getting rid of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal matters greatly here.

There’s a lot to like about Green, and his shooting volume and availability are at the top of the list. He’s played all 82 games in each of the past two seasons and only missed six games in 2022. In each of those three seasons, Green averaged at least 16.2 FGA and 19.6 PPG. 

He contributes in other categories, too, posting 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. For what it’s worth, from February 3rd to March 10th last year, Fred VanVleet was out, and Jalen Green averaged 4.6 assists per game, so when he is asked to distribute more, he’s more than capable of doing so.

With how the Suns' roster is constructed this year, only Green and Devin Booker are going to be nightly reliable scoring threats, while Mark Williams, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn, and whoever else is on the floor are secondary options. There are a lot of career-highs for Green with the Phoenix Suns, who are going to fight for their lives in the Western Conference.

Bennedict Mathurin, Indiana Pacers (92.4)

We know the Pacers are going to look quite different than they did a year ago, as Tyrese Haliburton is out for the year and Myles Turner is a Milwaukee Buck. Bennedict Mathurin was a lottery pick just three years ago and has had an inconsistent two seasons, but the potential is clear. He’s still just 23 years old.

Heading into the 2025-’26 season, Mathurin is expected to enter the starting lineup as an off-guard playing alongside Andrew Nembhard. Through three seasons, Mathurin has started 85 games and has averaged 16.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. Just last season, without Haliburton and Turner on the floor, Mathurin led the team with a 26.2% USG rate, and it wasn’t particularly close to anyone else, as T.J. McConnell was second on the team at 23%.

For a guard, Mathurin is an elite rebounder as he’s averaged over four rebounds per in all three seasons and was up over five last season. Mathurin has top-30 upside as his ceiling could potentially flourish this year, as Indiana is seemingly in a gap year until Haliburton returns next season.

 

 

 

Matas Buzelis, Chicago Bulls (102.1)

There are a lot of factors as to why Matas Buzelis could end up being one of the best fantasy basketball draft steals of the year, but he’s a priority at this point in drafts for me.

First off is the talent. It’s undeniable. He’s skilled everywhere and is more athletic than basically everyone in any gym he steps into. After starting the year barely in the rotation, Buzelis started 31 games and averaged 26.7 minutes, 13 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks. He shot 47% from the field and 35% from three as a starter, too. Taking this one step further, he played at least 30 minutes 10 times during his rookie campaign, and he averaged 18 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.4 APG, and 1.7 BPG.

The Bulls roster is also a big talking point here because there is absolutely going to be a LOT of trade talk surrounding the likes of Coby White, Nikola Vucevic, and Ayo Dosunmu. The Bulls added Isaac Okoro to the mix this year, and he’s going to be a zero offensively, which puts Buzelis in the spotlight to shine offensively. Shining offensively should come easily in Billy Donovan’s offense, as they played faster than almost everyone else around the NBA.

 

 

 

Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics (81.8)

Let me get this straight. The Boston Celtics' offseason has included trades of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and Jayson Tatum is going to miss the entire year due to a torn Achilles. They acquired Anfernee Simons, but all the reports suggest that he’s going to be flipped as well. The teams confirmed they’re moving on from Al Horford, too, so Boston is going to look very different than the previous two seasons.

What will look the same is Payton Pritchard and the buckets he’s going to get. Not only that, but Pritchard ranked 69th in total fantasy points per Yahoo scoring last season. 69th. With Tatum, Horford, Holiday, and Porzingis. None of those guys are around anymore, and yet his ADP is closer to 200 than it is to 100.

Pritchard’s coming off a season full of career-highs and won the sixth man of the year and scored a career-high 14.3 points, 3.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds, .9 steals, and played 28.4 MPG. Those numbers are poised to rise up even higher with where Boston’s roster stands. Last season, Pritchard had a 25.2% USG and averaged over 1.1 FP/min, which we could potentially see him upwards of 30 minutes per game.

Pritchard has to be one of the best fantasy basketball draft values on the board, if not THE best. I’m going to be leaving as many drafts as possible with him.

 

 

 

Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons (177.8)

The Pistons' 2024-’25 season was all about the development of Cade Cunningham, but before Jaden Ivey broke his fibula, it was the entire Pistons backcourt that was in the midst of a breakout. Ivey took a leap EVERYWHERE you can look.

Before his injury, Ivey averaged a career-high 17.6 points while upping his efficiency across the board, shooting 46% from the floor and 41% from three after not being better than 43% or 34% in either of those categories, respectively. Ivey is a good contributor across the board as he averaged over four rebounds and assists each.

The Pistons lost three players who averaged at least 10 points per game last year, and although they added Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson, it’s Ivey who will elevate them to the next level. Before his injury, Ivey was second on the team in points but also usage at 27%, which is an elite number, and with Ivey on the floor last year, Cade Cunningham was only at 29.5%. Ivey has a very high ceiling if we get a fully healthy season out of him, which is likely with all the reports coming out of Detroit.

 

Â