Last Updated on April 8, 2026 12:08 pm by Keston Paul | Published: April 8, 2026

As another season comes to a close, this will mark the final dynasty check-in of 2025-26. See you in the offseason. It’s only fitting we end on a positive note and discuss the biggest overall risers of the 2025-26 season.

Recognizing gains in a player’s nine-category profile is relatively simple, but determining the why and the sustainability is the real substance for dynasty. For each player, I’ll discuss just what made them more appealing dynasty assets and why this is something we can expect to continue in the future.

For each player, I will reference their ranking in my July 2025 offseason dynasty rankings and in my February 2026 dynasty rankings so you can see their exact rise.

All stats referenced are from Basketball Reference unless otherwise stated and are current up to games on 4/6/2026.

Kon Knueppel (86 to 41)

Raise your hand if you saw one of the best rookie shooting seasons of all-time. Raise another hand if you predicted one of the best rookie seasons of all-time. Now raise a third hard if you foretold one of the best shooting seasons of all time (see I knew I would get you on one of these).

Here was my dynasty rankings blurb from July 2025: “Knueppel’s shooting should be an instant plus, but I don’t see All-Star ceiling. Points and threes should be solid, but everything else could be more muted.” Technically, I was sort of correct? Except for the fact that points and threes would be impressive right away.

Let’s put it simply – Knueppel has already made the 31st-most three-pointers in a season and still has three more games to go. It is likely Knueppel will land in the top-20 when all is said and done. Rookies this good this early do not usually stagnate. I can’t be certain where Knueppel’s game grows from here, but there are multiple avenues where it could happen as discussed on the Punt Intended podcast. It could be better ball-handling leading to higher creation usage. It could be increasing his volume of pull-up threes (he only attempts 1.8 per game per NBA.com, a fairly low total!). It could be developing into a somehow even more efficient scorer. However it happens, it will happen. Knueppel should be able to build on a top-50 fantasy season.

Moussa Diabaté (292 to 155)

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