SportsEthos 2026 Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide

Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide 2026: Yahoo & ESPN Points League Sleepers

By Keston Paul Published October 7, 2026 13 min read

Last Updated on October 7, 2026 3:01 am by Keston Paul | Published: October 7, 2026

There are a few differences to account for between Yahoo and ESPN Points Leagues. One is obviously the platform itself, as each will have different rankings and ADPs. My general way of “attacking” this has been to use the Yahoo ADPs, since everything on that platform is a blend, while for ESPN, I use their rankings since they have points-league specific rankings. Rankings can shift, so I am usually telling you where I would be okay with selecting a player and that should account for any changes.

The second consideration is the scoring system.

For ESPN, you will get a little more juice out of efficient scorers, especially efficient perimeter scorers who hit threes, plus some extra value for defensive stats. On Yahoo, rebounding is worth a little more, but with no penalty for inefficiency, the high-volume offensive players are generally boosted. While I am not covering “High Score” here, I will have a little note at the end for anyone who wants to delve into that format.

Reviewing My 2025-26 Sleepers

As I emphasized for the “Busts” version of this article, I will generally lean more toward the per-game result because for me, the goal is having a player who can produce at the highest level across a stretch of three or four games to win you a H2H Points matchup. That said, availability definitely cannot be discounted, so it is still going to factor into my idea of success or not. Once a player starts missing 30-plus games, their absences are likely becoming too difficult to manage. On the other hand, I do like to add some nuance to that. A player available from October to February may have pushed you to the fantasy playoffs, perhaps even securing you a bye if they outperformed their draft position drastically during that period. If you lost them during March and beyond, hopefully you were able to cope with a hot pickup in “silly season.” Also, a player who missed a bunch of time in the middle of the season (or start) but was present in the fantasy playoffs could have also been manageable if you had a roster good enough to still get to the fantasy playoffs. Maybe you were the fourth or fifth seed instead of earning a bye, but during the fantasy playoffs, your team would have performed more like a top-2 seed with that player you were missing before. Keep all of that in mind as I discuss these results.

means a correct sleeper prediction
means a borderline or close-call sleeper prediction that could be interpreted either way
means an incorrect sleeper prediction

2025-26 Review: Yahoo & ESPN Combo Sleepers
Immanuel Quickley (Yahoo, 78.7) & (ESPN, 101)
Result: Yahoo 72nd per game and 54th totals↔️ ESPN 58th per game & 46th totals

Quickley ended up being one of my most drafted players in 2025-26, as I had a strong belief in him having a bounce-back season. In 2024-25, he dealt with injuries (and some tanking), but his per-game production looked a lot better over the final month, when active. The ESPN ranking was undoubtedly overcompensating and if you did draft Quickley, it was an easy win.

Mark Williams (Yahoo, 83.8) & (ESPN, 84)
Result: Yahoo 126th per game & 128th totals ↔️ ESPN 126th per game & 126th totals
*Williams played a career-high 60 games

Ironically, Williams was fairly available by his own standards, as his health only unraveled when we got to March. He started the season decently too, but by around December, the Suns started scaling back his minutes as a part of his health management. The lowered minutes resulted in worsened per-game production and while I would’ve said Williams was a risk-reward pick anyway, he didn’t succeed on either count, that is, neither per game nor totals.

Austin Reaves (Yahoo, 51.3) & (ESPN, 55)
Result:Yahoo 37th per game & 82nd totals↔️ ESPN 32nd per game & 83rd totals
*Reaves played 51 games

This is a tricky one to assess, but Reaves had a scintillating, first-round-worthy start to the 2025-26 season which might have allowed some of you to sell high. A calf strain cost him a few games initially, but then the re-aggravation of that calf strain (mishandled injury) caused him to miss a lot of time in the middle of the season. Timing-wise, I think that was manageable enough to view this as a successful sleeper call on a per-game basis, as Reaves was generally available during the fantasy playoffs without any restrictions by the time we got to March.

Yahoo & ESPN Combo Record:
2
None
1

That was a mixed bag. Quickley was a clear-cut win, while Williams was a disappointment. Reaves was a per-game win but you needed adequate IR/IL spots to cover his missed time in the middle of the season. If you got to your fantasy playoffs successfully — and assuming Reaves’ early-season production pushed you to multiple wins — Reaves was available and I think that just barely gets him across the finish line as a good call despite the totals.

2025-26 Review: Yahoo Sleepers Only
Josh Giddey (30.7)
Result: 21st per game, 56th totals
*Giddey played 54 games

I genuinely didn’t know how to assess this one. Giddey missed most of his time around the beginning of January until the All-Star break, and while his scoring dipped after the All-Star break, his assists, steals and blocks improved enough to keep his fantasy points per game fairly stable. He missed two consecutive games on March 5 and March 8, but those were his only absences in March — that is, during the fantasy playoffs. Considering Giddey was a top-30 pick, I am going to label this a , unlike the Austin Reaves call since him going later means you had other high picks to compensate and balance things out, unlike with Giddey.

Ja Morant (41.1) and Zion Williamson (45.6)
Morant Result: 48th per game, 318th totals
*Morant played 20 games
Williamson Result: 51st per game, 63rd totals
*Williamson played 62 games with a career-high 35-game healthy streak

I spoke about these players as a pair of names with risk-reward upside who would be sleepers if they could stay healthy, but they weren’t players worth the risk for everyone. Morant was a clear-cut bust here. Williamson did not quite hit the levels that were expected, even for a per-game basis, but since I gave myself an for Andrew Wiggins being “close enough” in the Busts, I think Williamson being “close enough” makes him a low-end since he survived the risk.

CJ McCollum (100.6)
Result: 93rd per game, 53rd totals

I am surprised that I touted McCollum as a sleeper, in retrospect, but apparently I was smart a year ago. The move to Atlanta sealed it, since that allowed McCollum to avoid the Wizards’ tanking shenanigans in the second half of the season.

Keyonte George (117.6)
Result: 39th per game, 75th totals
*George played 54 games

George missed the fantasy playoffs, but that per-game production relative to his ADP was league-breaking stuff. I would assume that a George manager who drafted fairly well on their early picks would have just been a top seed with a potential bye, allowing them ample time to replace him. I was able to sell high on George for Desmond Bane in the one league that I got him as well, and Bane played all 82 games while having a strong finish to the season.

Kevin Porter Jr. (119.2)
Result: 31st per game, 146th totals
*Porter played 38 games

This was perilously close to an due to the games-played totals, but since Porter was going this late, I think the absences were manageable if you had the IL/IR spots. I drafted him more than I wanted to and that is how it went for me — it was manageable. When Porter was available for about half of the season, I feel like my team was always guaranteed a victory. In the end, I was able to move off him for hot pickups in “silly season” when the fantasy playoffs arrived.

Bonus Notes:
Paolo Banchero (21.4)➡️ 26th per game, 21st totals
Darius Garland (68.7)➡️ 78th per game, 156th totals (46 games)
Tyler Herro (66.0)➡️ 66th per game, 228th totals (33 games)

I didn’t recommend these players as outright sleepers, but said that Banchero’s ADP was steadily dropping (more related to 9-cat) and should maintain second-round upside in the Yahoo Points Scoring System. On Garland and Herro, I specifically said they “can easily beat their ADPs when healthy, but there is risk involved in taking players who will begin the season in your IL slot. Injuries can sometimes beget more injuries and if you recall, Garland never got into a rhythm during the 2023-24 season as a result of a broken jaw.” Since that was more of a discussion than a recommendation, we aren’t assessing them, but my comments about the injuries resulting in more injuries did come true.

Yahoo Record:
3
2
1

A lot of this list was impacted by injuries. I think the process was correct for most of these, but in the case of Morant and Williamson specifically (even if Williamson turned out “fine”), I would say that the “these guys are sleepers if they are healthy” was a bad approach. Their rankings and general ADP will always have to account for the potential of missed games due to a proven past of missed games, so that isn’t something I’ll be repeating in a similar way. Of course, if the platform overcompensates for injury risk, that is another story.

2025-26 Review: ESPN Sleepers Only
Kevin Durant (30)
Result: 14th per game, 9th totals

Durant wrecked this (positively) with good health and maintaining a high standard of play. There isn’t much to talk about here.

Jalen Johnson (42)
Result: 9th per game, 8th totals

Johnson was a league-winning pick at the turn of the third and fourth round for me in a 12-team ESPN points league. Breakout season aside, even without that, I was saying he had top-25 per-game upside based on what he had shown previously, and his injury history didn’t show anything chronic, giving me some promise that he could have a healthy season. Now, that doesn’t mean injury issues are completely behind him, but the process was proven correct and he took a leap on top of it.

Kristaps Porzingis (78)
Result: 95th per game, 263rd totals
*Porzingis played 32 games

Porzingis was looking healthy coming into the 2025-26 training camp, but it all went so wrong. Him apparently dealing with POTS (this was reported and later disputed by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, so who knows) added a second layer of risk alongside his natural tendency to get injured. It was not good.

Deandre Ayton (85)
Result: 128th per game, 85th totals

Ayton had been a successful sleeper for me in the past, and the argument for me was that Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James would give him a career-year in terms of finishing. Well, he had a career-high FG%, but he didn’t dominate the minutes as the Lakers often went to Jaxson Hayes for more of the “dirty work.” Ayton steadily declined for fantasy and became droppable at some point. I don’t think I can fault my process, but maybe the risk-reward aspects of Ayton were “just right” at that spot, rather than being a sleeper. Seriously though, I still can’t quite say Ayton shouldn’t have been able to have the best fantasy season of his career with those players feeding him. The minutes and usage failed.

Brandon Miller (108)
Result: 69th per game, 64th totals

Even with his injury at the beginning of 2025-26, Miller went on to play 65 games and easily be a successful sleeper. He was a bit of a buy-low upon his return and I hope anyone who rostered him was patient, as this was yet another league-winning pick for me.

Bradley Beal (143)
Result: 434th per game, 517th totals
*Beal played six games

My process for Beal here was that the ranking made the risk-reward aspect of him a zero. That is, the risk was almost nothing and you could even reach a little higher and he could still be a risky option with upside. Basically, a pick in the flier range that could easily become a streamer if it didn’t work out. Well, Beal getting injured early sort of worked out perfectly since you didn’t have to spend a lot of time waiting to see if he would work out. His season was over promptly, you moved on, and either streamed or found a better pickup. It was still a lost call, but not a costly one.

ESPN Record:
3
None
3

Again, Porzingis was a “sleeper” if he was healthy, albeit in my defense, it seemed like he would be when we got to early October. Finding sleepers is going to be a bit tricky because you are trying to extract maximum value and it is a little bit about some big swings for the fences, but it has to be within reason. The Ayton process felt right based on what I had seen from him before, while the Beal one was a low-risk, see-what-happens call.

Kevin Durant, Jalen Johnson and Brandon Miller were all superb value adds if you took a swing on any of them, and as I already said with Johnson, that could have been a league-winning pick for you and was a league-winning pick for me.

FINAL RECORD

Overall Record:
8
2
5

Out of my 15 picks, eight were hits for a 53.3 percent success rate. There were two more close calls and that means I missed on 33.3 percent. I have already stated that I don’t like the “these injury-prone players are sleepers if they are healthy” calls, while I had a bit more of a sturdier process on why Johnson could overcome his injury issues — again, since he didn’t have one chronic issue — and I would have generally said the same for Miller if anyone was viewing him that way as well.

I wish I mentioned Kyshawn George, as he was another of my more highly-drafted players and was a hit until February, propelling me to a first-round bye despite becoming a drop later. Donovan Clingan was also ranked outside the top-100 on ESPN last year and became an awesome pick for me. I will consider the hits, close calls, misses and my unmentioned names a lot more when I tackle the 2026-27 version.

Bonus: The Last-Round Fliers of 2025-26

These weren’t draft recommendations, but lowly-ranked players I wanted to discuss further last year.

For ESPN, I mentioned these players as last-round fliers in 2025-26:
Past pick 150: Quentin Grimes at 155, Jaden Ivey at 160, Jabari Smith Jr. at 164, Kyshawn George at 186, Khris Middleton at 192
Past pick 200: Mitchell Robinson (220), Nikola Jovic (231), Davion Mitchell (234), Moussa Diabate (294), Isaiah Jackson (235) and Jay Huff (494, huh?).
Deep-League Mention: Josh Minott (549)

These weren’t outright recommendations, but just players to consider a swing on in the last round of your draft. As I said above, Kyshawn George should have just been touted as an outright sleeper because his upside was a step above those other names. Jabari Smith Jr. was also a steady top-100 presence, albeit not exciting. Some of those rankings were crazy, like the Jay Huff one. Why was he ranked at 494?

For Yahoo, I mentioned these players as last-round fliers in 2025-26:
Neemias Queta, Jay Huff, Isaiah Jackson, Mitchell Robinson, Moussa Diabate, Nikola Jovic and Ryan Dunn

Neemias Queta turned out okay as a top-110 or so points-league performer. Moussa Diabate took a while to get going but was eventually in the top-120 conversation. These were all last-round dart throws, so you’re just hoping for anyone to come out positively.

Now serving on today’s menu, the 2026-27 Sleepers!

2026-27 Points League Sleepers

The “art of the sleeper” is a combination of potential growth, bounce-back ability or finding the projected declines that seem too harsh. It is worth noting that I will frequently be referencing past data (2025-26 or 2024-25) because it gives us somewhat of a baseline to bounce the future prediction or projection off of. The shortsighted thing would be simply expecting replicated performance. However, I will use the past data and consider whether or not enough has changed for our expectation to change and what any adjusted expectations could look like.

Yahoo & ESPN Points League Sleepers

Jalen Green (Yahoo, 102.2 and ESPN, 115)

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Keston Paul

Keston majored in Biology and minored in Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.), St. Augustine. Hailing from Trinidad & Tobago, Kes grew up loving cricket, then football (soccer, not NFL) & never missed a Barça game in the 2010s. Later on, he grew obsessed with basketball/fantasy basketball & unfortunately claims to be a Sixers fan for some reason.