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Bruski 150SportsEthos 2026 Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide
Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide 2026: Face-off, First Round Frenzy
Last Updated on October 16, 2026 5:21 pm by Mike Passador | Published: October 16, 2026
Our Fantasy Face-Off series will feature two SportsEthos staffers making their arguments in a head-to-head (to-head-to-head) battle of comparable fantasy players.
Outside of fantasy’s top five selections, it is a wide open field this season. We’d say you could justifiably break with consensus but there really isn’t a consensus as once you get past Cade Cunningham, it’s dealer’s choice. We’re looking at four of the top candidates to fly off the board at No. 6 and you can pretty much guarantee that all of today’s contenders are off the board before pick No. 10. We’ve got Keston Paul arguing for Anthony Edwards, Pedro Oliveira battling on behalf of Jayson Tatum, Jon Mosales taking up the case for Tyrese Maxey and Mike Passador in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s corner.
Last Season
| Season | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-26 | MIN | 61 | 60 | 35.0 | 9.9 | 20.2 | 48.9 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 79.6 | 3.4 | 8.4 | 39.9 | 28.8 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| 24-25 | MIN | 79 | 79 | 36.3 | 9.1 | 20.4 | 44.7 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 83.7 | 4.1 | 10.3 | 39.5 | 27.6 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| Season | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-26 | BOS | 16 | 16 | 32.6 | 7.4 | 17.9 | 41.1 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 82.3 | 2.9 | 8.9 | 32.9 | 21.8 | 10.0 | 5.3 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 2.4 |
| 24-25 | BOS | 72 | 72 | 36.4 | 9.2 | 20.3 | 45.2 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 81.4 | 3.5 | 10.1 | 34.3 | 26.8 | 8.7 | 6.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
| Season | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-26 | PHI | 70 | 70 | 38.0 | 9.9 | 21.4 | 46.2 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 89.2 | 3.1 | 8.6 | 36.7 | 28.3 | 4.1 | 6.6 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 2.4 |
| 24-25 | PHI | 52 | 52 | 37.7 | 9.2 | 21.0 | 43.7 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 87.9 | 3.1 | 9.2 | 33.7 | 26.3 | 3.3 | 6.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 2.4 |
| Season | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-26 | MIL | 36 | 36 | 28.9 | 10.4 | 16.6 | 62.4 | 6.4 | 9.9 | 65.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 33.3 | 27.6 | 9.8 | 5.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
| 24-25 | MIL | 67 | 67 | 34.2 | 11.8 | 19.7 | 60.1 | 6.5 | 10.6 | 61.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 22.2 | 30.4 | 11.9 | 6.5 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 3.1 |
Anthony Edwards was expected to make a superstar leap last season and came up just a little bit short, though with top-15/14 value (8/9-cat) and career-high averages in points, blocks, FG% and 3P%, it’s hard to fault him. His big problem was injuries, particularly down the stretch. His 61 games were a career-low and Edwards was clearly not his regular self late in the season, leaving fantasy GMs in the lurch for the head-to-head playoffs. Even so, Edwards was an elite source of points and 3-pointersand cranked his steals back up too. Declines in rebounds, assists and yes, even 3-pointers, kept him out of the first round but his season was far from a fantasy disaster.
Jayson Tatum missed the bulk of the season for a torn Achilles and it looked for a while like he might just sit out the entire campaign with Boston not expected to seriously contend. The rest of the roster did its job and left meaningful games on the table for Tatum to return to, and he hit the ground running in terms of playing time. Some rust was to be expected and was very much present as Tatum shot only .411, giving him a new career-low by almost four percentage points, but managers were happy with how much Tatum played all things considered — a low of 26:46 and up to 39:45 in his last outing — and Tatum still managed top-25 per-game value even with that ugly efficiency and his worst scoring campaign since 2018-19.
Tyrese Maxey posted career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and FT% while matching his previous best in 3-pointers. If you weren’t sure after 2024-25, Maxey made an emphatic statement that he was indeed the Sixers’ best player and the new face of the franchise as Joel Embiid once again struggled to even stay on the court. He finished 5/5 in per-game value and made yet another full-box round of improvements, carrying a Sixers team that simply could not depend on Embiid or Paul George. Nick Nurse, unhappy with his bench group, was all too eager to pile the minutes on and Maxey responded with another career year. He has made significant improvements every season so far, with his steals and blocks skyrocketing in the last couple of seasons. It looked like he was running out of room to grow but Maxey smashed on through to the top-5.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks tenure came to an unceremonious end as wild attempts to keep the team competitive just made everything worse, while Antetokoumnpo tried to have his cake and eat it too but not technically requesting a trade but certainly creating enough of a distraction to warrant persistent rumors. On the floor, Antetokounmpo remained productive despite a clunky roster and poor coaching, but eventually he suffered calf strains that knocked him out of the lineup. As “one for the road,” Antetokounmpo alleged that the team was not clearing him to play despite the fact that he was healthy, though a league investigation didn’t yield anything in terms of proof. The media sniping between player and organization was tiresome and a fresh start, two years overdue, finally came in the summer. The fact that we’ve barely mentioned his on-court work yet is not a good sign but things should calm down now that he’s not exerting influence over every corner of the team. Despite dips in points, rebounds, assists and blocks, Antetokounmpo was a top-10 finisher in per-game value as long as you punted his generationally bad FT% impact.
The Case for Anthony Edwards
We’re breaking down this Face-off from every angle. Want to see who you should take? You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up! Premium Access Required
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