SportsEthos 2026 Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide

Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide 2025: Reviewing Last Year’s Sleepers

By Mike Passador Published August 14, 2025 Updated August 24, 2026 2 min read

Transparency and honesty are key attributes in many arenas —  especially fantasy analysis. It’s always nice to win one, but even when you’re off the mark it’s good to go back and look at the totality of things; what went right, what went wrong and why. With that in mind we like to take some time in each Draft Guide to look back at last year’s hits and misses, with particular attention paid to the marquee Sleepers category. It’s everyone’s favorite topic, after all.

There’s something beautiful about the simplicity; hitting on a sleeper communicates the basic idea that you knew your stuff better than your opponents. All of the players we picked as sleepers last year were available for every single one of your leaguemates, and if you snatched one (or more) of them up then you were just rolling in profits. Not everyone had the chance to pick Nikola Jokic, but everyone had multiple chances to select every player on this list. Every year we tend to come away with one or two big wins, and in 2024-25 we might’ve hit the jackpot.

Standard Leagues

Dyson Daniels

Results: Daniels blossomed as a full-time starter, posting all the expected career-highs while leading the league at a ridiculous 3.0 steals per game.

Verdict: Our annual smash victory

Reason: Daniels didn’t come out of nowhere and was a popular late-round target for a reason, but anyone who heeded our advice and made sure to reach for him ended up laughing their way to the bank. The youngster was plugged in as a starter and saw his playing time increase by 50%, leading to big gains in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and 3-pointers. Even better, Daniels put up a career-best mark from the field on over double his previous high shot volume. We’re burying the lede a bit here, as the real money was found in Daniels averaging an absurd 3.0 steals per game. He was one of the rare players who could win a category all on his own; Daniels was worth the draft pick for his steals alone and everything else was gravy. A top-20 season makes this our best sleeper call so far.

Ivica Zubac

Results: Zubac stepped into a big role and rose to fantasy’s top-35 behind a sturdy stat set and tons of playing time.

Verdict: Big W


Want to get access to the rest of this NBA FantasyPass piece? You’ll need to have an NBA FantasyPass membership or purchase the Draft Guide. Click here to learn more and sign up!
Premium Access Required

 


📢 Want More? 📢


🏠 Go to the Draft Guide Home Page Here

  Join our DiscordClick Here to Join!

📡 Download the SportsEthos App from your app store to get real-time alerts and updates

Get the SportsEthos App (iOS App Store) Get the SportsEthos App (Google Play)

  Follow us on Twitter@EthosFantasyNBA

🏆 Join our premium community built on integrity, competition, and winning. Let’s crush this season together.

Get the NBA FantasyPass!

 

Join the SportsEthos team! Fill out an application by clicking here!

Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide

Turn this analysis into a complete draft-day edge.

Unlock the Bruski 150, full projections, the Draft Tracker, player profiles, sleepers, busts, strategy, mock drafts and every premium resource you need to build a winning fantasy basketball team.

  • Bruski 150 rankings
  • Full projections
  • Draft Tracker
  • Sleepers and busts
  • Ongoing updates
Get the Draft Guide Instant access after purchase

SportsEthos Community

Stay connected all season

Join the community, follow SportsEthos and download the app for real-time fantasy basketball news, player updates, analysis and strategy.

About the Author

SportsEthos Contributor

Mike Passador

View Articles

Mike graduated from Boston University's Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

Keep exploring

Continue through the Draft Guide

View the full Draft Guide