SportsEthos 2026 Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide

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

By Keston Paul Published October 2, 2026 12 min read

Last Updated on October 2, 2026 3:29 am by Keston Paul | Published: October 2, 2026

I am going to start off with the same things I always say when it comes to points leagues. I am never going to generalize the format, as my introduction to fantasy basketball was in an ESPN points league that still runs to this day, but I have played in points leagues with many different scoring systems, roster sizes and other nuances. Those nuances may not always result in large-scale differences, but the subtleties need to be considered. Aside from that, the different platforms will have their own rankings as well.

I use an Excel sheet to translate normal NBA stats into fantasy points based on the ESPN and Yahoo scoring systems, which assists me in formulating my opinions. As a reminder, here are the scoring systems:

I won’t be covering anything specific to “High Score,” but remember, it does share the Yahoo platform with the original, standard Yahoo Points League system. That means the busts should generally overlap, but I will provide an extra note on that at the very end.

The positive is that ESPN has individualized format rankings, meaning that you will see different rankings in a points league draft than you will in a category-league draft. Yahoo has blended rankings that typically lean more toward the category-league formats, meaning an inexperienced points-league manager has a lot more to juggle over there, at least in theory.

Before we get into my 2026-27 Points League Busts, I want to do a quick review of my 2025-26 picks. Not only is transparency important, but learning from the past is as well.

Reviewing My 2025-26 Busts

In my 2024-25 version, I had a 6-4 record on my main busts and a 7-3 record on some “bonus busts.” I typically separate this article into busts on both ESPN and Yahoo, then individual busts for each platform. I use the ADPs for Yahoo (since their ranks are a blend) and the actual points-league ranking list on ESPN.

Also, just to state my qualifiers, I am going to lean more toward the per-game rank when discussing the results, unless the player missed 30-plus games in a fashion that their lack of availability would have been tough to manage. Players need to perform over three-to-four game stretches to win you a H2H matchup, so I weigh the per-game impact higher, but obviously, if you aren’t playing it doesn’t matter. Availability is important too.

The player name and their ADP or Ranking on the platform at the time of last year’s bust article will be provided.

✅ means a correct bust prediction
🟡 means a borderline or close-call bust prediction that could be interpreted either way
❌ means an incorrect bust prediction

2025-26 Review: Both ESPN and Yahoo

Josh Hart (Yahoo, 56.8) & (ESPN, 41)
ESPN Result: 90th per game, 74th totals ✅
Yahoo Result: 97th per game, 81st totals ✅

Hart was coming off a career fantasy year in 2024-25, but it seemed his place in the starting lineup was less clear. With Tom Thibodeau out of the picture, Hart was also likely set up for a lesser role in terms of minutes even if starting alongside general regression. All of that played out, as he did not return value based on his ADP/ranking.

Anthony Edwards (Yahoo, 7.9) & (ESPN, 7)
ESPN Result: 12th per game, 25th totals ✅
Yahoo Result: 15th per game, 28th totals ✅

Edwards had generally been boosted up the rankings for his availability from his rookie year until 2024-25, being more of a fringe first-rounder per game but making it up with his totals. Without the totals to prop him up, he became a bust at his draft position last season.

Ivica Zubac (Yahoo, 37.3) & (ESPN, 42)
ESPN Result: 93rd per game, 155th totals ✅✅✅
Yahoo Result: 80th per game, 144th totals ✅✅✅

I simply was not confident in Zubac replicating a career year after 2024-25. He wasn’t going to match the ADP/ranking with the Clippers, but of course, the trade to the tanking Pacers sort of sealed it as a bust season in 2025-26.

Andrew Nembhard (Yahoo, 74.6) & (ESPN, 83)
ESPN Result: 71st per game, 91st totals 🟡
Yahoo Result: 76th per game, 91st totals 🟡
*Nembhard played 57 games.

Nembhard is the difficult one to assess here. He was injured in the Pacers’ season opener on October 25, 2025 and missed seven games until a return on November 8, 2025. Many managers dropped him and he was available to add off waiver wires. While days off were frequent, Nembhard did not miss more than two games in a row through the main part of the season until a three-game absence (March 15, 2026 to March 18, 2026) during the fantasy playoffs. He played five more games consecutively (March 21, 2026 to March 29, 2026) and then did not play again last season. I won’t claim this as a win, because Nembhard’s production likely helped get some managers into their fantasy playoffs if they were able to keep him in IR/IL during the original injury and could also put him into IR/IL+ for the management days. I can’t say it got it wrong, because many managers dropped him during the original injury and he flopped a bit during the fantasy playoffs.

Overall Yahoo & ESPN Combo Record:
✅ 3
🟡 1
❌ None

I could count these as double the record since it was for both ESPN and Yahoo, but the idea was that they were generally being overvalued for fantasy from a broader point of view, hence being ranked too highly on both platforms.

2025-26 Review: Yahoo Only

Jalen Duren, 55.1
Result: 38th per game, 30th totals ❌

I didn’t see the vision here as Duren experienced major offensive growth. In my eyes, he was being drafted a pinch above his ceiling for a points league as a role player, but he looked like a star in the regular season before the NBA playoff drop-off.

Jarrett Allen, 55.9
Result: 77th per game, 98th totals ✅

That ranking was leaning more toward category leagues, and Allen also doesn’t benefit from the efficiency in the Yahoo format like he would in ESPN’s. It was always going to be too high for a points league.

Overall Yahoo Record:
✅ 1
🟡 None
❌ 1

I don’t recall why I had so few names for Yahoo only, but I can promise you there are more this year.

2025-26 Review: ESPN Only

Pascal Siakam, 13
Result: 41st per game, 51st totals ✅

ESPN corrected this ranking a little later, and I can’t remember where he was going by the last weekend of the preseason, but it was likely still a little too high. Him being ranked in the upper second round at any point was head-scratching, however.

DeMar DeRozan, 33
Result: 86th per game, 47th totals ✅

DeRozan was being gifted an elevated ranking for his typical production via totals. I didn’t think that made sense when he might be multiple rounds behind that ranking on a per-game basis. It played out as expected and he didn’t even get to ESPN’s ranking on totals either.

Jalen Green, 49
Result: 141st per game, 288th totals ✅✅✅
*Green played 32 games

This was another confusing one. Green had generally been in the 75-to-100 range for ESPN points leagues on a per-game basis, and I am sorry, but (approximately) 30.0 fantasy points per game being propped up by total value via games played would never make sense as a top-50 pick. The injury situation slowed down his per-game production further and made this one of the worst picks of the season if you took him where he was ranked, so hopefully you avoided that.

Michael Porter Jr., 50
Result: 35th per game, 82nd totals ❌
*MPJ played 52 games

What happened? I did not believe in Porter as a No. 1 option. To be fair, his brand of No. 1 option wasn’t via self-creation, it was more “taking more shots” and not being bothered by contests at his height. Lauri Markkanen does it, so maybe I should’ve seen it coming. You could say I could give this a 🟡 because of the totals, but I think MPJ gave you a fantasy regular-season advantage that likely pushed you to your fantasy playoffs, and hopefully you either sold high or were able to find a high-level pickup in late February or early March (Gui Santos, Maxime Raynaud) that helped you in your fantasy playoffs, or streamed your way to victory. I’ll call this a loss on my end.

Onyeka Okongwu, 61
Result: 60th per game, 41st totals ❌

I pretty much viewed his upside as capped alongside Kristaps Porzingis, thinking he made more sense for 9-cat formats. KP had a season from hell in terms of availability before the Hawks traded him, while OO’s natural growth as a shooter and player were forcing him to get on the floor even without Porzingis falling apart.

Andrew Wiggins, 70
Result: 88th per game, 71st totals ❌

I half-considered marking this as a 🟡, but frankly, Wiggins was a very steady contributor last season and I think the per-game value is close enough to the ranking for it to be fairly marked as a miss on my part, and of course, combined with his total value sort of sealing it being a solid pick there.

Malik Monk, 90
Result: 216th per game, 187th totals ✅✅✅

I was staunchly anti-Monk last season for fantasy, not believing that the Kings would prioritize him. That doesn’t mean he isn’t still a good player, but it was more of a “they have so many options and don’t seem to like him” issue. I hope none of you fell on that grenade.

TJ McConnell, 98
Result: 161st per game, 175th totals ✅

Did they think he was going to start? Or maybe it was being propped up by projected total value? This ranking never made sense to me and there were much better options ranked behind McConnell.

Stephon Castle, 107
Result: 62nd per game, 53rd totals ❌❌❌❌❌

I think this is my biggest miss. I am a big contributor to our prospect profiles in the offseason, and while I didn’t do Dylan Harper’s prospect profile, I was a huge fan of his and thought he would overtake Castle before the season ended. Harper is that guy, but we are on a path where both the Slash Brothers will coexist rather than clashing with each other.

Ty Jerome, 109
Result: 47th per game, 353rd totals ✅
*Jerome played 15 games

This was more related to not thinking Jerome would produce at a good enough level for a standard points league behind Ja Morant due to the lack of volume. Injuries took their toll and while Jerome was superb when healthy, 15 games played is a bust.

Egor Demin, 110
Result: 219th per game, 235th totals ✅✅✅

Demin was a better rookie than I expected him to be, yet he still never got close to ESPN’s preseason ranking. It never made sense and rookies, especially rookie guards, tend to be overrated for fantasy.

Chris Paul, 119
Result: 413th per game, 461st totals ✅(times infinity)
*Paul played 16 games

In retrospect, you may think CP3 carrying a top-120 rank was crazy. In reality, he was coming off a very good season with the Spurs in 2024-25. My argument was that this was a pick with a low ceiling and you had much better fliers who could jump into the top-100 or better. While it may not have cost you your season taking CP3 here on paper, it was definitely a wasted chance of an upside bet on someone else, and I think that matters, which is why I labeled him as a bust.

Cam Whitmore, 121
Result: 336th per game, 407th totals ✅(also times infinity)
*Whitmore played 21 games

There was a bit of a discussion of who would be the Wizards’ starting forward last season. Kyshawn George being the answer seems obvious now, and I felt like that at the time too. Whitmore’s season unraveled due to the blood clot issue found in December, but even before that, he was not going to be viable in a standard points league in the bench role. This would’ve been a wasted pick when you could’ve taken a real flier with actual value… like his teammate George who at least helped you until February.

Overall ESPN Record:
✅ 9
🟡 None
❌ 4

As a reminder, my misses were Michael Porter Jr., Andrew Wiggins, Onyeka Okongwu and Stephon Castle. I don’t think the Wiggins miss is significant and I’m not too concerned about the MPJ one either — I can learn from it in terms of just trusting a tough-shot maker to absorb usage, but he was a player on a bad team who missed your fantasy playoffs. Okongwu was a miss in terms of growth I didn’t foresee and Kristaps Porzingis’ health taking another major downturn. The Castle miss is the one that concerns me the most and was simply just a blind spot based on some biases against the player and my love of Dylan Harper as a prospect. I will keep that in mind more when assessing potential second-year growth or even third-year growth and beyond. That was also why I missed on my Jalen Duren call in the Yahoo section.

Overall, I got a significant amount more correct and I helped you avoid some truly league-losing choices.

FINAL RECORD

Overall Record:
✅ 13
🟡 1
❌ 5

That is a 68.4 percent success rate on my 2025-26 bust predictions, while most of those misses were not big ones.

Bonus: The Late-Round Avoids of 2025-26

Personally, I think that hitting on flier picks is a massive contribution to winning your leagues, whether that is a category league or a points league. However, in points formats, I think it is even more important since all values are concrete and you can’t simply punt a stat to gain value or opt for a specialist/one-cat stud who may not have value to another team. You need to hit on one or two fliers in a points league, so avoiding the names in the rankings with no chance of rising is important.

For ESPN I mentioned these players as late-round avoids in 2025-26: Obi Toppin (122), Ace Bailey (129), Aaron Wiggins (132), Yves Missi (137), Kon Knueppel (146), Buddy Hield (147), Brook Lopez (149), Jonas Valanciunas (159).

Result: 7-1

Knueppel (82nd per game, 37th totals) burned me and was the only bad call. Bailey averaged 24.9 fantasy points (166th) per game with 1792 total fantasy points (108th). Bailey was not rosterable in a start-to-finish sense, as he had positive stints and then a strong end to his rookie campaign in “silly season.” For reference, Bailey averaged 21.6 fantasy points before the All-Star break, but improved to 31.9 fantasy points after the All-Star break, which is when he finally became must-roster. You didn’t need to draft him for that.

For Yahoo, I mentioned these players as late-round avoids in 2025-26: Cason Wallace (124.1), Jonathan Kuminga (131.5), Lu Dort (131.7), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (132.3), TJ McConnell (132.7), Alex Caruso (132.8), Jaylen Wells (133.3), Royce O’Neale (134.0), Buddy Hield (134.2), Yves Missi (134.4), Brook Lopez (134.8), Chris Paul (136.2), Anthony Black (136.6) and Jonas Valanciunas (136.8).

Result: 12-2

The misses were Alexander-Walker (59th per game, 31st totals) and Black (105th per game, 85th totals). I don’t think my process was wrong on either player. Things lined up perfectly for NAW to break out due to Trae Young’s injuries and eventual trade, while Black earned opportunities due to injuries as well and sort of “ramped his level of play up” over the first month and a half until the real breakout struck.

Combined Late-Round Avoid Record: 19-3

Now, let us get down to business for 2026-27.

2026-27 Points League Busts

As a reminder, I am using ADPs for Yahoo since they don’t have separate format rankings. Since their rankings typically lean more toward category formats, it can cause some issues for managers in points leagues.

On the other hand, I am using the ESPN Points League rankings since they have format-specific rankings. That doesn’t necessarily make them more accurate, however, as there seems to be a confusing blend of ranks leaning toward per-game value for some players vs. ranks leaning toward total value for some players, and then some disconcerting attempts to blend both; albeit, that might be the best way to do it.

Yahoo & ESPN Points League Busts

Donovan Mitchell (Yahoo, 13.4 and ESPN, 10)

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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.