The NBA season is just around the corner, which means that fantasy basketball drafts are approaching. Regardless of the format you play, here are three sleepers you can think about before your draft. You don’t need a perfect draft to win, you just need to make sure you’re nailing value with each draft pick. Let’s talk about some underpriced players.
Here are three sleeper picks for this upcoming NBA season:
LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets (ADP: 24.2)
It feels odd to list Ball here as a sleeper pick, but his ADP is simply too low. His stock has dropped following two consecutive injury-ridden seasons in which he played a total of 58 games. He was a consensus first-round pick in both of these seasons and many who drafted Ball at his premier price tag were understandably frustrated.
But, injuries: such characterize our tolerance of fantasy sports. We cannot fade a 23-year-old All-Star into a late second-round pick just because he has had unreliable ankles thus far. When he’s on the floor, Ball is a guaranteed fantasy stud with career averages of 20 PPG, 7.4 APG, and 6.2 RPG with 1.6 SPG and almost three 3’s per game. He has the green light in Charlotte. Despite the Hornets being an awful team in real life, they play at a quick pace. This pace indicates plenty of opportunities for huge fantasy lines for Ball this season. Maybe with older players, we can be more reserved when targeting them in our drafts, but with a young star such as Ball, I don’t mind reaching a bit. It’s been difficult to predict injuries and games played; the variance is simply too high. So on draft day, fire away. I’ll be targeting Ball in my drafts with a late first or early second-round pick.
Josh Giddey, Chicago Bulls (ADP: 68.6)
The Bulls will be a nice, fresh change of scenery for the 21-year-old coming off an Olympic run with Australia. Giddey’s last season with OKC, despite stellar post-season success, left much to be desired. Giddey’s stats dropped – not precipitously, but ominously for a young player – almost across the board following his sophomore season improvements as he took a backseat to other players on his team. Giddey simply needs the ball in his hands to be effective on the floor. He’s a poor off-ball player, struggles outside the arc, plays porous defense, and is redundant as a playmaker next to superstar teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
So why’s he on this list? Because like the others here, his ADP is too low. Giddey’s situation is interesting on the Bulls. Whenever a young guard who can generate assists, a valuable commodity in fantasy basketball, gets moved to a new situation, it should pique your interest. He’ll be competing for minutes with the returning corpse of Lonzo Ball but should still be the starting point guard for this team. He has plenty of lethal outside sharpshooters in Coby White and Zach LaVine. Last season in OKC he played a career-low 25.1 minutes per game, which likely won’t be the case in Chicago. As far as mid-round value goes, Giddey is a niche player with plenty of assist and rebounding upside for a cheap price.
Keyonte George, Utah Jazz (ADP: 118.4)
George is coming into his second year following a promising All-Rookie campaign averaging 13 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 2.8 RPG. None of these numbers are particularly eye-popping, and as a rookie who’s battled efficiency issues throughout his first year – a relatively common occurrence – I think many are, for lack of a better term, sleeping on George for this season as the Jazz’s starting point guard.
But we shouldn’t be. George averages 17.3 PPG, 5.9 APG, and 3.8 RPG per 36 minutes. His percentages are in the toilet but I’m bullish on George improving them after a full season under his belt. The Jazz are in rebuilding mode and don’t have playoff aspirations; they are purely focused on developing their young players and George will be a focal point of their future. I’m confident in him getting bigger minutes this season after only playing 27 MPG last season, and with a bigger role comes higher usage too, presumably. At his ADP of 118.4, you’re probably throwing darts, anyway. And what do we say when we nail a draft pick like this? Bullseye.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
