The 2025-26 NBA season commences on October 21st. This means that fantasy basketball drafts are coming up, and if you want to get a leg up against your competition, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to take a look at some of the top sleepers and breakout candidates for this upcoming year.
PF/C Alex Sarr (Aggregate ADP: 85), Breakout
Sarr was the second overall pick of last season and received minimal hype for a top-three draft pick. He made some noise in fantasy circles due to a strong start to the year with blocks, having accumulated a whopping 37 blocks in 20 games. He looked the part of contributing huge defensive numbers for fantasy managers but ultimately couldn’t string together an elite campaign due to his deficiencies in other stats. And by that I mean he did not positively contribute in any other stat besides rebounds.
Sarr has the starting center job locked up in Washington and could be due for a strong year two leap. He finished fourth in ROTY voting last season while only playing 27.1 MPG. This year, the Wizards will most likely be a dumpster fire once again, but Sarr likely won’t be.
SF/PF Cameron Johnson (Aggregate ADP: 95.6), Sleeper
Cam had a big year last season, averaging a career-high 18.8 PPG and 7.2 attempts from three. He also posted a career-high FG% of 47.5%, a career-high 2P% of 57.8%, and a career-high FT% of 89.3%. If the Brooklyn Nets were to ramp up his minutes to juice up his numbers as advertisement, then it worked. The Nuggets came calling and now Johnson stands to directly replace Michael Porter Jr.’s role in Denver, a role for which he seems well suited.
Johnson has never played with someone of Jokic’s caliber. He will get tons of open looks in the Nuggets’ offense and could be due for another strong season with plenty of points and threes. Last season, Johnson finished 52 in 9-Cat leagues and is likely to hit a similar mark this season. While I’m not sure if he’s going to outperform that, his value will still probably outpace his price on draft night.
SF/PF Tari Eason (Aggregate ADP: 122.3), Sleeper
After Houston added Kevin Durant to diagnose its half-court offense issues, many declared the end of the Eason hype train. They questioned whether the minutes would be there. They questioned whether the role would be there. They questioned the guy who finished 65 while averaging 1.7 SPG on just 24.9 minutes per game.
Eason isn’t going anywhere. He’s a fundamental part of the Rockets’ bench as a menacing high-energy defender who’s both active and disruptive. His low ADP score factors in his risk of low playing time, but I simply don’t think that’ll be the case. Eason, even if he were to see a sub 25 minute role this season, will still beat his ADP by 40 to 50 spots due to his high FG%, rebounds, steals, and blocks.
SF Matas Buzelis (Aggregate ADP: 107.1), Breakout
After getting some promising reps during the latter half of last season, Buzelis is primed for a possible breakout campaign on this young Bulls team. Buzelis didn’t post exciting numbers across 80 games last season, but his per-36 numbers are intriguing. Last season he only played 18.9 MPG, but the per-36 extrapolation puts him at 16.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 1.8 BPG with stable free throw shooting. He profiles as a lanky wing who will contribute in points, rebounds, and blocks while not hurting your percentages too badly.
