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Unsurprisingly, the two favorites to win the actual Rookie of the Year award have been among the best rookies in fantasy basketball. <\/p>\n
G\/F Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks<\/p>\n
Coming off of a 2024-25 season in which he was one of the NBA\u2019s best reserves, Alexander-Walker appeared likely to take on a similar role after his move from Minnesota to Atlanta. Then, Trae Young suffered a knee injury during the Hawks\u2019 fifth game of the season, and Alexander-Walker has been a fixture in the starting lineup ever since. For the season, he\u2019s averaged 20.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.5 blocks and 3.2 three-pointers per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 90.2 percent from the foul line.<\/p>\n
Alexander-Walker began the season with a Yahoo! ADP well outside of the first 100 picks; he\u2019ll end it as a player providing third-round value in eight- and nine-cat formats. And from a non-fantasy standpoint, he\u2019s the betting favorite to win Most Improved Player honors.<\/p>\n
C Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons<\/p>\n
Despite his scoring and rebounding averages taking a hit last season in comparison to his 2023-24 numbers, Duren was expected to provide consistent fantasy value in the middle for the Pistons this season. However, few may have expected the leap that the fourth-year center made as a scorer. Earning his first All-Star Game appearance, Duren has averaged a career-best 19.5 points per game on 64.9 percent shooting from the field and 74.4 percent shooting from the foul line. Add in the rebounding prowess, and Duren has provided reliable top-50 fantasy value.<\/p>\n
F OG Anunoby, New York Knicks<\/p>\n
There was a sense that first-year head coach Mike Brown\u2019s offensive approach would benefit the Knicks\u2019 wings, as it put the ball in their hands more often. And Anunoby made the most of his opportunities. In 65 games, he has averaged 17.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.7 blocks and 2.4 three-pointers, shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 82.6 percent from the foul line. Beginning the season with a Yahoo! ADP outside of the top-60, Anunoby has been ranked comfortably within the top-50 for most of this season.<\/p>\n
C Donovan Clingan, Portland Trail Blazers<\/p>\n
Entering the season with a Yahoo! ADP in the eighties, Clingan has provided top-50 fantasy value in his second NBA season. In 75 games, the 7-foot-2 center has averaged 12.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, 1.7 blocks and 1.1 three-pointers, shooting 52.0 percent from the field and 67.5 percent from the foul line.<\/p>\n
Emerging as one of the best centers to roster for those willing to punt free-throw percentage, Clingan\u2019s willingness to attempt shots from the perimeter is worth watching. After attempting 49 three-pointers as a rookie, he\u2019s made 80 this season, shooting 33.8 percent. That isn\u2019t an elite percentage, but Clingan has the potential to make the three-pointer a reliable aspect of his game as he continues to develop.<\/p>\n
G Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks<\/p>\n
While Damian Lillard\u2019s Achilles tendon rupture and subsequent departure from Milwaukee opened the door for Rollins to compete for minutes this season, few fantasy managers expected him to be as valuable as he would become. A starter in 67 of the 74 games he has appeared in, Rollins has averaged 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.5 three-pointers while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 79.6 percent from the foul line. <\/p>\n
To receive top-50 production from a player likely added off the waiver wire during a solid opening month of the season is the kind of transaction that can win fantasy managers a league title.<\/p>\n
C Neemias Queta, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
Even with Queta\u2019s solid showing for Portugal at EuroBasket just before the start of this season, some questioned if he could separate himself from the competition for the starting center job in Boston. The 7-footer did so, starting 73 of the 74 games that he\u2019s appeared in.<\/p>\n
Queta heads into the postseason with career-best averages in points (10.3), rebounds (8.3), assists (1.6), steals (0.8) and blocks (1.3) while shooting 65.1 percent from the field and 69.9 percent from the foul line. Entering the season with a Yahoo! ADP well outside of the first 100 picks, Queta has provided reliable top-100 value in his first NBA season as a starter.<\/p>\n
G Collin Gillespie, Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n
Gillespie\u2019s fantasy value took a hit during the latter stages of this season thanks to a shooting slump, but that does not erase the work done to earn a consistent role in Phoenix. A starter in 57 of his 79 games, the third-year guard has averaged 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.9 three-pointers, shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 87.4 percent from the foul line. \u201cVillain Jr.\u201d carved out a consistent role for himself, and the timing could not be better, as Gillespie will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.<\/p>\n
F Saddiq Bey, New Orleans Pelicans<\/p>\n
Sent to New Orleans as part of a three-team deal headlined by CJ McCollum, Bey has enjoyed a career year after missing the entire 2024-25 campaign rehabbing from a torn ACL. In 72 games, starting 64, he has averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.1 three-pointers while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 84.1 percent from the foul line.<\/p>\n
Bey took advantage of opportunities that came about due to injury to other Pelicans rotation players, locking down a spot in the starting lineup. As a result, a player who was not on the radar of most fantasy managers will end the season providing top-100 value.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention (they were good before the injuries hit)<\/p>\n
F Michael Porter Jr., Brooklyn Nets<\/p>\n
While the expectation of many was that Porter\u2019s numbers would receive a boost in Brooklyn, few expected him to be close to a top-25 player before his season came to a premature end in mid-March. Fantasy managers in most leagues could not benefit during their playoff rounds, but that doesn\u2019t erase the fact that Porter averaged career-highs in points, rebounds, assists and three-pointers.<\/p>\n
G Keyonte George, Utah Jazz<\/p>\n
There were questions heading into the season about whether George was the right point guard to lead the Jazz into the future. Not anymore. In 54 games, he averaged career-highs in points, assists and steals, and his field-goal percentage jumped from 39.1 percent in 2024-25 to 45.6 percent this season. It will be interesting to see how George\u2019s fantasy value will be affected by Utah\u2019s improved rotation in 2026-27.<\/p>\n
C Alex Sarr, Washington Wizards<\/p>\n
While Sarr finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting last season, the production did not pick up until after the All-Star break. He made notable strides in Year 2, with his averages in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks all improving. Sarr\u2019s improved strength allowed him to spend more time in the paint, which helped increase his impact on both ends of the floor, and his fantasy value increased as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finding value in fantasy drafts is essential to win a league title. While some of the most valuable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,677,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-706690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-hawks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116375528068246040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}