Fantasy Basketball 2026 Latest Rankings for Top NBA Players and Sleepers

Winning a fantasy basketball league title isn't easy.

Formulating a winning strategy sounds pretty simple, though, doesn't it?

You need stars, obviously, and then you need to surround them with solid support pieces and the right amount of sleepers. Throw in copious amounts of good health, and you may have just created a championship recipe.

The execution doesn't always work the way the on-paper calculations say it should, and the injury bug doesn't always cooperate.

But those are concerns for a different day. For now, with optimism all the way up during the NBA preseason, we can dare to dream about what could happen if everything breaks right, so let's prepare for that surely-coming-to-fruition title run ahead with player rankings and a couple of our favorite sleeper picks.

Points League Rankings

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Top 30

1. Nikola Jokić, C, DEN
2. Luka Dončić, PG/SG, LAL
3. Victor Wembanyama, C, SAS
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, PG, OKC
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF/C, MIA
6. Cade Cunningham, PG/SG, DET
7. Anthony Edwards, PG/SG/SF, MIN
8. Jalen Johnson, PF, ATL
9. Tyrese Maxey, PG/SG, PHI
10. Donovan Mitchell, PG/SG, CLE
11. Jayson Tatum, SF/PF, BOS
12. Cooper Flagg, SF/PF, DA
13. Scottie Barnes, SG/SF, TOR
14. Jalen Brunson, PG, NY
15. Josh Giddey, PG/SG, CHI
16. Devin Booker, PG/SG, PHO
17. Tyrese Haliburton, PG/SG, IND
18. Kevin Durant, SF/PF, HOU
19. Trae Young, PG, WAS
20. Karl-Anthony Towns, C, NY
21. Alperen Şengün, C, HOU
22. Amen Thompson, SG/SF, HOU
23. James Harden, PG/SG, CLE
24. LaMelo Ball, PG, MIN
25. Bam Adebayo, PF/C, MIA
26. Kawhi Leonard, SF/PF, TOR
27. Jalen Duren, C, DET
28. Deni Avdija, SF/PF, POR
29. Pascal Siakam, PF, IND
30. Stephen Curry, PG, GSW

Sleeper: Ajay Mitchell, PG/SG, Oklahoma City Thunder

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What makes a good sleeper? Well, players can't have a high draft cost, obviously. Ideally, they have a track record showing some intriguing per-minute production. And maybe they're looking at an increased role that could push them to previously unseen statistical heights.

Ajay Mitchell checks all of those boxes.

He shouldn't cost you a top 100 pick. He just averaged 18.9 points, 5.0 assists and 2.1 stocks per 36 minutes last season, while shooting 48.5 percent overall and 87 percent at the line. His floor time should be trending up after OKC subtracted Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe this offseason.

Mitchell has legitimate breakout potential, but he just happens to be available at a sleeper draft price. Between his efficiency, scoring and two-way playmaking, he could be a fantasy asset.

Quentin Grimes, SG/SF, Los Angeles Lakers

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Quentin Grimes seems a near certainty to start for a Lakers team that should field one of the league's best offenses. He quietly has a fairly compelling case to serve as their third option, too.

His offensive punch is quietly pretty powerful. Despite handling a reserve role the past two seasons, he still averaged more than 13 points with three-plus assists. He also shot a solid 45.9 percent from the field and an even 80 percent at the line.

He could be more efficient than ever while playing off of gravitational forces like Luka Dončić (whom Grimes played with in Dallas) and Austin Reaves. Grimes, a 38-plus-percent three-point shooter in three of his five NBA seasons, could feast on clean looks this season. And he'll have opportunities to create offense when teams inevitably sell out on stopping the Lakers' guards.

Grimes can also be helpful in steals and relatively useful on the glass. He should touch enough stat categories to return real value on what should be a middling (at most) draft price.