At the dawn of a new NBA season, fantasy basketball players are searching far and wide for the under-the-radar players who will help them win their leagues. Talent doesn’t drop off at the top in these drafts — fantasy basketball sleepers come in all shapes and sizes. However, every year there’s a player or two who catapults themselves well beyond the average draft position (ADP) to differentiate their teams from the rest of the league.
For the 2022-23 NBA season, we’re faced with a talent pool that’s deeper than we’ve ever seen. Players who would at one time be a team’s second or third option are on the bench for another. When evaluating fantasy basketball sleepers, one must consider a player’s role and capacity for growth. It’s also crucial that you don’t reach too far on these players since you’d be giving up crucial opportunities to pick a better player at fair value.
What constitutes a Fantasy Basketball Sleeper or League-Winner?
If you get the No. 1 pick and select Nikola Jokic in your fantasy basketball draft, you can’t walk away saying that you’ve nailed your ‘league-winner.’ Because duh! Everyone knows that Jokic is a phenomenal player. Instead, we’re looking for players who take a tremendous year-over-year leap that isn’t already reflected in their draft position.
For example, LaMelo Ball is being picked as the 11th overall player in Yahoo drafts and fifth in ESPN drafts. These are speculative adds from players who believe Ball is in line for a huge jump entering his third season in the league. That, however, isn’t a ‘league-winner’ or fantasy basketball sleeper because you’re spending up to draft them instead of taking them beyond the value they will return. The seven players you’re going to read about should have no problem blowing their ADP out of the water so long as they remain relatively healthy throughout the season.
Please note that these seven players are more specifically geared toward point-based leagues than category-based leagues. However, much of the same logic should apply.