The 2026-27 NBA regular season is nearly upon us, which means fantasy basketball SZN is fast approaching and you need to prepare for drafts.
And if you're here, you're looking for some help in the later rounds. You know the superstars and who will fill up the stat sheet in those earlier rounds, so this will be a list of the sleepers who could break out this season.
We've got some names to queue up when you're later on in your draft to help you. Here's a look at some of those fantasy basketball sleepers in no particular order:
PG/SG Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City Thunder
You saw what happened last year when he got a lot of playing time in the regular season and playoffs. Draft him late and see what happens this year with his points, dimes and steals.
SF/PF Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
He's weirdly getting lost in the shuffle after a pretty good rookie year. Maybe that's because of the Darryn Peterson hype, but whatever -- I could see him improving on the 13.8 ppg and 4.2 rpg, plus maybe some better three-point numbers.
SF/PF Yaxel Lendeborg, Golden State Warriors
Injuries to the aging Warriors are already there, and the former Michigan star can be a contributor across the board in nearly every category. Think of him as a possible fantasy team glue guy.
PF/C Collin Murray-Boyles, Toronto Raptors
Ignore Jakob Poeltl being there. The forward showed flashes of what could come in Year 2 -- good field goal percentage, blocks and steals. We'll see more of that on a very tough defense-first Raptors squad.
C Khaman Maluach, Phoenix Suns
Mark Williams will be out a while, so the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft might get a lot of opportunity to play for the Suns, and for the 7-foot-1 youngster, that could mean a huge increase in blocks and rebounds. I love getting cheap blocks late in drafts, so here's a target for sure.
SG/SF/PF Jamie Jaquez Jr., Milwaukee Bucks
Post-Giannis trade, the Bucks have a lot of questions about the roster that's filled with former Heat players. I think Jaquez's numbers will continue to be really good -- double-digit points, around 5.0 rpg and apg, solid field goal percentage. That's great to get later in a draft.
PG/SG/SF Cason Wallace, Oklahoma City Thunder
Another Thunder guard who could see an increase in playing time and who could do more with it -- maybe he hits the 2.0-plus steals mark this year.
PG Darius Acuff Jr., Sacramento Kings
The Kings rookie comes with lots of hype but not as much of the fantasy buzz since he might go through first-year struggles. But I'm drafting him thinking he does enough in scoring and dishing dimes to be fantasy relevant, even if the turnovers and low field goal percentage is there.
SG Keaton Wagler, Los Angeles Clippers
What are the Clippers going to look like this season? There's a lot of uncertainty there, so I'd be intrigued to take the fifth-overall pick out of Illinois late and see if he can bring some scoring to a rebuilding team.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: 9 fantasy basketball sleepers (Yaxel Lendeborg) to target in 2026 drafts