From Jamal Murray to Jalen Duren, here are the best fantasy basketball picks by round for the 2025-26 NBA season

If you nailed your fantasy basketball draft, you probably landed one of these players. Here are the players who either met or greatly exceeded their draft slot. It’s the offseason, so let’s reflect on the single best pick from each round, based on Yahoo Fantasy Basketball ADP.

Round 1

Best Pick: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (ADP: 3.8)

The first round was riddled with injuries, so I picked SGA. Gilgeous-Alexander appeared on 27.6% of Yahoo’s top-500 public leagues, signaling you likely had a contending team if you rostered him. Despite missing 10 games around the All-Star break, he returned in March for the fantasy playoffs and finished the season ranked third overall in 9-cat and fourth in High Score. He played more games than any other first-round pick, proving his reliability.

Advertisement

Round 2

Best Pick: Tyrese Maxey (ADP: 18.1)

Maxey delivered first-round value most of the season, finishing top-five in 9-cat and top-seven in High Score. He hit career highs in six of nine categories and ranked as the fifth-most rostered player on Yahoo’s top-500 teams. As the Sixers’ leader, Maxey is on track to be a top-12 pick next season.

Round 3

Best Pick: Jalen Johnson (ADP: 24.9)

Johnson played at a first-round level for much of the season, making a huge leap as a passer with a career-best 8.0 assists per game. He finished with 13 triple-doubles, tied for second-most this season with Josh Giddey. Johnson’s versatility and improved offense made him a game-changer, outperforming his ADP by one round in 9-cat and two in High Score.

Advertisement

Round 4

Best Pick: Jamal Murray (ADP: 36.5)

Murray finally earned his first All-Star bid after a phenomenal season in which he played over 70 games, posting career-best marks in scoring, assists, FG% and 3s per game. His spike performances of 50 and 40-plus point efforts swung matchups, but his consistency stood out from what we’ve seen in past years. Murray exceeded expectations by a considerable margin, ranking 15th in High Score and closing out 9-cat formats as the 10th-best player on a per-game basis.

Round 5

Best Pick: Kawhi Leonard (ADP: 45.9)

I told you to fade Kawhi — my…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/from-jamal-murray-to-jalen-duren-here-are-the-best-fantasy-basketball-picks-by-round-for-the-2025-26-nba-season-143205119.html

Author : Dan Titus

Publish date : 2026-04-08 14:32:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.