Fantasy Basketball: Eight potential end-of-draft steals

It’s hard to go wrong at the start of your fantasy basketball draft. Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis - they’re all studs.

In the middle rounds, you solidify your team with solid players like Bam Adebayo or Tobias Harris, and upside young guys like De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant.

BIGGER AND BETTER: Seven players set for big breakout seasons

GET IT RIGHT: Seven players set for big comeback seasons

But the end of the draft can really elevate your squad above the rest, by finding guys with an opportunity to breakout and maybe become top 60 players.

Let’s look at eight guys to target at the end of your draft.

Mason Plumlee

Mason Plumlee isn’t exciting. But, he is the Detroit Pistons starting centre, with only perennial disappointment Jahlil Okafor and overdrafted rookie Isaiah Stewart behind him.

Plumlee struggles with his free throws, but in a Yahoo standard scoring league, that doesn’t matter, so his ADP of 141 really stands out as a great late pick to push your team higher in the standings.

Darius Bazley

Casual NBA fans probably don’t know who Darius Bazley is, but he is slated to be a starter for the rebuilding Thunder this season coming off three straight 20 point games in the bubble last season.

Bazley, like Plumlee above, has an ADP outside the top 140, while I think he can be a top 100 player and when you can get 50-60 spots of value at the end of your draft, you should count your lucky stars.

Elfrid Payton

Tom Thibodeau is the Knicks’ new head coach. He plays his starters a ton of minutes.

Elfrid Payton is the Knicks’ starting point guard. That is a formula that should give us good value for Elfrid at the end of drafts.

Payton’s ADP is at 138, which is wild as he was the 76th best player last season. He should see more minutes and that could push him perhaps to the top 50.

RJ Barrett

The second of three Knicks on this list, RJ Barrett is going to get a lot of minutes under Thibodeau.

His preseason has been up and down, but the biggest knock on his game is his shooting numbers.

In a Yahoo points league, that doesn’t matter and Barrett is going to get a lot of shots and a lot of minutes.

He is being drafted at number 123 so far this season and he is another top 100 guy.

Alec Burks

Starters under Tom Thibodeau are always fantasy gold.

Burks has been the starter in preseason and he had a great season last year for the Warriors in 2019-20.

He is being drafted around Plumlee and Bazley at 138, but if he can convince Thibs to give him 30 minutes, his upside as a shooter in the starting five (the only one) makes him a nice late pick.

PJ Washington

Washington is the Hornets starting power forward, but he is also going to switch across to centre a lot this season.

Washington played just 30 minutes last season and that is sure to increase and at centre, his blocks and boards should be able to go up.

The second-year forward is being picked at 121 this season and he is another top 100 guy for this season.

Isaac Okoro

Isaac Okoro has looked awesome to begin the season. He should be the starting small forward, with Cedi Osman his only real competition.

Okoro is a great late pick just to see how he looks at the beginning of the season, but his offensive aggression has been a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Darius Garland

Doubling down on Cavs players is second-year starting point guard Darius Garland.

Garland has looked stronger this season and more aggressive, willing to take contact at the rim.

If he can get his passing up to an acceptable level, Garland is going to get minutes this season that should exceed last year after he entered the season coming off knee surgery.

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.