Not every player will be featured on ESPN talk shows. Despite that, there are players putting up numbers in small roles and in fewer minutes who deserve all the acclaim they can get. These players have also seen teammates either get traded or injured, creating a pathway to more minutes and turning them into fantasy basketball sleepers.
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Fantasy Basketball Sleepers
Average draft position (ADP) may have been slow to react, but the eye test has returned a good report. Below are five players who, albeit criminal to do so, are being slept on.
Kel’el Ware (C – MIL)
The trade that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami involved a lot of shuffling of the deck. That shuffling included Kel’el Ware, a player who averaged 11.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game last season. He also shot 53% from the field and 39.5% from three.
Ware didn’t log many minutes, averaging 22 per night. He only played 30 minutes on 10 occasions. In those 10 games, his averages suggested what his ceiling might truly be. 18.1 points, 14 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 1.8 threes per game.
That is a quality player, but with Myles Turner ahead of him in Milwaukee, it makes some sense that he is being slept on. Despite his skill set, Ware has Kyle Kuzma and Turner to compete with.
Yet, he is expected to see a steady 25 minutes of playing time per game in the forthcoming season, and could see more if Milwaukee trades away the former Pacer.
Ware is a target due to his elite, rare production of blocks, threes and field goals.
Cason Wallace (G – OKC)
The Thunder team that won it all two seasons ago was an elite bunch. It was hard retaining their elite core last season, but they managed to do so. They did see the departures of Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, however.
Those minutes have now landed on the laps of Cason Wallace. With an ADP of 118, Wallace comes into this season having averaged 8.6 points, 1.9 steals and 1.3 threes per game.
When a player is dubbed a sleeper, you expect their performance to improve as soon as they start getting more shots. Wallace does not apply, as his numbers make perfect sense.
Projections currently show he will average 2.0 steals and 1.5 threes per game this season. Category managers will definitely love the upside Wallace brings because his 37.4% shooting from three wins you a category easily.
Sandro Mamukelashvili (F – LAL)
You are forgiven if you can’t pronounce his last name, but it will be hard to forgive you if you sleep on Sandro Mamukelashvili, who averaged 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 threes in just 22 minutes of play in Toronto last season.
The LeBron James trade to Philadelphia definitely left a gaping hole on the Lakers, but with the four-year, $52 million contract the Lakers gave Mamukelashvili, you can tell they want that power forward position filled.
The stats show that Mamukelashvili has improved over time and will definitely get the nod over Jake LaRavia once the season starts. The stats also show that nothing about his role got worse; he just became an easier target to cop.
Collin Murray-Boyles (F – TOR)
Sandro Mamukelashvili’s departure from Toronto created another sleeper situation. Collin Murray-Boyles finished 184th in category league rankings but comes into the season with an ADP of 122.
To some, that may scream upside, but the numbers truly show how undervalued he is. In his last 23 games, Murray-Boyles averaged 10 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.0 stocks (combined steals and blocks) per game. Those numbers were off the back of 63% shooting in only 23.6 minutes per game.
Given those numbers, Murray-Boyles’ price should definitely be higher, but many still assess his potential based on last season’s ranking. His situation gets even better when you realize that his main competition, Jakob Poeltl, played only 46 games last season.
The more time Poeltl sits out, the better for Murray-Boyles. His free-throw rate is 68.3%, which may cost you, but he certainly has a lot in his game to make up for it.
Khaman Maluach (C – PHO)
Injuries are part of the game, and while they may be why players are regarded as sleepers, they may also be why they finally shed that sleeper tag.
After tearing the labrum in his left shoulder, Mark Williams is set for at least five months on the sidelines.
Enter Khaman Maluach. Minutes were hard to come by in his first year in the league, with him averaging 3.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 8.9 minutes across 46 games. The man starved for minutes showed what he is really about in NBA Summer League, averaging 17.8 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.0 threes and 3.3 stocks.
Williams may still have to compete with Oso Ighodaro for minutes, but for now, Khaman is widely tipped to start ahead of the Marquette Alum. Khaman has a lot of promise, but the safe option is to treat him as a last-round pick with little to no risk.
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