More often than not, the unsung heroes picked in the mid-to-late rounds or plucked off the waiver wire give fantasy managers the best chance at winning. That premise isn’t resigned to fantasy basketball — the best teams win by managing their teams effectively throughout the season while nabbing underrated players later than their expected output.
Several players are outshining their Average Draft Positions (ADPs) this year and proving to be league winners for many managers. After examining the season’s biggest disappointments earlier this week, let’s take a deep dive into six fantasy basketball surprises.
Tyler Herro – PG/SG, Miami Heat
Tyler Herro has proved this season that he’s not just the guy from that one Jack Harlow song. The Miami Heat guard has taken his game to another level, averaging career-best in points, rebounds, assists and 3s while improving his efficiency to 55% on 2s and 40% on 3s (also career-highs). The skeptics likely cited Herro’s injury history and inconsistency to give him a seventh-round draft grade. However, Herro is blowing through his ADP, providing fantasy managers with third-round value in 9-cat leagues coming into Thursday.
Herro has embraced Miami’s need for an offensive weapon, and now that Jimmy Butler is on the outs, expect Herro to continue cooking at an All-Star-level clip. With Butler out of the lineup, Herro is averaging 24.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 4.1 3s per contest with 46/42/87 shooting spits. As a mid-round pick thriving in the top 40 in points and 9-cat leagues, Herro’s been one of the best values at the halfway mark.
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Josh Hart – SG/SF/PF, New York Knicks
I named Josh Hart the Fantasy MVP two months into the season, and it still holds. Hart appears on 28% of the top 500 Public League teams, second only to Nikola Vucević. Thanks to the Knicks’ chemistry and Thibs’ doubling down on his heavy minutes credo, we’re officially witnessing Josh Hart’s prime. He’s been an underrated fantasy asset, providing fantasy managers with consistent production across 7-out-of-9 categories.
Hart carried a very modest 116 preseason ADP. However, he’s averaging 38 fantasy points per game (43rd in points leagues) and is top 20 in 9-cat leagues. In terms of pure value and ROI, Hart is the biggest surprise of any player this season.
Norman Powell – SG/SF, Los Angeles Clippers
Norman Powell’s season stands out as an example of pure fantasy perseverance. Since landing with the Clippers, he’s been largely a bench contributor, ceding touches to high-usage players like James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. That all changed this summer, with Paul George signing with the Sixers and Kawhi Leonard’s knee acting up, causing him to miss 43% of the season. Leonard’s injury opened up a massive opportunity for Powell, and he took full advantage.
Powell’s usage this season ballooned from 20% last year to 27% in 2024-2025. With that increase in usage also came more shot volume. Some players can’t maintain their efficiency with more volume, but that’s not Powell. His 49/44/84 shooting splits boost his fantasy output, plus he’s on pace to tie his career-high in steals per game at 1.3. Leonard will be on a minutes restriction for some time and won’t play in back-to-backs, so Powell has a safe floor, and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t finish inside the top 50 by season’s end across points and 9-cat leagues.
Payton Pritchard – PG/SG, Boston Celtics
Pritchard went undrafted in 88% of Yahoo leagues, so he deserves a shoutout. His per-minute production has propelled him into the favorite for Sixth Man of the Year — a very unexpected leap for a backup guard who’s morphed into a pivotal role player for one of the best teams in basketball. Congrats if you snagged Pritchard off waivers because the results have been plentiful, especially in 9-cat leagues.
The increase in 3-point volume has led to a career-high in scoring, at over 14 points per game. He’s also posting a career-best 3.6 rebounds and almost a steal per game. The deeper we get into the regular season, the more load management opportunities there will be, so make sure you keep Pritchard around.
Dyson Daniels – PG/SG/SF, Atlanta Hawks
Thanks to his menacing defense, Daniels is steadily becoming a household name outside of fantasy basketball. He leads the league in steals, total deflections, deflections per game and deflections per 36. It would be a travesty if Daniels didn’t make an All-Defensive team this season.
With all this talk about defense, I can’t dismiss Daniels’s offensive leap in his fourth NBA season. He’s posting career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, FG% and 3s made per game. He’s been an all-around beast as a starter for the Hawks, and given that he went undrafted in 65% of leagues, he deserves recognition as one of the best values this season.
Honorable mention
Malik Monk – PG/SG/SF, Sacramento Kings
Final thoughts
These six players teach us an important fantasy basketball lesson — it’s not always about the big-name stars. Success often comes from finding undervalued players who outperform expectations. Whether it’s Herro’s leap forward, Hart’s multi-faceted game or Pritchard and Daniels’ going largely undrafted, these players have greatly rewarded savvy managers.
