Every season brings surprises in fantasy basketball, and not all of them are positive. While some players emerge as league-winning fantasy basketball sleepers, others fall well short of expectations based on preseason fantasy basketball rankings, NBA player projections, and fantasy basketball ADP. Monitoring NBA player stats, NBA starting lineups, and the NBA injury report throughout the year can help managers adjust, but early optimism from a fantasy basketball draft kit or fantasy basketball cheat sheet doesn't always translate into results. The players below are among the biggest disappointments of the season, delivering production that lagged far behind their projected value in season-long NBA fantasy leagues.
Top 10 Fantasy Basketball Disappointments of 2025–26
Myles Turner, Bucks 
After reaching the NBA Finals last season, Turner began the campaign in a fresh environment with the Bucks, where he was set to take on a significant role. He was replacing Brook Lopez, who plays a similar style, so the fit was anticipated to be ideal. However, Turner has delivered just as many dud performances as strong ones, dragging his averages down to recent-season lows. His 12.3 points per game is his lowest since 2019-20, his 5.5 rebounds per game is his lowest since his rookie season, and his 1.6 blocks per game and 44.1 percent shooting from the field represent career lows.
Evan Mobley, Cavaliers 
Mobley is certainly putting up numbers that outshine many players at his position. However, the former Defensive Player of the Year has taken a step back
Every season brings surprises in fantasy basketball, and not all of them are positive. While some players emerge as league-winning fantasy basketball sleepers, others fall well short of expectations based on preseason fantasy basketball rankings, NBA player projections, and fantasy basketball ADP. Monitoring NBA player stats, NBA starting lineups, and the NBA injury report throughout the year can help managers adjust, but early optimism from a fantasy basketball draft kit or fantasy basketball cheat sheet doesn't always translate into results. The players below are among the biggest disappointments of the season, delivering production that lagged far behind their projected value in season-long NBA fantasy leagues.
Top 10 Fantasy Basketball Disappointments of 2025–26
Myles Turner, Bucks
After reaching the NBA Finals last season, Turner began the campaign in a fresh environment with the Bucks, where he was set to take on a significant role. He was replacing Brook Lopez, who plays a similar style, so the fit was anticipated to be ideal. However, Turner has delivered just as many dud performances as strong ones, dragging his averages down to recent-season lows. His 12.3 points per game is his lowest since 2019-20, his 5.5 rebounds per game is his lowest since his rookie season, and his 1.6 blocks per game and 44.1 percent shooting from the field represent career lows.
Evan Mobley, Cavaliers
Mobley is certainly putting up numbers that outshine many players at his position. However, the former Defensive Player of the Year has taken a step back in a few key areas compared to last season, likely disappointing fantasy managers who hoped the trend would continue in a positive direction in his fifth NBA season. Mobley is producing fewer points, rebounds, and steals per game than last season, while also displaying notable regression in his shooting percentages — 51.8 percent from the field, down from 55.7 percent last season, and 63.4 percent from the foul line, down from over 70 percent in each of the previous two seasons.
Zaccharie Risacher, Hawks 
Risacher was the top pick in last year's draft, and after an underwhelming rookie season, things have gone further downhill in his sophomore campaign. He went from 12.6 points in 24.6 minutes per game last year to 10.0 points in 24.0 minutes per game this year. His field-goal percentage also dipped slightly, while his free-throw shooting fell off a cliff — from 71.1 percent last year to 58.5 percent this season. There is not much to explain the downturn, especially since the path was wide open for him to take on a larger role, as his squad was shorthanded for most of the season and had no standout competition at his position.
Deandre Ayton, Lakers 
After Ayton joined Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James on the Lakers in the offseason, speculation was that he would thrive and have a great chance to push for career highs across the board. The results have been quite the opposite. He is averaging career lows almost across the board: 12.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.6 steals per game. His 0.9 blocks per game is only a shade above his career low of 0.7, set in 2021-22. His inability to make the most of the situation has surely cast doubt in the minds of fantasy managers, and he will likely slide down the board in next season's drafts.
Bub Carrington, Wizards 
Carrington showed enough promise in his rookie year to catch the eye of many fans. However, despite having had the chance to handle a significant role, he has failed to take a step forward in his sophomore year. His counting averages largely remain the same as last season — that is not the issue. More concerning is the lack of improvement to his field-goal percentage, a drop from 81.2 percent from the foul line last year to 72.9 percent this year, and an increase from 1.7 turnovers per game last season to 2.3 this year, despite playing 2.4 fewer minutes per game.
Patrick Williams, Bulls 
Williams is in his sixth season with the Bulls but has been unable to develop into the force that many hoped he would, especially while his squad lacked depth at his position early this season. His production began trending downward last season, and that path has continued this year, with career lows of 7.0 points on 38.9 percent shooting, along with 2.9 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game. This season might be the final straw for any fantasy managers who had been willing to take a flyer on the power forward in the later rounds of their drafts.
Jordan Clarkson, Knicks 
Although he proved able to add a solid scoring punch out of a bench role for most of his previous 11 seasons, Clarkson has fallen flat in his debut campaign with the Knicks. It seemed as though he would be a good addition to their second unit and even able to help relieve some pressure in the backcourt for Jalen Brunson. Instead, after averaging 20.2 minutes per game through the first half of the season, he is down to just 10.4 minutes per game over his last 14 appearances. He is also averaging career lows in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game on the season.
Rui Hachimura, Lakers
Hachimura has been decent but not impressive in his production this season. As a player highly capable of contributing across the board, and one playing alongside talented playmakers, there was a fair expectation that he would thrive — especially after putting up strong numbers last season. However, he has been unable to establish much consistency, and his points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks are all down compared to the 2024-25 campaign. To be fair, he dealt with a calf injury in early January that kept him out for about two weeks, but his numbers prior to the injury still left little to be excited about.
Klay Thompson, Mavericks 
Thompson was thrown a curveball with Luka Doncic's departure from the Mavs shortly after his arrival last season, and things only got worse with injuries to Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, leaving Thompson without the star support he had anticipated. Nonetheless, hope remained relatively high that the four-time champion would continue to shine as one of the better shooters in the league. Unfortunately, that has not held up, as he is averaging career lows in points, rebounds, and assists per game, as well as in field-goal, three-point, and free-throw percentages. At 35 years old, it is hard to imagine much of a comeback for Thompson next season.
Yves Missi, Pelicans 
Missi showed good promise as a rookie, averaging 9.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, but failed to take a step forward in his sophomore campaign. He had an ideal opportunity to claim the starting center role this year but could not establish himself as the clear-cut option, getting pushed aside by rookie Derik Queen quite early in the season. After averaging 5.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 18.7 minutes per game on the year, it is unlikely that Missi remains on the radar of many fantasy managers heading into the 2026-27 season.
