2021-2022 Top 180 Fantasy Basketball Rankings

Welcome to draft season – where championships are won or lost! The following 2021-2022 fantasy basketball rankings look at NBA players from one to 250 based upon their projected value in the upcoming NBA season. Beginning next week, we will release position rankings that will explore player profiles and potential in a more detailed manner.

Prior to analyzing the player rankings, below are a few considerations to entertain as we approach draft day.

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A Player’s real-world NBA value is not consistent with or relative to their fantasy basketball value.

In the real-world NBA, Lebron James would not be ranked outside of the top 3, let alone the top 20! Unfortunately, James’ statistical profile across all categories (8 or 9) is not as strong as other players with much less real game impact. To be successful, General Managers must disassociate real NBA statistical impact from Fantasy statistical impact. Remember, points are just one category.

Statistical profiles are important when building your team, but not always apparent in the rankings. 

Player values can be tricky. Value can be concentrated heavily in one, two, or three categories or spread out across many based upon manager desire and/or strategy. Typically, the best roster is comprised of ‘specialists’ and ‘all-around’ players. For example, Rudy Gobert and Khris Middleton are similarly ranked, but Gobert’s value is concentrated in elite rebounds, blocks, and field goal percentage. Middleton’s value is spread across points, threes, assists, steals, and field goal percentage and not heavily concentrated in any mixture of categories. Unless utilizing a “punt” strategy, where you disregard certain statistical categories in favor of others, it is challenging to assemble your team with both specialists and all-around talent. These rankings will help you obtain overall player value, but you must remember understanding your team build and executing a draft based on assembling a team around that build is imperative and can render certain values more and/or less important than others.

Use Rankings with ADP (“Average Draft Position”) to Identify Return on Investment

Our fantasy basketball rankings will help establish the relative value of a player in relation to another player, regardless of position. This does not mean these players must be drafted at their ranked ADP numbers. Successful General Managers find the most value at discounted prices – usually around 2 rounds of difference. It is much better to get Kirstaps Porzingis in the 6^th round vs. Zion Williamson in the second round. As we get better draft data, we will be helping you identify prime targets that will return the most value.

Positional Flexibility Matters

Many players are eligible for multiple positions. This flexibility can boost a player’s value depending on where they start in your lineup. For example, Fred VanVleet and Darius Garland are eligible as point guards and shooting guards. VanVleet is the 6^th ranked PG, Garland is 24^th. Positioned as shooting guards, VanVleet jumps to three, while Garland jumps to 21. As you build your roster, take advantage of these nuances to gain leverage in scarce categories.

2021-22 Fantasy Basketball Rankings

The following fantasy basketball rankings account for value in eight key categories and do not reflect turnovers, which have been removed from the equation. By removing turnovers, high usage players will get a bump in value, while lower usage specialists will decrease in value, generally speaking.

Players are initially listed 12 per round as they might be drafted in a 12-team league. Click ‘next’ at the bottom of the table to see the next round.

For more great rankings and analysis, check out the 2021-22 Fantrax Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit!

Fantrax was one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites of 2020, and we’re not stopping now. With multi-team trades, designated commissioner/league managers, and drag/drop easy click methods, Fantrax is sure to excite the serious fantasy sports fan – sign up now for a free year at Fantrax.com.