Fantasy basketball late-round targets by category 2026-27: the best options outside the top 100

What late-round means here

There is no ADP in this data, so "late" is defined by the board. A player qualifies for this guide if he ranks 101st to 200th in 9-cat, sits outside the top 100 in points too, played at least 40 games last season, and averaged at least 20 minutes. Sixty-seven players pass. In a 12-team, 13-round draft, ranks 101 to 156 are rounds 9 to 13, and anyone past 156 is a waiver-wire name on this board.

Each category score is the board's 9-cat z-score: how far above or below the top 156 players he was in that category last season, per game. FG% and FT% are weighted by attempts, so a 94% free throw shooter on 1.9 attempts scores lower than an 87% shooter on 6.2.

The best late-round option in each category

Source: Parlae fantasy basketball board, Oct 13 2026, from Sleeper's 2025-26 season totals. The two highest category z-scores in the 67-player late-round pool, per category. Status is Sleeper's designation on Oct 13 2026; blank means none listed.

Some categories run dry, some never do

The table hides the most useful fact in this data: how many late-round players help in each category at all.

Source: Parlae fantasy basketball board, Oct 13 2026. "Above average" means a z-score above zero against the top 156 players.

Points and assists are gone by round 9. Only 2 of the 67 late-round players are above average in points, and the better of them, Jerami Grant, barely is at 0.3. Six are above average in assists. If your team is short in either category after round 8, the late rounds will not fix it.

Turnovers run the other way. Sixty-two of the 67 are above average, because low-usage players rarely turn it over. You do not need to draft for turnovers late; the late rounds will hand you good turnover numbers whether you want them or not. Field goal percentage is similar: 27 late options are above average, and the best of them, Poeltl at 2.3, would trail only 3 players in the board's top 100 in that category.

Category by category

Points. Grant scored 18.6 a game with 2.4 threes in 29.7 minutes, and he is 32. Mathurin scored 17.6 and also helps at the line (86.9% on 6.2 attempts), but shot 43.0% from the field. Neither is a points solution, only a smaller hole.

Rebounds. Moussa Diabaté is the strongest all-around case in the pool. He is 110th in 9-cat and one of only two late-round players with three category scores at 1.0 or better: rebounds 1.3 (8.7 a game in 26.0 minutes), FG% 1.1 (63.1%) and turnovers 1.1. He played 73 games. He gives back threes (minus 1.7) and free throws (65.9%). Maxime Raynaud matches Cardwell's 7.5 rebounds but is listed Out (knee), so the next healthy rebounder is Wendell Carter, 7.4 a game over 78 games.

Assists. Davion Mitchell averaged 6.5 assists in 28.6 minutes and played 70, 74 and 71 games over three seasons. Cam Spencer added 5.6 assists with 2.0 threes and 94.0% at the line, and at 117th he is the earlier of the two on the board. Draymond Green (5.5 assists) is the third, but he turns it over 2.7 times a game, which costs him most of what the assists earn.

Steals. Kris Dunn played all 82 games and averaged 1.6 steals in 27.2 minutes, with 82, 74 and 66 games over three seasons. He is a 9-cat player only: his points rank is 202nd. Melton and Herbert Jones match his 1.6 steals, but Melton played 6 games two seasons ago and Jones 20.

Blocks. Isaiah Stewart has the top late blocks score, 1.9 on 1.6 a game, and Sleeper lists him Out with an ankle injury. Dylan Cardwell (1.5 blocks, 7.5 rebounds) is listed GTD with a calf injury and shot 51.0% from the line. The healthy option is Ryan Kalkbrenner: 1.5 blocks, 75.3% from the field and 0.9 turnovers in 69 games, three category scores of 1.2 or better.

Threes. Sam Merrill (3.0 a game) and Duncan Robinson (2.9) both add a turnover score above 1.0. Robinson played 77, 74 and 68 games; Merrill played 52.

FG%. Jakob Poeltl shot 70.0% on 6.7 attempts, the largest FG% score in the pool. He played 46 games and shot 60.2% at the line. Kalkbrenner and Daniel Gafford (65.5%, 1.3 blocks) are the next two, and both block shots too.

FT%. The late pool is thin on volume here. Mathurin's 6.2 attempts are what make his score. Spencer shot 94.0% but on 1.9 attempts a game, so his z-score is 0.8. Collin Sexton (85.5% on 3.8 attempts) is third and listed GTD (lower leg).

Turnovers. Luke Kornet (0.4 a game in 21.0 minutes) and Sam Hauser (0.4 in 24.8) lead. Draft for another category; the turnover score comes along.

Pairings that cover two or three categories

Eleven players in the pool score 1.0 or better in at least two categories. The ones with three are the best use of a late pick:

• Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte: rebounds, FG%, turnovers. 9-cat rank 110.
• Ryan Kalkbrenner, Charlotte: blocks, FG%, turnovers. 9-cat rank 136.

The two-category players split by type: Gafford and Cardwell are blocks bigs, Merrill, Robinson, Hardaway and Miles McBride are threes plus turnovers, Jordan Goodwin is steals plus turnovers, and Marvin Bagley and Kornet are FG% plus turnovers.

Both Charlotte centers sit on one roster, which is a minutes question this data cannot answer. Diabaté's player page and Kalkbrenner's show the full lines.

What to do on draft night

1. Get points and assists by round 8. The late pool has 2 above-average scorers and 6 above-average passers. The 9-cat rankings show each player's category z-scores.
2. Use rounds 9 to 13 for blocks, threes and FG%. Those are the categories with real late depth, and the turnovers come free.
3. Prefer players with two or three categories over a single-category specialist at the same rank.
4. Check designations before you pick. Stewart is Out, and Cardwell, Sexton and Mitchell carry tags today on the injury page.
5. For per-minute upside instead, see sleepers. If your build gives up a category on purpose, the punting guide shows who rises.