Ryan Rollins, an undrafted combo guard, finished last season as the No. 30 overall player on the Player Rater, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ thin backcourt helped make that leap possible. Fantasy managers can look for the same kind of opportunity this season among players whose value depends on injuries, promotions or trades.
Midway through the 2011-2012 season, on the heels of losing 11 of 13 games, New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni had seemingly no options left in his backcourt. Baron Davis was absent due to a bad back, while Iman Shumpert was sidelined with a knee ailment. The coach turned to a combo guard, averaging 3.6 points in 6.1 minutes, to save the season.
Within days, the sports world and fantasy leagues were immersed in Linsanity. The lesson from Jeremy Lin’s sudden ascent is that fragile rosters and thin depth charts can produce magical fantasy basketball outcomes. Predicting that Lin would become a star wasn’t easy. Expecting someone to step up in a valuable D’Antoni offence was. Lin might never have seen the court that winter had he been part of a stable, healthy and bankable backcourt.
Rollins was, albeit with far less hype, last season’s Lin: a gifted, overlooked combo guard who scaled a thin backcourt depth chart to become a fantasy star. The Bucks entered last season without trusted scoring or shot creation past Giannis Antetokounmpo. While it was surprising that Rollins, a player undrafted in most leagues, ended up No. 30 overall on the Player Rater, the context of his team’s roster invited a leap.
This piece considers which players around the league might have a far higher ceiling than the market currently appreciates. Sometimes, a player is a trade, injury or promotion away from an enduring and rewarding role.
A single Shams Charania post can change multiple depth charts in an instant. Consider this the contingency tier of talents: those who require some blend of luck, development, timing and trust to pop. Which widely available players, sitting in free agency or found in the twilight rounds of drafts ahead of the 2026-27 season, could become the statistical forces that Lin, Rollins and others have been in seasons past?
Ajay Mitchell and Aday Mara, Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have waves of capable backups across the roster, which makes it tougher to isolate who benefits if a star misses time. There is already proof of concept with Mitchell. Across just over 100 playoff minutes with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander off the court last spring, Mitchell produced 26.5 points and 7.8 assists per 75 possessions. He will likely sustain independent value even behind a healthy cast of stars, yet is also an injury update away from becoming a true force. Mitchell would likely inherit a major role if either Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams were sidelined.
Mara, a rookie with remarkable preseason production and tape, has enough rim protection and paint scoring potential to surface if either Isaiah Hartenstein or Chet Holmgren misses time. Rim protection is one of the most transferable skills from college to the NBA. It is better to be early than late to a block party.
Ayo Dosunmu, Minnesota Timberwolves
LaMelo Ball has averaged just over 50 regular-season games over his six-year career and required a career-low 28 minutes per game last season as part of a deliberate maintenance routine.
Dosunmu, meanwhile, made NBA playoff history with his 43-point performance against Denver this past April, recording the second-highest-scoring game ever by a playoff reserve. Dosunmu has thrived when given the power to create in both Chicago and Minnesota. Now in a high-stakes situation with a long-term contract, playing behind one of the least durable lead guards in the league, he checks many of the Lin-like boxes.
Anthony Black, Orlando Magic
With both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner off the floor last season, Black posted 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals per 36 minutes for the Magic. Over last winter and spring, Black shifted from a player without a clear identity into an aggressive, downhill driver with a newfound ability to finish or find team-mates. Can he produce at a fantasy-relevant rate with the team’s two foundational forwards healthy?
Black was the sixth pick in his draft class and is only beginning to scratch his potential. He may need little beyond the trust of his new coach to take off. Do not forget him when looking for a high-ceiling guard at the end of your drafts.
Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
Last season’s rookie class was so spectacular that Bailey’s brilliant spring was largely lost amid a lottery-bound effort for Utah. The rangy forward averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 14 games last March, shooting 45.3% from the field and 40.3% from three. That included a 37-point game against a Toronto Raptors team that was among the better defensive groups in the league. Bailey should see extended opportunities to score off the bench and may even contend for major minutes in smaller closing lineups.
The team’s star forwards, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr., have each faced significant durability concerns over the past few seasons. Whether by promotion, injury or some blend of both, Bailey’s path to scoring stardom is not as winding as it might seem.
Collin Sexton, Los Angeles Lakers
On a top-heavy Lakers roster that leans on Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves as offensive engines, it is easy to forget that Sexton, still just 27, has become an efficient, if nearly elite, scoring guard. He has bounced around the league due to a lack of size and defensive utility, yet has produced nearly 24 points and five assists per 36 minutes over the past three seasons on Durant-like shooting splits.
Even if the Lakers’ star playmakers stay healthy, Sexton is positioned as a viable Sixth Man of the Year candidate, a microwave off the bench for a team without much scoring or playmaking depth. If he is given the keys to the offence in place of one of the team’s star creators, even for a few weeks, Sexton would thrive.
Isaiah Stewart, Memphis Grizzlies
Zach Edey appears on many fantasy rosters, but so does “Beef Stew”. The Grizzlies are leaning into a tougher, larger identity, and Stewart embodies that direction. In just under 23 minutes per game for the Detroit Pistons last season, he posted 1.6 blocks per game, good for eighth in the entire NBA.
Stewart proved capable of fantasy relevance even as a secondary big behind an All-NBA centre in Detroit. Edey, for all his gifts, has yet to prove he can endure the NBA grind for even a few months at a time. Stewart is an injury update away from becoming a double-double force with difference-making defensive numbers. Sign me up.