{"id":168284,"date":"2025-11-29T12:08:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=168284"},"modified":"2025-11-29T12:08:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:08:01","slug":"2025-26-fantasy-basketball-sophomores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/29\/2025-26-fantasy-basketball-sophomores\/","title":{"rendered":"2025-26 Fantasy Basketball Sophomores To Be Thankful For"},"content":{"rendered":"

American Thanksgiving is in full swing, and there are plenty of things to be thankful for, including these seven sophomores who have dominated in fantasy basketball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Category rankings from HashtagBasketball<\/a> and points rankings based on ESPN’s<\/a> system.<\/em><\/p>\n

2025-26 Fantasy Basketball Sophomores To Be Thankful For<\/h2>\n

Kel’el Ware<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 41 | Points ranking: 70<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s been an up-and-down season for Kel’el Ware<\/a>, but he’s had his moments. The Heat’s depth has posed some challenges to the big man’s role. Still, he’s gotten chances in the starting lineup and has proved multiple times that he can co-exist with Bam Adebayo<\/a>. Ware is a double-double threat and a strong rim protector who has already surpassed his rookie averages in multiple categories. His best contributions come from his 12.4 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 2.5 stocks, great splits and low turnovers.<\/p>\n

Alex Sarr<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 46 | Points ranking: 30<\/em><\/p>\n

Alex Sarr<\/a> is enjoying a huge sophomore leap, primarily thanks to his improved efficiency from the floor. The seven-footer increased his field goal percentage from 39.4% in his first year to 51.5%, partly due to his cutback on three-point attempts. He also bumped up his output in points (19.1), rebounds (8.6), assists (3.3) and blocks (2.0). Sarr’s shot-blocking is his best trait, and he’s also shown a developing offensive game. The Frenchman has been very consistent despite averaging just under 30 MPG.<\/p>\n

Kyshawn George<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 62 | Points ranking: 72<\/em><\/p>\n

In most drafts, Kyshawn George<\/a> was a late-round flyer pick. So far, he’s returning excellent value. The 21-year-old has run hot and cold, but he has impressed after moving up nearly 150 spots in category formats from 2024-25. His numbers in the main categories are excellent, averaging 15.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.9 BPG and 2.4 3PM. George earned a permanent place with the first unit and could provide even better value in silly season.<\/p>\n

Donovan Clingan<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 67 | Points ranking: 94<\/em><\/p>\n

New starting center Donovan Clingan<\/a> is trending up as of late. He got off to a bit of an underwhelming start, but he’s taken his game up a notch over the past few weeks. The center’s impact on the defensive end benefits managers most, thanks to his 10.0 RPG and 1.5 BPG. \u00a0The UConn product even flashed some double-digit scoring performances. However, the best leap from his rookie season is his conversion rate at the charity stripe, going from 59.6% to 81.1%.<\/p>\n

Reed Sheppard<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 75 | Points ranking: 91<\/em><\/p>\n

Things have heated up lately for Reed Sheppard<\/a> after a slow start to the season. The Houston Rockets have turned to the 21-year-old more as a growing list of players join Fred VanVleet<\/a> on the sidelines. He’s taken full advantage of the opportunity and has climbed up the rankings. Sheppard’s two-way prowess has been on full display, compiling 14.3 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.8 3PM and 2.0 stocks. Even once the former third-overall pick returns to the bench, he’ll have a significant role.<\/p>\n

Ajay Mitchell<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 97 | Points ranking: 108<\/em><\/p>\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder have plenty of bright spots in their successful 2025-26 campaign, and Ajay Mitchell<\/a> stepping up is one of them. After ranking 339th last year, the guard is now a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. He can make an impact on both ends of the floor through his 15.2 PPG, 3.7 APG, 1.6 SPG and solid shooting splits. While the return of Jalen Williams<\/a> indicates it’s time to drop Mitchell, managers should still be thankful for his service.<\/p>\n

Matas Buzelis<\/h3>\n

Category ranking: 104 | Points ranking: 136<\/em><\/p>\n

Heading into drafts, Matas Buzelis<\/a> was a hot commodity for his breakout potential. Despite not being overly impressive and struggling with consistency, there are still plenty of things to be happy about. The Chicago native made a significant jump up the rankings as his minutes increased by nearly 10 (27.5) in his new starting job. Buzelis’ best attribute is his defensive abilities, averaging 2.0 stocks. The forward can also crash the boards and has become more involved as a scorer with his 13.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 1.6 3PM.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Featured image: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Thanksgiving is in full swing, and there are plenty of things to be thankful for, including these seven sophomores who have dominated in fantasy basketball. Category rankings from HashtagBasketball and points rankings based on ESPN’s system. 2025-26 Fantasy Basketball Sophomores To Be Thankful For Kel’el Ware Category ranking: 41 | Points ranking: 70 It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4433,"featured_media":168350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2285,2,62],"tags":[49285,49244,49145,49143,49322,49148,49134],"class_list":["post-168284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-fantasy","category-featured","category-nba","tag-ajay-mitchell","tag-alex-sarr","tag-donovan-clingan","tag-kelel-ware","tag-kyshawn-george","tag-matas-buzelis","tag-reed-sheppard"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168284"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168358,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168284\/revisions\/168358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}