“Do Not Draft” Lists Are More Misleading Than They Are Helpful - NBA Fantasy Basketball

Aug 21, 2025

There are several “do not draft” lists published every fantasy draft season, and I believe this format of content to be more misleading than it is helpful. I can’t hate on fantasy creators that create a “do not draft” list because I completely understand why they do it. The title is great for search results in the algorithm, and generates a lot of views with such a polarizing title. A more accurate title for this format of content would be “players that you should not draft at their current ranking/ADP”.

Most of the “do not draft” lists I’ve seen start with a preface explaining this premise, and clarify that it doesn’t mean “do not draft under any circumstances”, but sometimes they don’t feature this preface, which misleads people, and leads to some wild takes about certain players that get generated.

We are too early in the fantasy basketball content cycle to see any of these lists for the 2025-26 season, but I’m pretty confident that Joel Embiid, Paul George, & Kawhi Leonard will be 3 of the most heavily featured names on do not draft lists. I just think you’re flat out wrong if you’re entering a fantasy draft with the mentality of not drafting these players no matter what. We can debate about whether their current ADP is justified, and they will all likely be selected near their ADP in your individual fantasy drafts. But what if they start falling? Even if you are lower on a player than consensus, it’s still important to have a rough idea of the range you want to select certain players. Automatically assuming they will be selected at their ADP, or telling yourself that you won’t draft those players under any circumstance means you’re coming into a draft unprepared.

Another source of players being labeled as “do not draft” misleadingly, comes from fantasy managers who were disappointed by the production of a player in previous seasons. This source comes more from fantasy managers than analysts, but the subconscious biases can still leak into analysts when they make their lists. It happens every year where a player you drafted early in drafts delivers production that does not reflect their draft position, but it's unreasonable to flat out say you’re “never drafting him again”. Simply reassess their value and target them in a range that is logical in the following year. You can even sometimes find discounts on players that fall into this criteria.

So how can we improve a “do not draft” list? I think this format can be repurposed to feature players that fit one of two categories. The first category is players that were draftable, or must roster players from last season, that are no longer fantasy relevant and worth drafting, and explain the individual situations for why that’s the case.

https://x.com/FantasyBall365/status/1944874511607939273

I recently made a post with this exact format, and was surprised with the positive reception it received. Many people, understandably, don’t pay close attention to the NBA in the offseason and follow all the player movement, and it’s worth a refresher as an easy way to break the ice into the new fantasy basketball season, and start with a clean slate from the assumptions based on memory of the prior season.

The other type of player that can be featured on “do not draft” lists would be players that are featured highly in rankings/ADP that are just not worth drafting, considering all the interesting upside swings you can take on players listed below them.

Referencing current Fantrax ADP, some examples of players that currently fit that mold would be, Russell Westbrook (125.8), Brook Lopez (125.4), Lonzo Ball (135.8), Klay Thompson (138.1), Chris Paul (138.2), De’Andre Hunter (138.3), Tyus Jones (141.6), just to name a few. All of these players have ADPs inside the top 160, which suggests they’re worth drafting in standard category leagues. They all have varying reasons for why I wouldn’t draft them under any circumstance, but the main reason can be summarized into the pick not being worth the draft capital with all the other high upside fliers you can pick instead..