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ESPN Fantasy
Oct 10, 2024, 01:49 PM ET
Sometimes it takes an expert’s eye to see something before everyone else does, such as Tyrese Maxey becoming a 25.9 PPG scorer at the age of 23 or Derrick White turning into a top-30 fantasy player in his eighth NBA season.
And then there was Damian Lillard struggling in his first season in Milwaukee, with his scoring dropping from 32.2 PPG in 2022-23 to just 24.3 in 2023-24.
How many people saw this coming?
If you did, you had a major leg up on the competition in your fantasy basketball leagues — that’s for sure!
With that in mind, we gathered our fantasy basketball experts — André Snellings, Eric Moody, Eric Karabell, Jim McCormick and Steve Alexander — to detail their boldest fantasy basketball predictions for 2024-25.
Cam Thomas finishes as a top-30 fantasy player this season.
The Brooklyn Nets are in rebuilding mode and projected to be one of the league’s worst teams, but Thomas will score a lot. Last season, he averaged 22.5 PPG in 31.4 MPG with 18.0 field goal attempts. With Ben Simmons passing on open shots, Thomas is in line for an enormous usage rate. He’s also a legitimate candidate to lead the league in scoring and will contribute to other statistical areas too, such as assists. He’s currently the No. 67 player being taken off the board in ESPN drafts, which is too low. — Moody
At least one out of the group of Jalen Green, Anfernee Simons and Cam Thomas will finish in the top five in the NBA in scoring.
Last season, the fifth-highest scorer was Kevin Durant at 27.1 PPG. Thomas ranked 26th in the league (22.5 PPG), Green 42nd (19.6 PPG) and Simons didn’t play enough games to qualify but would have been 22nd with his 22.6 PPG. All are young players with demonstrated stretches of mega-scoring, and all with opportunities to step into larger roles for their teams this season. I believe at least one, if not more, makes that leap into the elite scorers in the NBA. — Snellings
Chet Holmgren becomes a fantasy superstar
The leap from unknown to rotation player is always an intriguing development. The rare surge from there to stardom can change your fantasy fortunes or the outcomes for real NBA teams. The rarest of transitions, however, is from star to superstar.
This will occur for Holmgren this season. My bold take is that he will ascend to — while not Wemby heights — an entirely new statistical tier that includes dominant defense and a growing offensive repertoire that could become even more dangerous given his team’s added talent. He’s the only player that should be considered a peer with San Antonio’s special center in terms of block rate potential, while the support of his gifted teammates frees him up for direct handoffs, high-efficiency cut-and-lob plays, and even spot-up 3-point work. Put it this way, this is the last season for likely a decade that you can get Chet outside of the first round. — McCormick
Andre Drummond will average a double-double in points and boards.
OK, so Drummond is 31 now, and he hasn’t achieved this since the 2020-21 season, but what a great opportunity he has now that he’s back in Philly. We know Joel Embiid is not going to play close to every game. He didn’t even play in half of the games last season. Drummond averaged 14.1 PPG and 17.9 RPG during his 10 starts for last season’s Chicago Bulls, finishing at 8.4 PPG and 9.0 RPG overall. Assuming Drummond starts at least twice as much, and perhaps a lot more than that, he becomes a viable option in deeper leagues. — Karabell
Naz Reid will be a top-75 fantasy player this season.
Reid was a fantasy darling during the last half of the 2023-24 season and finished in the top 120, despite playing behind Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, who both stayed relatively healthy. Reid had a career year, averaging 13.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 0.9 assists and 2.1 3-pointers, but was even better after the break, posting 16.0 points, 6.6 boards, 1.0 steals, 1.2 blocks and 2.5 triples. KAT is now in New York and while Julius Randle (and Gobert) will still be in the way, Randle is no KAT. Minnesota knows how good Reid is and we’re all about to see it this season. — Alexander
