When my esteemed editor Brandon Funston asked me to write an article about fantasy players who were going to be "leveling up" for the 2024-25 NBA season, I couldn't help but think of the old school video game Altered Beast.
It was a simple side-scrolling, beat 'em up game, but when collecting power-ups, you would magically transform from a jacked Roman centurion into a werewolf, then a dragon, then a bear, then a tiger, and finally, at the pinnacle, a golden werewolf. Ahh, the golden age of video games...
With that hierarchy in mind, let's take a look at the most likely players to be leveling up this season.
A smart place to start for this exercise is by putting faith in the people who are supposed to know better than us. I'm talking about actual NBA general managers, of course, although fans of the Chicago Bulls might disagree with that.
So I'll include those seven players below, as well as another dozen of my favorite candidates to level up. Just be prepared to get after these players, because you won't be the only person targeting them on draft day.
From outside the Top 125 into the Top 90-100
These four players flashed their fantasy potential last season, but they were unable to sustain solid value all season long. For example, Kuminga played just 19.6 mpg over his first 20 games of the season; Lively played just 19.0 minutes per game after the All-Star break; Barrett shot just 42% from the field during his 26 games with the Knicks; Reid averaged just 11.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in the month of November. That's really all it took to prevent them from finishing the season as Top 125 fantasy players.
Despite those rocky moments, it's fair to say that all four players ended up establishing themselves last season. Kuminga became a go-to scorer once Steve Kerr started showing more faith in him; Lively rose to the occasion in a big way when it mattered most in the playoffs; Barrett became ferocious and efficient once he was traded to the Raptors; Reid elevated his game once Karl-Anthony Towns got injured, and was rewarded by winning Sixth Man of the Year.
From outside the Top 90 into the Top 60-70
On paper, there may not seem like much of a difference between a Top 60-70 fantasy player and a Top 90-100 player, but there is actually a sizeable difference. The Top 60-70 players can essentially be left in your starting lineup every week (assuming they're not injured), whereas for Top 90-100 players, you need to pay attention to how their minutes and production have been trending, and what their upcoming schedules look like, before deciding whether or not to start them.
I'll lead with Quickley, because he's the only player in this group with the potential to bypass becoming a "dragon," and go straight into the next tier. He'll need to be on his A game for that to happen, but he's pretty much a lock to level up this season. The same can be said for Miller, as it would be shocking if he couldn't build upon his promising rookie season.
I've stated numerous times now that the change of scenery should be helpful for Giddey's fantasy prospects, but I do have concerns about the (mis)management of the Bulls. And Zubac has never posted top 100 per game fantasy production in 8-cat leagues, but all signs point to him having a career year.
From outside the Top 60 into the Top 40-45
Shoutout to our Joe Vardon for writing this excellent piece on the need and desire for Ja and Zion to become the next great American-born NBA players. They've both already had extreme highs and lows in their young careers but, hopefully, the best is yet to come. Ja and Zion need to show serious growth this season for fans and fantasy managers to keep believing in them, and I think both players are hungrier than ever after facing so many challenges over the past few years.
The trio of Banchero, Brown and Siakam have one thing in common, which is that they all shot between 70-to-73% from the foul line last season, which proved to be quite damaging to their overall fantasy values. That was especially true for Banchero, since he got to the charity stripe seven times per game. In addition to improving their shooting efficiency, all three forwards are quite athletic and should be capable of producing more stocks (steals and blocks) on the defensive end. If they can improve in those two areas, they'll surely be leveling up.
From outside the Top 40 into the Top 25-30
This wouldn't be a bad starting five, eh? All five of them are 23 years old or younger, and all are poised to elevate their games this season. Cunningham is trying to live up to high expectations as Detroit's franchise player, and it wouldn't be surprising if he improves in every single stat category. Meanwhile, Sengun shot just 69% FT last season, but he was over 71% his first two years in the league, and his shooting touch looks better than your average sub-70% FT center. So he has room to improve from the foul line, as well as in the shot-blocking department, where he had a down year last season.
Johnson has upped his scoring in preseason, which will be a big boost for his fantasy value, and the Hawks will be thankful for it after Dejounte Murray's departure. Likewise, over in Cleveland, new head coach Kenny Atkinson seems eager to help Mobley spread his wings and fly. And Williams will gladly take on some extra minutes and shot attempts this year so Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't have to do as much heavy lifting.
If you decide to draft the likes of Fred VanVleet or Rudy Gobert over these five breakout "tigers," don't look at me when the season's over and you finished out of the money.
From Top 5 into the fantasy MVP
With a year of NBA experience under his belt, another offseason of strength training, ball-handling tutelage from Jamal Crawford, lob passes from Chris Paul, and extra confidence knowing that the entire league already fears him, there is no doubt in my mind that Wemby is going to level up this season. But enough talk already, how about some stat projections?
Eric's 2024-25 projections for Wembanyama: