Many successful 8-category fantasy basketball players use the strategy of punting a category. Punting a category is the process of drafting to intentionally losing, or punt, one category to try to win others. This often works because you only have to win more than half of the statistical categories to win a head-to-head (H2H) matchup. Punting one category to bolster the others is often a winning strategy.
When you punt, you’re not looking for the best overall players. You’re building a team to a structure, not just drafting whoever’s highest on the draft board. This requires some draft prep to identify players who fit your build. Remember: winning players mock draft often and try different strategies.
The best practice for punting is that if your first-round pick doesn’t do what the position you drafted usually does, you can punt. Drafting a point guard who doesn’t get steals or FT%? Consider punting. Drafting a center who doesn’t block shots or shoot well from the floor? You’ll have to compensate for that with other draft picks if you don’t punt.
Using a mock first round and a snake draft, I’ll show you team cores for picks #1-5 for ten-team, eight-category leagues. Part 2 arrives tomorrow, doing the same for picks #6-10. The core will fill all of the starting spots and one utility spot. I’ll be using my own rankings for this, but you should adapt this strategy to wherever you’re drafting. I’ll also give some suggestions for filling out each team in the later rounds.
Aaron’s Current Top Ten Rankings:
1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
2. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA), Oklahoma City Thunder
4. Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
6. Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
7. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
8. Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
9. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
10. Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
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C- Nikola Jokic: Punt Blocks
I know, you didn’t think Joker had any weaknesses. But the superstar center has never blocked 70 shots in a season and has never averaged as much as one per game. Jokic is so dominant in so many categories that you could just try to make up for the blocks with later picks and not punt. But that’s not the article I’m writing here.
Blocked shots and assists are usually the most scarce categories. This makes them expensive in drafts. Jokic is a superstar in assists, one of the rare players in the NBA with double digits there. But he’s also a center, and centers are your main source of blocks! Sounds like Jokic doesn’t do something we expect from a center – we can punt here.
Since we picked #1, we’ll go #20, #21, #40, #41, #60, #61, and #80 to build a team. Players selected can be a couple of picks higher or anywhere lower than the number on these lists.
A solid 8-player sample team that might come from this is:
PG- Tyrese Maxey
SG- Josh Giddey
G- Tyler Herro
SF- Deni Avdija
PF- Tobias Harris
F- Brandon Ingram
C- Nikola Jokic
UT- Alperen Sengun
The goal is a balanced build without blocks. Everyone does a little bit of everything other than block shots. The team should shoot well from the floor and the free-throw line. It’s loaded with scoring and has plenty of rebounds. The group is above average in steals and rock solid in assists.
Josh Hart, Jaden Ivey, Isaiah Hartenstein, Michael Porter, Jr., Klay Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Brandin Podziemski, and Norman Powell are good late additions here. You could even try to sneak back out of your blocks punt build by drafting some shot blocking specialists late, but it’s often easier to lean in.
C- Victor Wembanyama: Punt Field Goal Percentage (FG%)
Like Jokic, Wemby’s not really bad enough at anything that you have to punt a category. He’s amazing. However, many centers shoot higher from the floor than Wembanyama’s career 47% because they mostly shoot close to the basket. Conversely, Wembanyama shot almost 9 three-pointers a game last year, which is not close to the basket. This gives him a lot of value because he does do something most centers don’t do.
Wemby made 47.6% of his shots last year while volume shooting from range, which is impressive. However, that mark is close to league average, which means half of the players shoot better. This is made worse because many other centers would have been a plus in the FG% category. He’s hurting you even more in the category because he takes a large number of shots, especially for a center.
Shooting percentage is also the hardest statistic to accurately predict, so Wembanyama could shoot better or worse this year – but it’s easier to just not worry about it.
Since we picked #2, we’ll go to #19, #22, #39, #42, #59, #62, and #79 to build a team.
PG- James Harden
SG- Derrick White
G- Brandon Miller
SF- Jalen Williams
PF- Jaren Jackson, Jr.
F- Miles Bridges
C- Victor Wembanyama
UT- Shaedon Sharpe
You’re not going to win a lot of H-O-R-S-E games with this team. You have every other category covered. If Harden is taken (he’s #18 in my rankings), you can reach a little for Tyrese Maxey. Or you could take someone you like who isn’t technically a punt player. They don’t have to all fit perfectly. The team is above-average defensively, especially with blocks master Wemby as the base. Everyone can pass, make threes, and rebound. Your free-throw percentage (FT%) is fine.
Adding a little bit of late assists is smart if you don’t get Harden: this team is strong enough for RJ Barrett or Kevin Porter, Jr. I’d think about getting another shotblocker too: Donovan Clingan, Zach Edey, Daniel Gafford, and Alex Sarr are good choices. Reed Sheppard and Klay Thompson would also be helpful here.
SG- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA): Punt Punting
There are limits to this strategy. If you draft SGA, you can still choose to punt a category afterward, based on your next picks. But you can’t do it based on drafting him. Jokic and Wemby are a clear #1 and #2 in the draft to me, but SGA gets you everything. He’s a plus in literally every category. The MVP is that good.
Starting with SGA, you have two choices. Choice #1: draft the best players, then figure out what’s missing as you go along. Choice #2: draft players who are good in a lot of categories, which is my choice below. Since we picked #3, we’ll go #18, #23, #38, #43, #58, #63, and #78.
PG- Jamal Murray
SG- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
G- Desmond Bane
SF- Pascal Siakam
PF- Kevin Durant
F- Brandon Ingram
C- Isaiah Hartenstein
UTIL- Deni Avdija
I’ve gone for as many multi-category players as I can in this draft. Durant is better at blocks than you think, and fits nicely with SGA as a high-percentage volume shooter. If you can’t get KD, Sengun, Chet Holmgren, or Amen Thompson are good replacements. This is also a good spot for Cooper Flagg, if he falls to around #50, though I would rather have Avdija.
This lineup will be nearly unbeatable in FG% most weeks, has a ton of scoring volume, and has enough high percentage FT% shooters to balance out Siakam. There are plenty of assists and boards, and three pointers. Players are also good at steals.
Look to balance out your statistics in rounds 9-13. You can most easily do this by drafting alternating category specialists. Also aim for lower-key glue guys, who are a little good at most categories. You might want to add a few blocks and some three-pointers with your next few rounds. Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher, Tari Eason, Draymond Green, D’Andre Hunter, Herbert Jones, and Keon Ellis are strong late picks in this no-punt draft.
PG- Luka Doncic and PF/C- Giannis Antetokounmpo: Punt Free Throw Percentage (FT%)
Both of these players are solid choices for punt builds. Antetokounmpo, our front page, is a sort of poster boy for the strategy. Doncic isn’t, but I make my case below.
Luka Doncic
As a point guard, Doncic is a surprise FT% punt. However, this hits the bullseye on my punting advice. A lot of point guards are very good at free throws, and Luka is not. Last year was nearly right on the league average. It was also his second straight year at league average after finishing well below average in every other year of his career.
However, he shoots a lot of free throws – 6th last year by volume. And the league average is not good! It means that 50% of players shot better than him from the free-throw line, the large majority of whom were guards.
This means you are drafting a point guard, but not getting something that point guards usually get you. We punted FG% with Wemby because most centers are good at FG%, and Wemby is just so-so. We punt FT% with Luka because most point guards are good at FT%, and Luka isn’t reliably good in that category.
Since we’re starting at #4, we’ll draft #17, #24, #37, #44, #57, #64, and #77.
PG- Luka Doncic
SG- Dyson Daniels
G- Josh Hart
SF- Deni Avdija
PF- Evan Mobley
F- Julius Randle
C- Nic Claxton
UTIL- Amen Thompson
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Most analysts would suggest a FT% punt for an Antetokounmpo start, the Greek Freak’s most glaring and notorious weakness. This somewhat varies from my advice, since several centers are bad at FT%. However, there’s a difference between Giannis and other centers.
A lot of centers are bad at free-throw shooting, but shoot very few free throws, making their impact small. Giannis is a category killer, not because of his very poor percentage, but because of his volume. He shoots 60% from the line, and he ALSO shoots the most free throws per game in the NBA. This makes his contribution much harder to overcome. Giannis is a wonderful fantasy pick in any format, but you should punt FT% with Giannis routinely.
Since we’re starting at #5, we’ll draft #16, #25, #36, #45, #56, #65, and #76.
PG- Amen Thompson
SG- Dyson Daniels
G- Josh Hart
SF- Deni Avdija
PF- Evan Mobley
F- Julius Randle
C- Giannis Antetokounmpo
UTIL- Walker Kessler
Notice that most of the players on this list are the same. We are reaching a bit for Mobley and Amen Thompson in both drafts. Amen Thompson just got a little extra run with the Rockets’ point guard, Fred VanVleet, suffering a season-ending injury. Mobley, the rare big man who registers well in assists and blocks, is a great fit. LeBron is a good second-round match with Giannis, too. Paolo Banchero is a good fit if he falls in the right spot here, but he’s been going higher than I’d recommend. You could take him instead of Daniels, perhaps, but I wouldn’t: Daniels locks down the steals category.
We’re punting FT%, but our FG% is elite for both teams. This team should dominate rebounding, be great in the stocks categories, and have solid assists. The team is painfully weak on three-pointers, which you could also choose to punt at this point. Or you could stock up on a few volume shooters late to augment the team. Malik Monk, Klay Thompson, Cam Thomas, Bennedict Mathurin, Kevin Porter, Jr., Herbert Jones, Keon Ellis, Reed Sheppard, or RJ Barrett would be useful.
