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.
We gave strategies for every player #1-5 in our Part 1 article (link). This article covers punting strategies for the #6-10 picks below.
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
PG/SG- Cade Cunningham: Don’t Punt.
Cade Cunningham is a guard who is below league average in shooting the ball for his career. But a lot of guards are! Even more importantly, Cunningham has consistently improved to the point where his FG% is close to league average. Furthermore, Cunningham is tall – he may keep improving in the category!
If you play in 9-cat, you can punt turnovers with Cunningham, who has been a consistent liability in the category. Turnovers are fickle, however, and so a turnover punt build is usually a bad idea. Good players often get turnovers because they handle the ball more often. Furthermore, in fantasy basketball, we often make roster moves multiple times a week to get additional counting stats. With extra counting stats come extra turnovers. You can’t control them, so take turnovers as they come. This is part of why I project 8-cat, not 9-cat.
Cade is a plus everywhere else, so, like SGA, we’ll create a balanced build. Since we’re starting at #6, we’ll do #15, #26, #35, #46, #55, #66, and #75.
PG- Cade Cunningham
SG- Jaylen Brown
G – Payton Pritchard
SF- Deni Avdija
PF – Chet Holmgren
F – Brandon Ingram
C – Bam Adebayo
UT- Mikal Bridges
I really like this particular group. There aren’t really any specialists in this group, and everyone does a little bit of everything. Jaylen Brown is the only glaringly obvious player who doesn’t give defensive stats, and his other stats should be up a bit this year. This team should be elite in the core categories of points, assists, rebounds, and three-pointers. Nobody here crashes your FG% or FT%. Players that help this build: Zaccharie Risacher, Draymond Green, Tari Eason, Ausar Thompson, Herbert Jones, Keon Ellis, Kyle Filipowski, Jaden McDaniels.
SG- Anthony Edwards: Punt FG%
Ant Edwards has a very similar profile to Cade Cunningham above, but has a long track record of poor shooting from the floor. Additionally, he’s not quite as good as Cade is in several categories, leading to him being right behind him in the draft. Edwards led the league in three pointers made last year, but it’s hard for a guy who shoots 10 threes a game to keep his FG% up.
Because Edwards shoots more than most players, his FG% hurts you more than other players. He’s also a guard, so this is again not catastrophic because there are lots of poor-shooting guards. You could completely blow off Ant’s poor FG% and just try to make up for it later. But excuse me, sir: this is a Wendy’s. We’re mostly doing punt stuff.
Edwards is #7, so we’ll do picks around #14, #27, #34, #47, #54, #67, and #74.
PG- Stephen Curry
SG – Anthony Edwards
G – Lamelo Ball
SF- Scottie Barnes
PF- Trey Murphy III
F – Brandon Miller
C – Naz Reid
UTIL- Jalen Green
This is a little different from other drafts we have done so far. This is a more concentrated draft. You are very strong in five categories: scoring, assists, steals, FT%, and threes. You should win these categories most weeks with this draft, and winning five categories consistently will win you a lot of eight-category games. What happened to rebounds and blocked shots? Punting FG% takes us further away from the basket, which comes with a drop in rebounds and blocked shots.
There are several alternatives to Curry: James Harden and Devin Booker, for example. Also, you might not get LaMelo based on this scenario, as he often goes earlier. Ja Morant, Jamal Murray, and Derrick White are good adjustments there. Cooper Flagg is in play in this draft, as I expect him to struggle only in FG% in his rookie season.
You should choose to lean into this build harder than in other builds, where you might have added players to cover weaknesses. Some of the best players to double down late: Kevin Porter, Jr., Jaden Ivey, Kristaps Porzingis, Alex Sarr, and Brandin Podziemski. Herbert Jones and Keon Ellis help here, too, since they help everywhere. If you choose to augment a category late, it should definitely be rebounds. Boards and three-pointers are usually easiest to get late in the draft – and you can’t squeeze more treys into this roster if you tried.
PG/SG- Trae Young: Punt FG%
Young is also a guard, so why should we punt FG% with Young as the basis for our draft? Because Young is a terrible shooter from the floor: he’s had one year in out of seven that he’s hit as many as 44% of his shots. This is why some sites suggest not drafting Young in the first round.
However, Young is also a tremendous passer and led the NBA last year with 11.6 assists per game. He was one of just two players (to average double digits in the category, and #1 overall Nikola Jokic was the other. He was one of just six players to average as many as eight assists per game, and just 21 players had as many as six per game last year. Young also gets around 25 points per game. He’s also a stud in the FT% category.
If you ignore his FG%, drafting Young is almost like drafting two point guards. Young has played 73+ games in three of the last four seasons with 35+ minutes per game each year, and has basically no competition for playing time. I give extra weights for games and minutes, and Trae lights up the chart in both. Draft with confidence.
Young is #8, so we’ll do picks around #13, #28, #33, #48, #53, #68, and #73.
PG- Trae Young
SG – Devin Booker (or Donovan Mitchell)
G – Brandon Miller
SF- Franz Wagner
PF- Bam Adebayo
F – Julius Randle
C – Myles Turner
UTIL- OG Anunoby
This is a different draft from Edwards. Other than punting FG%, we didn’t have to lean into a specific build as heavily here. Young and Booker are a huge basis for FT% and assists, so we could also absorb some good big men like Adebayo, Turner, and Randle. Besides, Adebayo and Randle are good passers! The other, Turner, is the rare center who gives you threes and blocks and fits best in a punt FG% build. Anunoby is tossed in near the end to help defensive stats.
This is already a strong draft for points, FT%, threes, steals, and, of course, assists. It’s not terrible in rebounds or blocked shots, either. Some care should be taken here late to not tank your FT%, since we already did a little damage there in the middle rounds. John Collins, Cameron Johnson, or Cam Thomas would be strong late adds to round out the category – one of those guys should probably be enough. I recommend Collins. Other late players who fit the mold: Zach Edey, Kel’el Ware, Ausar Thompson, Herbert Jones, Keon Ellis, Toumani Camara, Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVicenzo.
C- Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings: punt blocks.
Sabonis is my most controversial ranking, perhaps, but I love starting a team with him. He’s like a little mini-Jokic: he’s the best rebounder in basketball, he averages 7 assists a game, and made a career-high 65 three pointers last year. I’m also not concerned about his fade late last year, since he was playing with a hamstring injury.
Sabonis’ best season in blocks was 2023-2024, with 0.6 blocked shots per game. Sounds like a good punt situation, since we’re starting with a center who isn’t doing something centers do.
Since we’re starting at #9, we’ll go #12, 29, 32, 49, 52, 69, and 72.
PG- Zach LaVinee
SG – Jaylen Brown
G – Desmond Bane
SF- LeBron James
PF- Zion Williamson
F – Brandon Ingram
C- Domantas Sabonis
UTIL- Payton Pritchard
This team should be very strong in three pointers with anchors like Pritchard, Ingram, Brown, and LaVine, but should also be strong in FG%, a rare double. Everyone scores on this team in bunches. LeBron, Zion, and Jaylen Brown specifically boost the core categories of points, assists, and boards.
This base gives you the flexibility to do almost anything at all late. Players I’d like here: Jalen Suggs, PJ Washington, Christian Braun, Malik Monk, Ausar Thompson, Herbert Jones, Keon Ellis, and Kyle Filipowski.
C- Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks: Punt Assists
KAT was eighth in total assists and 12th among centers in assists per game last year. Plus, centers don’t usually post huge assist totals. Towns’ 3.1 assists aren’t low enough to punt assists based solely on that number. But there are two good reasons to punt assists here.
Because you have chosen a classical center, you’re already playing catch-up in the category. Just because you picked a center that’s not bad at assists doesn’t mean you got a lot of them by drafting him! Secondly, you will notice that most of the top category players are at least a little bit good at assists.
We’ve already talked about this in the Young section, but assists are hard to come by. However, there is an additional shortage in the category this year. To start the year, no Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, or Dejounte Murray, among others. Some of their replacements aren’t going to be great assist guys.
Draft boards are ranked by scarcity, so punting assists gives you opportunities to grab lower-rated players that fit your build. This is also helpful because our picks are later in the draft here. Drafting at the Round 1/2 turn is one of the best places to punt, partially because it gives you full control over your second pick and the basis for your build. Drafting KAT, let other people fight over assists and dominate the rest.
We’re drafting #10 here, so it’s #11, #30, #31, #50, #51, #70, and #71.
PG- Derrick White
SG – Amen Thompson
G – Mikal Bridges
SF- Michael Porter, Jr.
PF- Chet Holmgren
F – OG Anunoby
C- Karl-Anthony Towns
UTIL- Myles Turner
Towns gives you a nice advantage at 3 pointers and all the traditional big man categories, and is okay at blocks. Chet Holmgren is an essential piece in a punt assist strategy. Admittedly, Anthony Davis is also a good choice, and I have AD at #13 because he is injury-prone. But Chet (maybe also injury-prone) is more likely to be available in most leagues. Also, if you can’t get Amen Thompson at #30, Jaylen Brown is a solid choice.
Most picks hit defense – this is a real stat geek lineup. Finally, no punt assists build is complete without Michael “Never Swing The Rock” Porter, Jr., though he’s a nice source of small forward rebounds and a popular sleeper on the Nets. Good players to finish off this build: Norman Powell, Aaron Gordon, Zaccharie Risacher, Herbert Jones, Keon Ellis, John Collins, Jabari Smith, Jr., or Donovan Clingan.
You Don’t Have to Punt To Win
While I still recommend punting if you draft Giannis Antetokounmpo or Trae Young, you can lead off with any of these players and not punt anything. Every one of those ten players is are fantasy superstar. They are dominant in so many categories that their weaknesses might not matter that much. Every weakness of an early-round player has a combination of picks that helps fix that weakness.
That said, the larger your league, the more punting helps. Larger leagues usually mean fewer available, well-rounded players in drafts for each team. Successful players go into a season with more than one plan. Come up with a strategy to punt, and one not to punt, and see which you like better.
