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Fantasy Basketball 2026-27: Five Players I'm Watching Closely During Training Camp
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- Fantasy Basketball 2026-27: Five Players I'm Watching Closely During Training Camp
Fantasy basketball 2026-27 gets decided in late September, not in October. This piece is not a list of young guys with upside. It is a list of five players whose roles are genuinely unsettled right now, plus the exact camp signal that will settle each one. It could be a starting lineup leak, a minutes split in a preseason game. It could even be a veteran getting cleared for full contact. Those are small moments, but they move a player thirty spots in a draft. Here are the five situations worth tracking, and what to look for in each.
Quinten Post , Memphis Grizzlies
Post signed a three-year, $30 million offer sheet with Memphis on July 6. Golden State passed on matching it a day later. Only the first year is fully guaranteed, at a $9 million base salary.
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Last season he played 67 games with 35 starts and averaged 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 17.3 minutes. His three-point shooting fell from 40.8 percent as a rookie to 33.6 percent. A right foot injury ended his year early.
Memphis is crowded. Zach Edey played 11 games last season before ankle surgery. Cameron Boozer arrived at No. 3 overall. Isaiah Stewart came over from Detroit in June after finishing seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
The camp signal: watch whether Post shares the floor with Edey or Boozer. If he only appears when Edey sits, he is insurance. If Memphis plays him next to a traditional big, he has real value.
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Dylan Harper , San Antonio Spurs
Dylan Harper's preseason lineup usage should reveal whether San Antonio expands his offensive responsibilities this season.Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Harper made All-Rookie First Team after averaging 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds on 50.5 percent shooting in 69 games. He started only four of them. Then the postseason arrived and he averaged 14.1 points in 23 games. In the Finals loss to New York he put up 18.0 points and 6.4 rebounds off the bench.
Here is the part your draft board needs. De'Aaron Fox is not going anywhere soon. His four-year, $221.7 million extension has kicked in at roughly $49.5 million this season. The Athletic's Jared Weiss reported that San Antonio views that contract as untradeable right now. Victor Wembanyama 's new extension removed the financial pressure to move him.
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So stop pricing Harper on a Fox trade. Price him on the depth chart. The camp signal is simple: does Harper open with the first unit, and does he close games?
Reed Sheppard , Houston Rockets
Sheppard jumped from a quiet rookie year to 13.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game last season. He shot 39.4 percent from three on roughly seven attempts a night. That volume put him near the top of the league. Houston picked up his $11.1 million option for this season.
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Fred VanVleet opted into his $25 million player option after missing all of 2025-26 with a torn ACL and meniscus. Reporting says he is on schedule and will be about a year removed from surgery when camp opens. Houston also added Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic .
That is a lot of guards for one rotation.
The camp signal is medical before you even start to think of anything tactical. Watch whether VanVleet practices in full contact and plays real preseason minutes. If he does, Sheppard slides off the ball and his assists drop. His shooting still plays. His playmaking numbers will not.
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Josh Giddey , Chicago Bulls
Josh Giddey's offensive workload could increase significantly after Chicago's offseason roster changes reshape possessions available.Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Giddey signed a four-year, $100 million deal in September 2025 with no options. Three years and $75 million remain.
Last season he averaged 17.0 points, 9.1 assists and 8.3 rebounds in 32.1 minutes across 54 games. The Bulls went 31-51 and blew things up. Nikola Vucevic and Coby White were both traded in February. Bryson Graham now runs the front office and Tiago Splitter is the new head coach.
Chicago then added Nic Claxton , Norman Powell , Zach Collins , No. 4 pick Caleb Wilson and No. 15 pick Dailyn Swain. Projected starting five: Giddey, Powell, Buzelis , Wilson, Claxton.
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The camp signal: usage. The two teammates who ate the most possessions are gone. If Splitter runs the offense through Giddey and Giddey survives camp without being traded, top-50 value is live.
Kyle Filipowski , Utah Jazz
Filipowski's $3 million salary is no longer non-guaranteed. Utah locked it in this summer, alongside Svi Mykhailiuk 's deal. He is on the roster.
While that is worthy of mention, the bigger news is who left. Walker Kessler went to the Lakers in a July 1 sign-and-trade worth four years and $130 million. Utah replaced him with Jusuf Nurkic on a two-year, $22 million deal, Jaxson Hayes on a two-year, $12 million deal and Mo Bamba on a two-year contract.
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Filipowski averaged 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season and started 41 of 77 games. Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr . own the frontcourt.
The camp signal here is quite simple. 22 or more minutes per preseason game with double-digit points, while sharing the floor with Jackson rather than replacing him. That combination means he is a rotation big, not a fill-in.
The Window Is Closing
None of these five have a settled role today. That is the whole point. Training camp is not a warm-up for these guys. Rather, it is the major thing that decides their season.
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The calendar is tight. Camps open in late September. Preseason games follow through early and mid October, including the China Games in Macao on October 9 and 11.
Rosters get locked before opening night, and the Emirates NBA Cup group stage tips off October 30. So the resolution window runs from late September through early October. Beat writers report starting lineups. Coaches talk minutes at media day. Preseason box scores show who plays with whom. If your draft is in mid October, you will already have your answers. If your draft is in late September, you are guessing. It is safer and more advisable to draft later than that.
Questions About Players to Watch Closely, Answered
Which fantasy basketball players are worth watching closely during training camp for 2026-27?Quinten Post, Dylan Harper, Reed Sheppard, Josh Giddey, and Kyle Filipowski each enter camp with an unsettled role. Their draft value will depend on specific developments such as rotation decisions, starting lineup assignments, usage, or preseason minutes rather than long-term projections.
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Will Reed Sheppard's role shrink when Fred VanVleet returns?It could. Houston's guard rotation depends heavily on VanVleet's recovery and availability for full-contact practices and meaningful preseason minutes. If VanVleet is fully integrated, Sheppard can still provide perimeter shooting, but his playmaking opportunities are likely to decline.
Is Kyle Filipowski guaranteed a roster spot in Utah?
Yes. His contract is now guaranteed, so the focus shifts from making the roster to earning a meaningful rotation role. His preseason minutes, production, and ability to share the floor with Jaren Jackson Jr.
will provide the clearest indication of his fantasy outlook.
How does Quinten Post fit into the Memphis frontcourt?His value depends on how Memphis deploys him during camp. If he only fills minutes when Zach Edey rests, his fantasy ceiling is limited. If the Grizzlies consistently pair him with another traditional big, he has a clearer path to a significant rotation role.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Jul 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the Fantasy section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
