Future Stars Illuminate 2025-2026 NBA Success: 10 Promising Prospects to Watch!

The 2025-26 regular season of fantasy basketball is officially in the books. Before we get to the final High Score 100 rankings, a couple of housekeeping notes on methodology. First, any player who didn’t suit up for at least 30 regular-season games has been excluded from consideration.

That means Anthony Davis, Ja Morant, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and Walker Kessler are all off the board, after their per-game averages fell within the top 100 overall. Second, the risers and fallers below are limited to players who appeared on both the preseason High Score 100 and the final rankings. That means guys like rookies Kon Knueppel and VJ Edgecombe — both of whom earned spots on the final list after impressive debut seasons — aren’t eligible for the comparison since they weren’t projected inside the top 100 in October.

The same goes for players like Collin Gillespie, Isaiah Collier, Ryan Rollins, and Saddiq Bey, all of whom cracked the final 100 but weren’t on the preseason radar. Their emergence is a story worth telling — just not this one. [ Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Fill out brackets for your shot at $50K ] As for the final rankings (down below), here’s what stood out most when you stack preseason expectations against where everyone actually landed.

📈 High Score Risers Player Team Preseason rank Final rank Change Jalen Johnson ATL 30 6 +24 Michael Porter Jr. BKN 68 37 +31 Keyonte George UTA 86 28 +58 Keyonte George - G, Utah Jazz (Final ranking: 28th, Preseason: 86th, Rank change: ⬆️ 58) Nobody had a bigger leap in the entire High Score 100 than George. He came into the season 86th in my preseason projections, largely because Isaiah Collier was expected to take a share of the offense early.