Derrick White is a top-25 player in 9-cat and a fifth-rounder in Yahoo points, and his blocks are why

Derrick White is the guard a categories roster keeps finding a place for. Our projections give him 16.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steal, 1.2 blocks and 3.3 threes in 33.9 minutes over 73 games, with only 1.7 turnovers and 87.9% from the line. As of mid-October that is 24th on our 9-cat board, seven places above the analysts' 9-cat consensus of 31st, but only 42nd on our points board under ESPN's default scoring and 56th under Yahoo's. Only three players in the top 60 of our 9-cat board fall further when the same projections are scored under Yahoo's points system.

The reason is that most of what White does well is worth more as a category than as a point total. Threes, blocks, free-throw percentage and turnovers each count as a full category in 9-cat, while in a points league they are a handful of points apiece, and his one real weakness, a 41.8% field-goal percentage, costs him in both. The sections below show where his value comes from, which rosters should pay for it, and how the format he plays in should set his price for the weeks ahead.

Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.