Evan Mobley is a 30th pick in standard 9-cat and a top-ten pick if you punt free throws

Evan Mobley is one of the few centers whose value depends more on the build around him than on the format he plays in. Our projections give him 18.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.7 blocks and 0.9 threes in 32.3 minutes over 69 games, on 56.1% from the field and 65.0% from the line, a line very close to last season's 18.2 points and 9.0 rebounds over 65 games. As of mid-October that is 24th on our points board under ESPN's default scoring and 23rd under Yahoo's, but only 30th on our 9-cat board, and the reason for the difference is a single category.

In a points league his poor free-throw shooting costs him a point or so a night. In 9-cat it costs him a full category, and his three other weak spots, steals, threes and assists, are all categories where centers are usually weak anyway. That makes him a player whose rank swings by twenty places depending on which category a roster chooses to give up, and the advice below is about matching him to the right build for the weeks ahead rather than to a single number.

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.