How to punt free throws, and the players it turns into bargains
Giving up free throw percentage moves Rudy Gobert from 74th to 33rd and Walker Kessler from 51st to 25th on our board, and it changes which guards you should and should not draft.
By Matt · 3 min read
Walker KesslerRudy GobertGiannis AntetokounmpoPhotos: NBAProPunting a category in 9-cat means deciding before the draft that you will lose it every week, so that every pick can be spent on the other eight. It sounds like giving something away, and it is, but in a head-to-head league you only need to win five categories to win the week, and a roster that is strong in eight and hopeless in one usually beats a roster that is average in all nine. Free throw percentage is the most common punt because the players who shoot it badly tend to be big men who are excellent everywhere else, especially in rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage.
- Walker Kessler LAL57thvs 49th
- Rudy Gobert MIN71stvs 76th
- Giannis Antetokounmpo MIA4thvs 5th
- Dyson Daniels ATL44thvs 74th
- Ausar Thompson DET72ndvs 91st
- Donovan Clingan POR61stvs 57th
To see what the punt does in practice, we reran our 9-cat projections board with free throw percentage removed and compared every player's rank with his rank on the full nine. The board values players over the whole season, including the games they are projected to miss, and it is the same board our Draft Hacker tool uses when you choose to punt during a draft.
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.
