Five veterans your league is scared of, and the numbers say draft them
CJ McCollum, Paul George, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard are all 34 or older, and our projections have four of them ahead of where drafters take them even after charging for the games they will miss.
By Matt · 3 min read
Paul GeorgeKyrie IrvingCJ McCollumPhotos: NBAProEvery draft has a manager who will not take anyone over 30, and every draft rewards the manager who notices that age is already in the price. Older players miss more games, and our projections charge for that directly, because the roster slot value ranks a player by what he gives you over the whole season, with a free agent standing in on the nights he is out. So when an older player still ranks ahead of his draft position on that measure, the discount drafters are applying is larger than the risk it is meant to cover.
- Paul George BOS74thvs 70th
- Kyrie Irving DAL46thvs 41st
- CJ McCollum ATL79thvs 97th
- LeBron James PHI28thvs 33rd
- Damian Lillard POR82ndvs 71st
We looked at the five veterans most often discussed in our analysts' boards this summer, all of them 34 or older, and put their projections next to their prices. Four of the five come out as values, and the fifth is a points-league trap that is easy to mistake for one of the others.
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.
