The season has not started. Trends begin the morning after the first games, and a player joins the board once he has 5 in the books.
26-27 Player
Trends
The season has not started. Trends begin the morning after the first games, and a player joins the board once he has 5 in the books.
About player trends
Fantasy basketball risers and fallers for 2026-27
Every morning of the season our projections are moved by the night's box scores, and this board is what that movement adds up to, player by player: what we projected for him before the season, what we project now, and what he has actually been producing. The move between the first two is the season's verdict on the preseason line, made slowly enough that one big night cannot write it. Beside it is his rank now and where he started, so a riser who was already a first-rounder reads differently from one who was a twelfth-round pick.
The reading at the end of the row is the part no other board states. We project minutes and production per minute separately, so a move can be told apart: more or fewer minutes is a role change and moves the whole line the night it happens; a heater is a player producing above even his raised line, which the model expects to cool; a slump is the mirror; and rate is the same minutes with a change in what he does with them. The market line beside each name says how many leagues roster him and who is adding him, which is where a rising role that nobody has noticed shows up. The depth charts say where a new role came from, and the rankings stay the analysts' own boards, unmoved by any of this.
What is a player's move on the trends board?
The difference between what we project for him now and what we projected before the season, in the format you have chosen: fantasy points a game under ESPN's default scoring for points leagues, or his value across the nine categories for 9-cat leagues. Our projections move every morning with the box scores, so the move is the season's own verdict on the preseason line, not a hot take.
What do the readings mean?
We project a player's minutes and his production per minute separately, so a move can be told apart. More minutes or fewer minutes means his role changed, which moves the whole line the night it happens. Heater means he is producing above even the raised line, and the model expects the run to cool. Slump is the mirror of that. Rate means the same minutes as projected and a change in what he does with them, which the model believes a little more each night. Steady means he is within a point of his preseason line.
Why does the board not overreact to one big night?
Because each stat is pulled toward the preseason line by a measured number of pseudo-games, fitted by replaying the 2025-26 season game by game. A fifty-point night moves a line by a point or so, and only a genuine change keeps moving it. Minutes are read off the last ten games in which the coach chose to play or sit him, so a role change shows up quickly while an injury absence does not count against him.
Why is a player not on the board yet?
A player joins once he has played five games, because a line moved by two games has barely moved and a list of two-game movers would be a list of who had one big night. Before opening night the board is empty, and it fills itself from the morning after the first games.
Are the player trends free?
The fifty biggest moves in either direction are free to anyone, with no account, along with every reading and the market line beside each player. Pro shows every projected player on the board, and the projections themselves are on the projections page.