The 2025-26 fantasy basketball season is in the books for most managers, and it's time to hand out some hardware. From Nikola Jokic delivering another triple-double campaign to Kon Knueppel's record-breaking rookie year in Charlotte, this season provided no shortage of standout performances. Of course, not every early draft pick paid off — just ask anyone who spent a premium selection on Trae Young. Here are the winners of our 2025-26 fantasy basketball awards, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Waiver Wire Add, Most Improved Player and Biggest Bust of the Year.
MVP
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets 
There are plenty of great options for this award. Still, Jokic is my pick because he averaged a triple-double for the second straight season. While his scoring was down a bit, he still averaged 27.9 points to go along with 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game. While he doesn't block a lot of shots for a center, he provided 1.4 steals and 1.8 three-pointers a night.
For the first time in his career, Jokic will play fewer than 69 games. However, he enters the final week with 62 games played, so he likely won't miss that mark by much. It likely took a top three pick to secure Jokic in your league, and he yet again proved to be well worth it.
Defensive Player of the Year
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs 
Wembanyama could have easily been named the Fantasy MVP. At the
The 2025-26 fantasy basketball season is in the books for most managers, and it's time to hand out some hardware. From Nikola Jokic delivering another triple-double campaign to Kon Knueppel's record-breaking rookie year in Charlotte, this season provided no shortage of standout performances. Of course, not every early draft pick paid off — just ask anyone who spent a premium selection on Trae Young. Here are the winners of our 2025-26 fantasy basketball awards, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Waiver Wire Add, Most Improved Player and Biggest Bust of the Year.
MVP
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
There are plenty of great options for this award. Still, Jokic is my pick because he averaged a triple-double for the second straight season. While his scoring was down a bit, he still averaged 27.9 points to go along with 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game. While he doesn't block a lot of shots for a center, he provided 1.4 steals and 1.8 three-pointers a night.
For the first time in his career, Jokic will play fewer than 69 games. However, he enters the final week with 62 games played, so he likely won't miss that mark by much. It likely took a top three pick to secure Jokic in your league, and he yet again proved to be well worth it.
Defensive Player of the Year
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
Wembanyama could have easily been named the Fantasy MVP. At the very least, he is the Defensive Player of the Year. He rejected 3.1 blocks a night, despite averaging a modest 29 minutes a game. He also averaged 1.0 steals, so if he can hold that over the final week of the season, it will be his third straight season in which he averaged at least 3.0 blocks and 1.0 steals.
How dominant was Wembanyama in terms of blocks? No other player has even averaged 2.0 blocks a game, let alone approached Wembanyama in that department. Chet Holmgren, Evan Mobley and Jay Huff are the players immediately behind Wembanyama with their averages of 1.8 blocks per game. He can almost single-handedly win the category for fantasy managers.
Rookie of the Year
Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets 
Cooper Flagg entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to be the best rookie in fantasy. He certainly hasn't disappointed, averaging 21.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 three-pointers. While he dealt with some injuries, he enters Monday having played 66 games.
As good as Flagg has been, I think Knueppel edged him out for this award. Not only is Knueppel averaging 18.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.4 three-pointers, but he has been extremely efficient. He has shot 48.1% from the field, 86.2% from the charity stripe and 43.0% from three. In terms of his historical perspective, Knueppel made the most three-pointers in a season for the Hornets in their history. He also set a new NBA record for most three-pointers made by a rookie. Another key stat is that he has already appeared in 78 games. The 12 more games played than Flagg is significant.
Waiver Wire Add of the Year
Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks 
Rollins was not expected to play much for the Bucks, but he was thrown into the fire early after Kevin Porter Jr. was injured in the first game of the season. Porter would end up being sidelined for more than a month and appeared in just 38 games for the season as he dealt with other ailments down the stretch. Giannis Antetokounmpo has also appeared in only 36 games.
With minutes and shot attempts up for grabs, Rollins became a stellar waiver wire add for managers who took a chance on him. He has appeared in 73 games, averaging 17.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.5 three-pointers. His points came in efficient fashion, with him shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.9% from behind the arc. Not only was he a great fantasy asset, but he has likely played himself into being one of the building blocks for the Bucks heading into next season.
Most Improved Player of the Year
Keyonte George, Utah Jazz 
The Jazz selected George with the 16th pick in the 2023 Draft with the hopes that he could be their point guard of the future. He flashed promise during his first two seasons, but it looked like a lack of efficiency was going to keep him from reaching his full potential. He shot 39.1% from the field over his first two seasons, and it looked like Isaiah Collier could push him to be the team's point guard of the future towards the end of last season.
George has taken his game to another level this season, shooting 45.6% from the field. That helped him average 23.6 points and 2.5 three-pointers to go along with 3.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.1 steals. The only negative was that he played just 54 games because of injuries and the Jazz tanking. The franchise could compete for a playoff spot next season following the acquisition of Jaren Jackson Jr. and the likely addition of another lottery pick. If they finally shed their tanking ways, George could take his fantasy value to an even higher level next season.
Biggest Bust of the Year
Trae Young, Washington Wizards 
If you wanted Young on your fantasy basketball team, you likely had to select him towards the end of the first round or in the beginning of the second round, depending on your league size. He was coming off three straight campaigns in which he averaged at least 24.2 points, 10.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.1 three-pointers. He also appeared in at least 73 games in three of the last four campaigns.
Young only made it to the fifth game of the season before suffering an injury. After missing over a month, he only played a handful of games before being sidelined again. Eventually, he was traded to a tanking team in the Wizards, who had no reason to play him. He appeared in just five games after the trade and didn't log more than 24 minutes in any of them. In addition to appearing in only 15 games, he is averaging career lows in points (17.9) and assists (8.0) per game. It's difficult to recover from getting that type of production from an early selection in fantasy drafts.
