2025-26 Fantasy Basketball Top 200 Rankings: Pacers look to hold onto 2026 first-round pick

With the All-Star break now in the rear-view mirror, the focus of many fantasy managers will be to lock down a playoff spot in their leagues and put themselves in the best position possible to win their leagues. Crafting lineups and scouring the waiver wire for value becomes even more challenging, especially when some teams have made it clear they're focused on the future.

For some teams, that means doing everything they can to improve their draft lottery odds. For others, that also means ensuring that their chances of losing their lottery pick are as slim as possible. By virtue of the trade at the deadline that landed them center Ivica Zubac, the Indiana Pacers are one of those teams.

One of the picks sent to the Clippers was Indiana's 2026, and it is heavily protected. As long as it lands within the first four picks or between 10 and 30, the Pacers will keep the pick, with the Clippers receiving an unprotected 2031 first-round pick instead. However, if the pick lands between fifth and ninth, it goes to the Clippers, who gave up their first-round pick to Oklahoma City as part of the Paul George trade.

Each of the last two draft lotteries has seen the team with the best odds of receiving the first pick fall outside of the top-4, so effectively punting on the rest of the season is clearly not guaranteed to work. However, with the Pacers holding the league's fourth-worst record, reaching a spot outside the bottom 10 would take a lot of effort.

Not only does the approach the team takes the rest of the way affect Zubac, who has yet to debut due to a sprained ankle, but also players like Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and T.J. McConnell. Add in the $100,000 fine handed down by the NBA regarding the team's handling of player availability for a February 3 loss to the Jazz (Utah received a $500,000 fine for its player participation issues during February 7 and 9 games against the Magic and Heat), and pulling the plug completely will be difficult to do.

As always, rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt due to player availability questions. Due to season-ending injuries, Utah's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Sacramento's Zach LaVine are no longer ranked, pushing players like Brice Sensabaugh, Kyle Filipowski (Utah) and Nique Clifford (Sacramento) into higher-profile roles for the rest of the season.

→ Watch the NBA on Peacock on Monday, February 23, as the Spurs take on the Pistons at 7:00 p.m. ET, followed by the Jazz visiting the Rockets at 9:30 p.m. ET!

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• Zak Hanshew,