Midway through the 2011-2012 season, on the heels of losing 11 of 13 games, New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni had seemingly no options left in his backcourt. Baron Davis was absent due to a bad back, while Iman Shumpert was sidelined with a knee ailment. The coach turned to a combo guard -- averaging 3.6 points in 6.1 minutes -- to save the season.
Within days, the sports world, and fantasy leagues, were immersed in Linsanity. The actionable lesson in Jeremy Lin's sudden ascent is that we should appreciate how fragile rosters and thin depth charts can produce magical fantasy basketball outcomes. Predicting Lin would become a star wasn't easy. Expecting someone to step up in a valuable D'Antoni offense was. Lin might never have seen the court that winter had he been part of a stable, healthy, and bankable backcourt.
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Ryan Rollins was, albeit with far less hype, last season's Lin: a gifted, overlooked combo guard who scaled a thin backcourt depth chart to become a fantasy star. The Milwaukee Bucks entered last season without trusted scoring or shot creation past Giannis Antetokounmpo. While it was surely surprising that Rollins, a player undrafted in most leagues, ended up No. 30 overall on the Player Rater, the context of his team's roster invited a leap.
The focus of this piece is to consider which players around the league might have a far higher ceiling than the market currently appreciates. Sometimes, a player is a trade, injury or promotion away from an enduring and rewarding role.
A single Shams Charania post can change multiple depth charts in an instant. Consider this the contingency tier of talents: those who require some blend of luck, development, timing and trust in order to pop. What widely available players, sitting in free agency in your league or found in the twilight rounds of all drafts ahead of the 2026-27 season, can become the statistical forces that Lin, Rollins, and many others have been in seasons past?
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The Thunder have waves of capable backups all over the roster, making it tougher to isolate who benefits if a star player misses time. We already have proof of concept, however, when it comes to Mitchell. Across just over 100 playoff minutes with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander off the court last spring, Mitchell produced 26.5 points and 7.8 assists per 75 possessions. Mitchell will likely sustain independent value even behind a healthy cast of stars, yet is also an injury update away from becoming a true force. It's likely Mitchell would inherit a major role if either of SGA or Jalen Williams were sidelined.