Fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus picks five guards who should deliver eye-opening production in Yahoo’s new format, High Score.
Payton Pritchard – G, Boston Celtics
It’s fair to say Pritchard enjoyed a breakout campaign last year. However, when factoring in an anticipated surge in usage and production with Jayson Tatum out of commission, his sixth-round ADP seems light. Pritchard averaged 17.9 points with 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists with 3 3s in 33 minutes per game with Tatum off the floor last season.
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Not to say those’ll be his numbers this season, but it’ll be close. The Celtics offense is built on generating 3s, and Pritchard launches them at one of the highest rates in the NBA. He was 11th in 3-point attempts in 2024-25 and I don’t see that shifting when they’ll need a village to make up for the usage and volume that typically went to Tatum. In 17 career starts, Pritchard sports a solid 17/5/6 line, so he’ll get the counting stats to best last year’s 6MOY production.
[High Score is a new way to play Fantasy Basketball on Yahoo with simple rosters and scoring. Create or join a league]
Bennedict Mathurin – G, Indiana Pacers
Mathurin’s aggressiveness is finally being matched with opportunity. He can get hot quickly, and as long as he locks in on defense, he’ll be one of those boom players who’s ideal for High Score. Mathurin is a strong bet to outperform his ADP in the 9th-10th rounds. Here’s why:
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Pacers HC Rick Carlisle said that Mathurin will start.
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When playing at least 30 minutes in his career, Mathurin is averaging 20.3 points with 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
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Averaged 35 minutes per game with Tyrese Haliburton off the floor in 2024-25. His scoring increased by nearly 5.5 points per game to 21 ppg with a jump from four to seven free-throw attempts per game.
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His usage rate climbed 3% to 25% with Haliburton out.
There’s a chance that Mathurin becomes the Pacers’ leading scorer this year and he’ll surely be in talks for Most Improved Player with the spike in usage, scoring and opportunity. He’s off to a great start in the preseason, leading all Pacers with 18.3 PPG in 17 minutes per game across three contests.
Jaden Ivey – G, Detroit Pistons
Another player where I’d categorize last year’s numbers as a mini-breakout, Ivey was well on his way to being in the Most Improved Player conversation until he suffered a broken fibula. The injury cut his season to just 30 games, robbing fantasy managers of a player who was outperforming his draft capital. Now that Ivey is fully recovered from the injury, I’m going back to the well after he’s firmly entrenched as the secondary playmaker and scorer for the Pistons.
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He posted a respectable 17/4/4 line last year and with the Eastern Conference thinner, Ivey could push for MIP or possibly an All-Star nod depending on how the Pistons perform. I’m high on his skill set, and in High Score, not having to include turnovers puts him well over 30 fantasy points per game. The upside, however, could peak in the range of 40- 50+ fantasy points, which he did five times last season.
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Andrew Nembhard – G, Indiana Pacers
Nembhard will take on a key playmaking role for the Pacers, averaging 11 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds in 26 minutes without Haliburton last season. Fantasy managers can comfortably expect his minutes to jump to over 30 per game, especially with reliable backup T.J. McConnell (hamstring) on the shelf for a month.
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Nembhard is currently being drafted in the seventh round. I think that’s too low, considering there aren’t many guards available past that point in drafts who can deliver at least six assists with efficiency and steals. He’s shown he can take over a game, scoring too, so in High Score, there’s more boom potential than you’d expect. With no Haliburton, projecting a career year from the four-year pro is hardly a hot take.
Reed Sheppard – G, Houston Rockets
There’s been no indication that Sheppard will join the starting unit by the beginning of the regular season. That said, I’m not putting too much stock in it. He’ll for sure be in the rotation playing more minutes than he ever has in his professional career, with Fred VanVleet (knee) out for the season. That accounts for something. Recognizing that college and the NBA are vastly different situations, Sheppard at least has some history of shooting the ball efficiently and making an impact defensively.
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The defensive area is where I think he’ll win over Rockets HC Ime Udoka and in time, he’ll find comfort as a reliable passer and knock-down 3-point shooter. I could be early on this breakout, but there’s potential, especially considering he has 25+ minutes coming his way with that amount of talent surrounding him.
The second-year guard’s impressed over his past two preseason outings, delivering 12.5 points, 3.5 boards, 2.5 assists on 53% shooting from the field and 50% from 3. The Rockets will likely tinker with the lineups depending on the matchups, but Sheppard’s poised to make some noise in fantasy this season when he earns that bigger workload.
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