Unlike in other major sports, in the NBA, draft picks have the opportunity to prove that they should have gone or been lower on their draft board. That comes from most of the 60 players taken in the recent 2026 NBA Draft playing against each other in the Las Vegas Summer League. Here are three second-round picks who are making an argument that they got slighted in this year’s draft and are players to watch after as potential relevant fantasy basketball players in their first season.
Meleek Thomas
Meleek Thomas was projected by many to be a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. While he fell to the #34 overall pick in the second round to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he certainly looks like all of the part of a first-round pick. In three games in Vegas, he is averaging 28.3 PPG, 4 RPG, and 4.3 APG.
Thomas, despite Cleveland having a fairly loaded roster with mostly veteran NBA players, has a chance to break into their bench rotation. He will mainly fight for minutes with backup PGs Dennis Schroder and Craig Porter Jr. Schroder averaged 21.4 MPG, and Porter Jr. averaged 17.8 MPG in the 2025-2026 season. If Thomas were to move up the depth chart above these players, he could become a possible fantasy streaming PG/SG option. He is not a player, at least this season, to devote any draft pick to in fantasy drafts.
Bruce Thornton
The all-time leading scorer at the University of Ohio State and the Houston Rockets’ #31 overall draft pick, Bruce Thornton, has proven to be one of the best scorers in the Las Vegas Summer League. Thornton, in three games, has averaged 20.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 4.3 APG. He has also been a great perimeter defender, averaging 3.3 SPG.
While Thornton is improving his fantasy stock, realistically, in his first season, he will not be playable in fantasy basketball. The Rockets have a slew of guards that are going to garner minutes above him–Reed Sheppard, Marcus Smart, and Amen Thompson. He looks most likely in line to pick up the role that Aaron Holiday played for the Rockets last season. That role is playing spot minutes at the PG position.
Holiday who is now a free agent last season averaged 13.7 MPG. Thornton could also have a slightly larger role earlier in the season if Fred VanVleet misses any time although it appears he will be ready to play for the Rockets opening game.
Dillon Mitchell
The Boston Celtics’ #40 overall pick, Dillon Mitchell, appears to be a great pick at the moment. In the three summer leagues he has played, he has averaged 13.0 PPG and 5.3 RPG. His best game of the three was against the Charlotte Hornets, where he had 24 points, eight rebounds, and six steals.
Mitchell could break into the Celtics’ rotation in his first season with there not being any certain depth PFs/SFs behind Jayson Tatum and Paul George.. However, he is also a player not to take in fantasy drafts. He is someone to wait and see how they are utilized. Later in the season he could then be seen as a possible streaming option in fantasy.
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