Kel'el Ware and Khaman Maluach Are the Center Sleepers Worth a Late Fantasy Pick

Fantasy basketball drafts are happening now, with media day on September 28 and camps opening the following day, and the center position is where the late-round value lives this season. Two names stand out: Kel'el Ware, who lands in Milwaukee with a genuine role, and Khaman Maluach, who has the clearest opportunity of any big man on a rookie contract after Mark Williams was expected to miss roughly five months. Both are going far later than their projected production justifies, and in a category format, either can win you a week by himself.

Kel'el Ware has a real role in Milwaukee

Ware averaged 11.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 0.8 steals in 22.1 minutes per game last season while shooting 53 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from three. The three-point number is the one that matters most. He shot 31.5 percent from deep as a rookie and jumped to 39.5 percent, which is the difference between a traditional backup big and a center who can share the floor with another one.

That shooting is precisely why the Milwaukee fit works. Ware is not stuck behind Myles Turner; he can play alongside him, because both can space the floor and neither clogs the paint for the other. On a Bucks team in transition after moving Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami, the minutes are there and the usage is there.

Per-minute, Ware already produced at a level that would make him a top-60 fantasy player in a starter's role. The question was never the production rate. It was the opportunity, and the opportunity is now considerably better than it was in June.

Target him in the middle-to-late rounds in category leagues, where his blocks and field goal percentage do disproportionate work. In points leagues the case is weaker, because his scoring volume is modest and his value is concentrated in the peripheral categories.

Khaman Maluach has the clearest path of any young big

Maluach was the 10th pick in the 2025 draft and barely played as a rookie, appearing in 46 games and averaging roughly nine minutes. That non-existent rookie season is the entire reason he is available late, and it is the wrong thing to weight.

The Summer League line is what changed the picture: 19.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals per game on 53.2 percent shooting. Summer League production should always be discounted heavily, but a 2.0 block and 12.8 rebound average is a signal about physical tools rather than about competition quality.

The opportunity piece is the real driver. With Mark Williams expected to miss a substantial chunk of the season, Maluach has a genuine path to the starting job in Phoenix. He is going undrafted in most leagues, which means he belongs on a watchlist and, in deeper formats, on a bench spot.

The honest framing: Maluach is a speculative add rather than a projection. If he wins the starting job out of camp, he is a top-100 player immediately on blocks and rebounds alone. If he does not, he costs you a late pick.

The rest of the late-round center board

Beyond those two, the names worth tracking are Mitchell Robinson, Nic Claxton, Day'Ron Sharpe and Hannes Steinbach. Each fits the same template: a big man whose value climbed this offseason because of a rotation change, and whose draft cost has not caught up.

The common thread across all of them is that they win one or two categories decisively rather than contributing broadly. That makes them ideal pieces for a build that has already established its guard categories, and poor fits for a roster that needs balance.

Robinson and Claxton are the safest of the group on a per-minute basis and the least safe on availability. Sharpe and Steinbach are the inverse: lower production ceilings with fewer questions about whether they will be on the floor.

How to build around these picks

The strategic point is that center is the position where punting works best. A roster that concedes free throw percentage can take the blocks-and-rebounds bigs without paying the usual cost, because the biggest downside of most late-round centers is that they shoot poorly from the line.

That is why Ware is more valuable than his raw ranking suggests in the right build. A center who blocks shots, rebounds, shoots well from the field and makes threes is rare, and he does not carry the free throw penalty that most of his positional peers do.

The inverse construction also works. If you spend early picks on elite free throw shooters at guard, you can absorb a Maluach-type big later without damaging the category.

The Verdexed angle

Our model weights opportunity above production rate at this stage of the calendar, because production rate is stable and opportunity is not. The two players above sit at the top of the opportunity-change list at their position: one changed teams into a rotation with open minutes, the other is the direct beneficiary of a five-month injury to the incumbent starter.

The model's broader read on the 2026-27 center market is that it is thin at the top and unusually deep in the middle. That argues against reaching for a center early. If the position's replacement level is high, the correct approach is to take your bigs late and spend early capital where the drop-off between tiers is steepest.

What to do on draft night

Take Ware in the middle rounds in category leagues and let him fall in points leagues. Draft Maluach with a final-round pick or grab him off waivers in the first week if someone else does, and be prepared to cut him if the Phoenix rotation news goes the other way.

Above all, do not pay up at center. The evidence from the last several drafts is that the position produces more usable late-round fantasy contributors than any other, and this year's rotation churn has produced more of them than usual. Spend your early picks on the players nobody can replace and fill this position with the ones everyone can.