Fantasy Basketball 2024: Power forward tiers for all drafts breaks down the elite options at the position

With each passing year, the NBA has become a more fluid league, especially when it comes to the positional side of things. Gone are the days where there were five defined positions on the court. Now, it's more and more common to see teams using lineups with three guards and two big men, or potentially one guard, three forwards and a rim protector. Among this new wave of "positionless" basketball, the one position that has been impacted most negatively is the power forward role.

When thinking about a power forward, many used to think about someone like Tim Duncan or Karl Malone. Nowadays, power forwards are often stronger, shorter forwards who can play in the perimeter, or taller players with above-average athleticism. The fluidity at the position makes it tough to rank power forwards into tiers, but we have divided the best fours in the league into five different tiers. Read on to find out which category your favorite player falls under.

Elite Options

There are very few elite power forwards in the NBA nowadays. In fact, there's a strong argument to say that there wouldn't be any elite power forwards in today's game if the likes of Duncan, Malone or Charles Barkley were still playing. But the game has been evolving, and in today's NBA ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, we can find three players who can be considered "elite" when mentioning power forwards. These are Jayson Tatum , Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant .

Antetokounmpo could very well be considered the best of the bunch here, as a two-time MVP winner who averaged 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game in 2023-24. There was some concern that his numbers would regress with Damian Lillard in the mix, but that wasn't the case, and Antetokoumpo could approach the 2024-25 season with a vengeance after the Bucks disappointed in the playoffs last year. Tatum is a close second in this race, and while his numbers aren't quite as flashy, his consistency makes him an elite performer on both ends of the floor. He's the best player for the reigning league champions and is coming off a 2023-24 campaign in which he averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game. That's top-20 value across every format, and fantasy managers likely wouldn't turn heads by selecting him in the first round.

Durant remains an elite player even if he's not the dominant scoring threat he was during his prime years. His usage has reduced a bit, though that's to be expected now that he plays alongside Devin Booker and Bradley Beal , but there are few -- if any -- more efficient scorers than Durant in today's NBA. Injuries have slowed him down as well, but Durant, who played a huge role for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics, averaged 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 blocks per game across 75 regular-season appearances in 2023-24, making it just the second time he's played 70 or more games in his last seven seasons.

Above-Average Tier

Let's go down one step in the power forward hierarchy. We can find a few players who might not be considered elite but who should still be regarded as above-average options who have the ability to anchor a fantasy lineup. These players may not have first- or second-round value, but they're excellent alternatives to produce at a high level and fill the stat sheet regularly. Among this group of players, we can find names such as Karl-Anthony Towns , Paolo Banchero , Kawhi Leonard and Zion Williamson . In most cases, these players could be considered elite, but they have at least one shortcoming that prevents them from being listed in the top tier.

There's a strong case to say each of these players is better than the other. Towns remains one of the best big men in the league, and he's becoming a well-rounded offensive machine. Last year, he averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 50.4 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from three and 87.3 percent from the charity stripe, with the latter two being elite numbers for a big man. Leonard is perhaps the most well-rounded player of the group, and even though he remains an elite scorer and defender, his struggles to stay healthy conspire against him. Leonard eclipsed the 65-game mark in 2023-24, something he hadn't done since 2016-17, but he didn't play in the Olympics and remains a huge question mark for the upcoming campaign despite coach Tyronn Lue saying the star forward will be ready for training camp.

Williamson and Banchero can be considered two of the future faces of the NBA. Williamson already has superstar status, and even though health issues have conspired against him, he appeared in a career-high 70 games last year and has been extremely consistent when available, averaging at least 22.0 points and 5.8 rebounds in each of his four seasons in the league. It remains to be seen how Williamson will adjust to having Dejounte Murray at point guard, but it would be shocking if he's not the go-to player for the Pelicans in 2024-25. As for Banchero, he's on the fast track to superstardom after he was named the Rookie of the Year in 2022-23 and was selected for an All-Star Game for the first time in his career in 2023-24. He averaged 22.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and a combined 1.5 steals-plus-blocks in his second year in the league, and while progress isn't linear, he'll likely continue to develop for the Magic , where he's the team's go-to player by a wide margin.

Starter-Level Tier

Maybe a few rounds have passed and you haven't selected a starter for the power forward position yet. The options in this third tier remain very good, but in this group, you're going to find players who have at least one glaring hole in their game. Maybe it's an inability to stay healthy, a lack of efficiency, or perhaps they simply need to keep improving and developing their game. These players are solid starting options, but they're nowhere near as good as the players mentioned in the first two tiers. Among this list, we can find the likes of Evan Mobley , Jalen Williams , Julius Randle , Kyle Kuzma and Jalen Johnson .

Kuzma is an above-average scorer, but he plays o a rebuilding team and tends to struggle with efficiency, although he could be trending in the right direction after averaging 22.2 points per game and shooting 46.3 percent from the field in 2023-24 -- both career-high marks. Randle is another proven player, but he's struggled to stay healthy in the past, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him operate as the Knicks ' third-best option on offense behind All-Star guard Jalen Brunson and recent acquisition Mikal Bridges . Randle averaged 24.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game in 2023-24, but he was limited to just 46 games after sustaining a shoulder injury that cut his season short on Jan. 27.

Williams and Mobley are young players with plenty of upside, but they operate as complementary options on their teams and still need to develop their games further to be considered bonafide stars. However, it's worth mentioning that Williams is on a quicker path to stardom than Mobley after averaging 19.1 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game for the Thunder during his second professional season in 2023-24.

Finally, Johnson was one of the most surprising stories of success in the NBA last season, but the forward plays on a rebuilding Hawks team that could look very different once the season progresses -- especially after the Dejounte Murray trade and the ongoing rumors regarding the departure of Trae Young . There's no doubt Johnson can produce, as he averaged a career-high 16.0 points per game in 2023-24, but it remains to be seen if he can sustain that production for a second consecutive season in which opposing teams will have more of a plan to stop him. Johnson also averaged 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in 2023-24, so he posted career-best numbers in categories outside of scoring.

The Best of the Rest

Let's start by saying that the players listed in this tier are not below-average power forwards by the current NBA standards. Instead, they sit in a "below-average" tier due to several reasons. Maybe it's due to an offensive scheme setting, or perhaps it's because they don't stand out in any particular category. It could also be because their fantasy upside isn't as high as the options presented in the three tiers above. These are very good options to operate as starting power forwards on your fantasy rosters, but you could certainly do better with any of the options in the upper echelons. On this list, we can find three players in particular: Pascal Siakam , Draymond Green and Aaron Gordon .

Siakam could easily be considered in the third tier, but his offensive role is unclear since the Pacers also have Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner as reliable go-to options on offense, and Siakam doesn't have the same dominant role and usage rate he had when he was playing for the Raptors . Gordon is also a secondary option on the Nuggets , but his case is even more complicated, as he has to share the court with Nikola Jokic -- a three-time MVP winner -- and Jamal Murray . Essentially, Gordon competes with Michael Porter to operate as the third option in Denver, and that role limits Gordon's upside considerably.

Green is a special case. He's a player who can do everything well and fill the stat sheet on a regular basis, but he's not much of a scorer, and his deficiencies on the offensive side of the ball have only become more noticeable with each passing season. He averaged 8.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists and a combined 1.9 steals-plus-blocks last year. Those are decent numbers on the surface, but Green has averaged single-digit points in six consecutive seasons. Simply put, the format of the fantasy league is what would dictate Green's value, as he's far more reasonable to roster in category-based leagues rather than points-based formats, where he doesn't score enough to justify a roster spot in most formats.

Roster-Filling Options

Finally, we can find a few players who will deliver decent production most of the time but shouldn't be trusted to anchor a fantasy lineup at the power forward position. They're good enough to remain rostered across all formats, but they would be better suited for a utility role, at least from a fantasy perspective. In most of these cases, these players are either secondary options in their respective offensive schemes or play on rebuilding teams, meaning they're not a priority in the organization's short-term or long-term picture. Some players who fit this criteria are Keegan Murray , P.J. Washington and Jerami Grant .

Murray is far more valuable in dynasty formats than standard leagues, and he could've easily been placed a few tiers higher a year ago, but DeMar DeRozan's arrival changes things for him in Sacramento. Essentially, Murray will now be forced to operate as the Kings ' fourth offensive option behind Domantas Sabonis , De'Aaron Fox , and DeRozan, so it's reasonable to expect a regression in Murray's numbers. Washington has a similar scenario in Dallas, as he'll slot behind Luka Doncic , Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson in the Mavericks ' pecking order on offense. However, he's not nearly as talented as Murray on offense.

Grant is the most talented option of the trio, but it remains to be seen just how involved he'll be on a Trail Blazers team that will rely on developing its young stars such as Shaedon Sharpe , Anfernee Simons and Scoot Henderson . Grant would definitely be more valuable in another scenario, as he can still deliver value statistically. The end of the 2023-24 campaign backs that up, as Grant played just seven times after the All-Star break, but he still averaged 21.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game across 54 appearances.