Isaiah Roby

The 45th overall pick in 2019, Roby spent most of his rookie season in the G League, where he put up modest numbers. So, it was a surprise last season when he started 34 of his 61 appearances for the Thunder. The second-year big averaged 8.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 combined steals-plus-blocks in 23.4 minutes, leading to a per-game fantasy rank of 181. There's nothing to point to that Roby excels at, though his defensive numbers were solid. Still, it's not clear what Roby's pathway to a legitimate starting role is aside from potentially becoming a better three-point shooter -- he went 32-for-109 (29.4%) last season. That said, he doesn't exactly have real competition in the frontcourt. Derrick Favors is on the roster, but how much will he really play with OKC in a rebuild? Mike Muscala is also not an everyday player for OKC, and Darius Bazley is presumably in the other starting frontcourt spot. Fantasy managers in deep leagues can take a gamble on Roby, but should not expect anything to come from it. Given how the Thunder have operated in the past, it wouldn't be surprising for them to be already searching for Roby's replacement so the organization doesn't have to even consider paying the 23-year-old when his contract is up.

Selected with the 45th overall pick in the 2019 Draft, Roby will head to Dallas for his rookie campaign. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior out of Nebraska averaged 11.8 points on 9.3 shots, 6.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals in 31.3 minutes last season. Arguably his best in-conference performance occurred during a regular-season win over Penn State, where Roby racked up 22 points on nine shots, 11 rebounds, four blocks, two steals and one assist. Roby continued to show off his defensive versatility during five summer league appearances, averaging 8.8 points on 8.4 shots, 5.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 steals in 27.6 minutes. His best pathway to minutes on the Mavericks as a rookie is a possible backup power forward, but it seems unlikely he'll see consistent minutes unless there is a significant frontcourt injury -- maybe multiple.