Shaun Deeb Is the Most Expensive Player in $25K Fantasy. 441 Teams Paid Up.

Shaun Deeb costs $94 to draft in the $25K Fantasy, making him the most expensive chalk in a 5,015-team contest, and 441 teams paid it anyway.

That $94 price tag isn't just the highest on any roster. It's 73% more than the next most expensive player in the top-owned tier, Scott Seiver at $54.40. And Deeb's 231.5 average fantasy score is the highest among the eight most-rostered players, which means the people paying that premium are actually getting production. The question for the rest of the field: is $94 worth it, or is the crowd overpaying for name-brand cachet?

The Price-to-Production Math

Deeb's 231.5 average fantasy score is the highest among the eight most-rostered players, which means the people paying that premium are actually getting production.

The ODB isotonic curve, which maps expected fantasy points against draft price, helps answer that question. At Deeb's price tier, the curve expects roughly 152 points (based on the bust line for similarly priced players like Michael Moncek at $87.80, who returned just 68.8 points against a 151.9 expectation). Deeb is clearing that bar by a wide margin.

For context, Calvin Anderson costs $22.50 and is producing 217.7 average points with the fifth-best value delta in the entire contest at +145.2 over his expected output. Anderson's ownership sits at 8.5%, nearly matching Deeb's 8.8%. If you're building on a budget, Anderson offers comparable scoring at a quarter of the salary.

But salary-cap contests don't reward efficiency alone. They reward ceiling. And Deeb's ceiling in the second half of a WSOP summer is the reason 441 teams locked him in.

Why the Crowd Is Betting on Deeb Now

The $25K Fantasy contest at 25kfantasy.com rewards total points scored across the WSOP, and the summer's marquee events are still ahead. Deeb's profile is built for the back half: he historically fires mixed games, PLO, and high rollers, all of which carry higher buy-ins and deeper structures that translate into outsized fantasy scoring.

At 8.8% ownership, Deeb is the second-most-owned player behind Patrick Leonard (9.7%, 488 teams). But Leonard's average price is $31.60 with an average score of 97 points. That's a fraction of Deeb's production. Leonard is the high-floor, low-cost value play. Deeb is the high-ceiling, high-cost bet that your team will separate from the pack if he runs deep in a $10K or $25K event.

The risk is real, though. The bust side of the ledger shows what happens when expensive players don't deliver. Blaz Zerjav, drafted at $57, returned just 8 points against a 104.5-point expectation. Moncek at $87.80 returned 68.8 points. At $94, Deeb has the farthest to fall if his summer stalls.

The Contrarian Case

If you're fading Deeb, the math points you toward two roster-construction paths.

First, the value smash: Naoya Kihara costs $1.20 and has produced 388.1 average points, the highest value delta in the contest at +355.1 over expectation. He's on just 1.9% of teams. Koray Aldemir at $18.10 has returned 301.1 points with a +231.1 delta, owned by 5.6% of the field.

Second, the reallocation play: skip Deeb's $94 tag, roster Anderson at $22.50 and Ari Engel at $12.40 (8.6% owned, 94.4 average score), and pocket $59 in salary to spend elsewhere.

Both paths have merit. But 441 teams looked at the numbers and decided Deeb is worth the premium. With the biggest events of the summer still on the schedule, those teams are betting that the most expensive player in the contest is also the most likely to win them $25,000.