Last Updated on February 7, 2026 1:41 am by Mike Passador | Published: February 7, 2026

In the aftermath of the trade deadline, it’s all about old faces in new places.

Friday’s biggest debut, literally and figuratively, was Nikola Vucevic in Boston. He came off the bench but did end up leading the center group in playing time, posting 11 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals in 28 minutes. The Celtics opted to start both Luka Garza and Neemias Queta tonight but Garza was an afterthought with two points and three rebounds in 10 minutes. Queta remains the biggest threat to Vucevic’s middle-round standing; he had two points and 11 rebounds in 22 minutes. The Celtics can go offense vs. defense with Vuc and Queta, but 28 minutes after no practice time is a strong first showing. It might not be cruise control to the top-50 like we’re used to but Vucevic doesn’t look to be in serious danger — after one night, anyway.

The Grizzlies had a few new players to work in and Zach Kleiman’s pregame media availability hinted at the trouble we saw play out in the game. Memphis is changing the direction of the franchise — whether or not Ja Morant (elbow) plays this season is a “medical decision” now — and that means we’re going to see the Grizzlies lose a lot of games. Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. made their Grizzlies debuts and Scotty Pippen Jr. (left foot surgery) was available for the first time all season. Memphis had 10 players take the court (Kyle Anderson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were scratched) and all 10 played between 20 and 28 minutes. That’s just not enough for most guys to be relevant in 12-team formats, but players like GG Jackson, Pippen, Hendricks, Clayton, Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells all have a shot.

The big hurdle here is the PG group, as Memphis has Pippen, Ty Jerome (out tonight for injury management), Cam Spencer (who was their top performer tonight), Clayton and even Javon Small in the mix. That’s not counting a potential Morant cameo, either. A flat rotation like this is going to prevent any one tree from getting too tall compared to the rest of the forest but we’ll be watching to see how this situation develops.

Sadly, the debuts for Ayo Dosunmu in Minnesota and Ivica Zubac in Indiana had to wait. In the case of Zubac, it may take a while. Rick Carlisle revealed that the Pacers found an ankle injury that the big man had been playing through, and with the Pacers in no hurry to win games we might see Zubac miss a bit of time.

Top Pickups

This is the “general must-add” section regardless of the slate. If these players are being overlooked and remain chilling on the waiver wire, consider adding them to your squad.

Brook Lopez (10%)

Lopez started the first game of the post-Zubac era and the Clippers don’t seem like they’re shutting it down for the year — they simply knew that James Harden was gone and the deal they got for Zubac was too good to pass up. While Lopez is not guaranteed to hold down big minutes the rest of the way, Yanic Konan Niederhauser (illness) left this game after just six minutes and Isaiah Jackson won’t make his team debut until Tuesday. It’s looking good right now. Lopez should be added in all 12-team leagues on the back of his 15 points (5-of-12 FG, 3-of-4 FT), nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, three blocks and two 3-pointers in 36 minutes.

Jarace Walker (20%)

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