The Week Ahead: 2026 Kickoff

Last Updated on October 19, 2026 6:05 pm by Mike Passador | Published: October 19, 2026

Would you look at that… it’s time for another NBA season. The Knicks are raising a banner tomorrow while the NBA is trying something new with an afternoon tip to open the season, and hope springs eternal across all 30 markets. Fantasy managers have set their lineups and the games are about to begin. All your draft prep has been put to good use and it’s time to go out and conquer the season.

We’re here to provide you insight and advice all season long to stay on top of the competition. You know the drill between our industry-best blurb feed that gives you all the fastest updates and most accurate analysis for the entire league, our daily, weekly and monthly articles that will help you navigate any challenge from 30-team leagues, points leagues, trade talks, short-term pickups and everything in between. We’ve got some amazing new tools for you to use this year that will put everything in one place and make your decision-making process as smooth as can be and we’re beyond excited to share that with you.

This, right here, is The Week Ahead. For the uninitiated, it’s our preview of the week to come in the NBA. We’ll cover hot topics, identify a couple of pickups you should be making and then cover the schedule for the week, which is of particular importance to anyone playing head-to-head leagues. You need to maximize your schedule and we need to maximize your time. In that spirit, welcome back or welcome in, but let’s get to it.

Injury Rundown

While the opening of a new season is generally a happy time, not everyone has been dealt the best hand. Injuries are already playing a part in fantasy managers’ lineups so we’re going to quickly highlight the ones that might be relevant to you in standard leagues and shout out the players that can benefit in the short term. You don’t have to go out and make moves just yet unless you’re rostering some of these injured players yourself, but you can start to keep an eye on the waiver wire to see how these initial replacements perform.

Steph Curry left the Warriors’ open practice after appearing to injure his knee on Sunday. The Warriors later announced that it was actually an ankle problem, and on Monday it sounds like we’re in the clear. Curry is tentatively expected to play on Wednesday as we dodge our first bullet of the fantasy season.

Brandon Ingram has no timeline to return from his partially torn right Achilles. He’ll be LA’s leading scorer whenever he’s up to speed and unfortunately this mess doesn’t look like it’ll yield any 12-team options in the interim. Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn feel like the winners in terms of playing time but it’s just going to put even more on the plate of Darius Garland. There’s almost no proven scoring depth on this roster, and even with Ingram it was minimal.

Kon Knueppel (left hamstring) remains out without a timeline for return but has been progressing towards “some contact” as of the weekend. That’s… good? Maybe? Better than no progress, at least. The most obvious winner here is Grayson Allen, who was no stranger to must-start value last year. He’s worth scooping in 12-team leagues for a short-term engagement that could end up lasting for a bit. That’s how it was last year, and then Allen ended up standing on his own two feet for good value until the injury bug got him.

Coby White remains out indefinitely with his left calf strain and anyone who had White last season when calf problems delayed his start will feel a chill run through them. White never got going last year and hopefully he’s not in for a repeat of that. The Hornets already had questionable PG depth before White got hurt, and that now leaves Dennis Schroder in the big chair for the time being. He’s not a must-add in 12-team leagues but you can at least consider him if you need points and assists.

Earlier today the Bulls announced that Nicolas Claxton will be reevaluated in another two weeks after tweaking his hamstring in training camp. Claxton already missed the entire preseason and another two-week evaluation after his first two-week evaluation isn’t the best news ever. Jalen Smith should handle the center spot for now but small ball will also give Leonard Miller a huge chance to cement his place in the rotation.

Jusuf Nurkic will miss at least the first two weeks of the season and likely a few more with a partial plantar plate tear in his right foot. He wasn’t a great 12-team option outside of punt builds to begin with but the Jazz seem to want to keep a traditional center in their starting group for the time being. That could put Jaxson Hayes in the mix for deep-league use. He isn’t an overwhelming fantasy option but we saw how he could contribute last season when he overtook Deandre Ayton in LA. Expect rebounds, some blocks and a strong FG% on light volume.

We didn’t expect to be treating Ben Simmons as a fantasy asset at all, only to see his stock skyrocket with the Kings prior to Sunday’s devastating torn Achilles. The Sacramento backcourt is pretty empty beyond Darius Acuff Jr., Zach LaVine and Malik Monk. We’d treat Monk as a speculative add in 12-team leagues but the way the Kings used (or didn’t use) him last year doesn’t inspire confidence. Nique Clifford is worth a look in deeper formats.

Mark Williams is going to miss at least half the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. It’s going to be Oso Ighodaro starting with Khaman Maluach backing him up. Maluach has been the guy riding the wave of fantasy hype but Ighodaro is likely to be getting the lion’s share of minutes. He’s a good add off waivers where available, though you might want to tread carefully if you care about free throw percentage. Otherwise you’ll get good rebounds, passable steals and blocks and sneaky out-of-position assists.

Last but certainly not least, Chet Holmgren didn’t play at all in the preseason. He was spotted at Sunday’s practice at least and the Thunder haven’t really said much about his status yet, so it doesn’t feel like there’s a big absence coming? Things can always change but fantasy managers will want to be watching closely one way or another. If Holmgren has to miss time it’ll give Isaiah Hartenstein an early boost, not that he’s available in 12-team leagues, while also lightening the logjam that eventually spreads down to Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell — again, not that they’re available in standard leagues. Jaylin Williams is the guy you’ll want to watch in deeper formats.

360

One of the coolest things we’ve been working on in the lab is our Ethos360 Dashboard. Check it out, mess around and learn to use it because it’s going to make your life way easier. I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to have stats — both last year’s and this year’s upcoming projections — injury news and notes, recent blurbs and our full Draft Guide player profiles available all in one spot.

There’s a great query tool there as well so you can see players based on all kinds of filters and you can even compare players head-to-head. That dashboard is already a fixture in our work, and it should be a one-stop shop as you work your way through the fantasy season.

Schedule Breakdown

We’re going to use this section to help you plan out your week. This is particularly helpful if your league has a weekly lineup lock, but you can certainly use the information to help steer you in the right direction when it comes to timing your adds and drops. Think of it as your weekly roadmap to getting the most out of your roster spots.

Volume & Distribution

24 teams with 3 games: ATL, BKN, CHA, CHI, DAL, DET, GSW, HOU, IND, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, NOP, NYK, OKC, ORL, SAC, SAS, TOR, UTA, WAS.

5 teams with 2 games: BOS, CLE, DEN, PHX, POR.

1 team with 4 games: PHI. How crazy is it that we’re not even one week into the season and someone already has a clear scheduling edge?

Low traffic days: Tuesday has 3 games. It’s opening day and the league is really spacing it out, giving us a triple-header that starts at 3:00 Eastern. Thursday also has 2 games. These are typically your low-traffic days throughout the year so if you want to get in the habit of scouting those days for streamers, go ahead. Sunday is our other light day this week with 7 games, though depending on your rosters you might not have space to play with.

High traffic days: Wednesday has 11 games and Friday has 12. Saturday has 8 games, so you might be able to squeeze an extra game in there, but frankly if you’re already set on streaming four days into the season, you’re a maniac — and that’s a compliment.

Roster-lock reminder: BOS at DET tips off Tuesday at 3:00 ET. CHI at MIL tips off Friday at 4:00 ET (rescheduled to avoid World Series time conflict).

Back-to-Backs

13 teams with 1 complete Week 1 B2B: ATL, BKN, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, HOU, MIA, MIL, NOP, PHI, SAS, WAS.

The other 17 games have no back-to-backs contained entirely within Fantasy Week 1.

Cross-week B2Bs: Five additional teams begin a B2B on Sunday, October 25 and finish Monday, October 26: IND, MEM, MIN, OKC, UTA.

That means we have a whole bunch of teams involved in a back-to-back of some sort by Sunday, so if you drafted any load management types you’re going to get an early introduction to their regimen.

Monday, October 19: None
Tuesday, October 20: None
Wednesday, October 21: None
Thursday, October 22: None
Friday, October 23: ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, HOU, MIA, MIL, NOP, SAS, WAS all begin a B2B
Saturday, October 24: ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, HOU, MIA, MIL, NOP, SAS, WAS all finish a B2B; BKN and PHI open theirs
Sunday, October 25: BKN, PHI close their B2Bs; IND, MEM, MIN, OKC, UTA start theirs
Monday, October 26 (Week 2): IND, MEM, MIN, OKC, UTA complete a B2B; This is the first half of a B2B for BOS.

Schedule Streaming

Here is every team’s distribution of games this upcoming week:

WED / FRI / SAT: ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, HOU, MIA, MIL, NOP, WAS
WED / FRI / SUN: IND, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIN, ORL, SAC, TOR, UTA
THU / SAT: CLE, DEN
TUE / FRI / SUN: DET, NYK
TUE / FRI: BOS
TUE / FRI / SAT: SAS
TUE / THU / SAT / SUN: PHI
TUE / THU / SUN: OKC
WED / FRI: POR
WED / SAT: PHX
WED / SAT / SUN: BKN

Best Streaming Options

1. Philadelphia – TUE / THU / SAT / SUN: No surprise here but they’re the only four-game team, and they happen to play on all three low-traffic nights. Given the way the TV schedule goes, expect to see lots of Philly on low-traffic nights this season to get that star-power on a national stage. SAT/SUN B2B means monitor Joel Embiid and other workload-sensitive players. Prioritize secure minutes over an assumed fourth appearance.
2. Oklahoma City – TUE / THU / SUN, then MON: Three low-traffic Week 1 appearances, plus a SUN/MON B2B. The best balance of immediate light-night starts and Week 2 carryover.
3. Sacramento – WED / FRI / SUN, then TUE / THU / SAT: Week 1 is ordinary, but adding a King on Sunday can produce four low-traffic appearances over Oct. 25–31. Best schedule-based hold into Week 2.
4. Atlanta – WED / FRI / SAT, then MON / WED / THU: Three games in four days (Wed–Sat), a FRI/SAT B2B and five games in seven days from Friday, Oct. 23. Excellent volume but they do play on more crowded lineup days until Thursday.
5. Minnesota – WED / FRI / SUN, then MON / WED / FRI / SAT: You get a SUN/MON B2B plus five games Oct. 25–31. Strong long-hold volume, but two B2B sets fall inside that seven-day window, not that we see many load management candidates out of the gate.
6. Brooklyn – WED / SAT / SUN, then TUE / FRI: SAT/SUN B2B; three games in four days from Saturday (SAT/SUN/TUE); four in seven days from Wednesday or Saturday. Whether you want to add any of the non-guaranteed Brooklyn producers, however, is another question.
7. Memphis – WED / FRI / SUN, then MON / THU / SAT: SUN/MON B2B; SUN/MON/THU/SAT over seven days, three of those nights low traffic. Strong Sunday transition but lots of unpredictability in this rotation.
8. Detroit and New York – TUE / FRI / SUN, then TUE / WED / FRI: Two light nights in Week 1; SUN/TUE/WED offers a three-in-four sequence. Monitor lineup crowding on Friday.
9. Los Angeles Lakers – WED / FRI / SUN, then TUE / WED / FRI / SUN: Four in seven days from Wednesday, with two low nights in that window; five games Oct. 27–Nov. 2 for managers thinking further ahead.
10. Cleveland and Denver – THU / SAT, then MON / WED: Only two in Week 1 but a Thursday stream plus four games Oct. 22–28. Avoid overrating the current week in daily category leagues. Again, you shouldn’t need to start streaming already.
11. Indiana and Utah – WED / FRI / SUN, then MON / WED: SUN/MON B2B and three games SUN–WED. Good teams to inspect for instant Week 2 transition, especially once we get some clarity about their rotations.
12. Orlando – WED / FRI / SUN, then WED / FRI / SUN: Sunday light night; three games next week with no Week 2 B2B in those six fixtures.

Streaming Start Dates

Tuesday: PHI – TUE/THU/SAT/SUN: 4 games in 6 days, three low-traffic. OKC – TUE/THU/SUN/MON: 4 in 7, all three Week 1 light-night games.

Wednesday: ATL, CHA, CHI, DAL, GSW, HOU, MIA, MIL, NOP, WAS – WED/FRI/SAT (3 in 4). BKN – WED/SAT/SUN/TUE (4 in 7, two light nights). SAC or LAL – WED/FRI/SUN/TUE (4 in 7).

Thursday: PHI – THU/SAT/SUN/WED (4 in 7, 3 in 4 through Sunday). OKC – THU/SUN/MON/WED (4 in 7). CLE or DEN – THU/SAT/MON/WED (4 in 7).

Friday: ATL – FRI/SAT/MON/WED/THU (5 in 7). SAC – FRI/SUN/TUE/THU (4 in 7, 3 light dates). DET/NYK/LAL – FRI/SUN/TUE/WED (4 in 6).

Saturday: BKN – SAT/SUN/TUE/FRI (4 in 7, 3 in 4 through Tuesday). PHI – SAT/SUN/WED/FRI (4 in 7). ATL – SAT/MON/WED/THU (4 in 6). CLE – SAT/MON/WED/THU (4 in 6).

Sunday: MIN – SUN/MON/WED/FRI/SAT (5 in 7). SAC – SUN/TUE/THU/SAT (4 in 7, all four low-traffic nights). MEM – SUN/MON/THU/SAT (4 in 7, three light). IND/UTA/OKC also have SUN/MON B2B.

Early Waiver Check

We’ll have a full Working the Wire coming for you on Wednesday, so sit tight for a more in-depth breakdown, but why not shout out a trio of players you might want to consider adding right now? We can’t imagine most managers are eager to wheel and deal just yet because everyone is still totally in love with their draft, but IL moves and bottom-roster changeouts will create space that you can still capitalize on. These three players may have slipped through the draft cracks and have some value right out of the gate.

Jalen Smith

Smith should be Chicago’s starting center for at least a couple of weeks. He has been more frustrating than productive in recent seasons but this is still a great chance and you can’t write him off. If you have a spot to play with, Smith is worth adding for rebounds, blocks and maybe some 3-pointers as well.

Mitchell Robinson

We anticipate that Robinson will be among the most-added players of the first week once people realize that he’s likely going to start for the Celtics. His playing time may never exceed 26 minutes, if that, but a starting player with a signature skill on a high-profile team is exactly the sort to get scooped up. If you need blocks, rebounds, steals and a FG% boost (and don’t care about FT%), you might as well try and cut the line.

Davion Mitchell

Mitchell was one of the hotter pickups at the start of last season too and the Heat are actually thinner in the backcourt than they were back then. Assists are hard to find and Mitchell is going to be a hot add once he delivers a couple games of six or seven dimes. If you are prioritizing assists, Mitchell should not be on waivers.

Enjoy the Ride

The rush of draft day will carry most players through the first couple of weeks of the season, we’re going to take a mile-high view rather than get into the nitty gritty of timing your moves or sifting through waivers just yet.

You should love your team coming out of the draft. The whole point of this is to have fun and ideally you have a team full of guys you like and want to root for. You’re going to be attached, which helps, but the first couple of weeks are a good time to be patient. I can’t tell you that these early results mean less than matchups later in the season — they aren’t weighted in the standings — but you might benefit from a cautious approach these first couple of weeks. A lot of established players are not up to full speed yet and it will take time for teams to settle into new rotation patterns and build chemistry. What you see early on is not necessarily what you will get for most of the season, and with about half the league feeling like they should be competing for a title this year, it will be a long road as teams tweak and tweak and tweak again.

Don’t fall so in love that you think the team you drafted is totally unassailable, though. You’ll have to make moves eventually and missing out on early hits could cause you to sink in the standings, but you also don’t want to wheel and deal like a madman and turn over a huge chunk of your roster before you get to see who those guys actually are. For every player who starts hot and stays hot all year, becoming a game-changing pickup, there are three times as many who fizzle out after a few strong games or a couple weeks. You can certainly ride those hot hands all year long, but be careful not to drop anyone who has legitimate long-term appeal. Sometimes you’ll get burned by not picking someone up, and you’ll also get burned by dropping someone for a flash in the pan. It happens. Approach things logically and gamble where you feel like it. Just know that you’re going to get some wrong.

At the end of the day, you should trust the work you’ve done throughout draft season. Do not throw all that homework into the trash after a rocky week or two. Try to relax, appreciate that basketball is back, and enjoy the ride. We’re here to help you all season; let us do a lot of the dirty work and remember that fantasy basketball is supposed to be fun. Get a collection of guys who fit together and that you want to root for. If you can do that, the rest is gravy.

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Mike Passador

Mike graduated from Boston University’s Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

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