Week 1 opens with a thin Tuesday board, and Sacramento’s backcourt is already taking a major hit. Ben Simmons has torn his Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season, ending his comeback attempt with the Kings before it could get rolling.
The Kings are expected to look outside the building for another ball-handler, particularly with Malik Monk managing an ankle issue. Kevin Porter Jr., waived by Milwaukee on Monday, is one free-agent name in the mix and becomes a speculative add in deeper formats if Sacramento moves quickly.
Quick facts
- Tuesday’s opener has three games, beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
- Thursday has only two games, making Thunder and 76ers players useful streaming targets.
- Philadelphia is the lone team scheduled for four Week 1 games.
- New Orleans, Chicago and Charlotte each play Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
- Boston at Detroit, Philadelphia at New York and Oklahoma City at San Antonio make up Tuesday’s slate.
Los Angeles Lakers forward-center Sandro Mamukelashvili enters the season with a real path to minutes after signing a four-year, $52 million deal in the summer. Whether he starts beside Walker Kessler or works as a reserve, the Lakers have a rotation role waiting for him.
Mamukelashvili posted 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 made 3-pointers across 80 games with Toronto last season, shooting 52.3 percent. In five preseason outings for Los Angeles, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes while hitting 2.6 triples per night on 54.2 percent shooting from deep.
Jeremiah Fears is another guard with an opening. The New Orleans Pelicans have not locked in their starting group, and Fears started during preseason when Dejounte Murray sat because of a toe injury.
Fears led the Pelicans at 13.3 points per preseason game, adding 3.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.8 3-pointers in just 19.7 minutes. He played all 82 games as a rookie and produced 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 combined steals and blocks in 25.8 minutes; a larger early-season workload would put points, perimeter shooting, assists and steals on the table. New Orleans gets three games from Wednesday through Saturday.
Isaiah Jackson won the Clippers’ starting center spot over Brook Lopez in camp. Jackson averaged 19.4 minutes across three preseason games, nearly double Lopez’s 10.2-minute average, while Yanic Konan Niederhäuser will be sidelined by a foot injury at the start of the season.
Jackson’s preseason return was seven points, 4.3 rebounds, two assists and 1.3 steals-plus-blocks, though three turnovers stood out from a player with a career average of 0.88 giveaways. The thin Los Angeles frontcourt gives him a runway for rebounds and rim protection if his minutes hold.
Chicago’s center situation has put Jalen Smith in the first unit throughout preseason. Nic Claxton’s hamstring issue is expected to keep him out for at least two weeks, while Zach Collins also has been dealing with an injury.
Smith averaged 11 points and 5.8 rebounds in 17 preseason minutes per game, shooting 51.7 percent overall and making two 3-pointers per night at a 47.1 percent rate. Last season, he put up 10.2 points, 6.7 boards and 1.5 made threes in 20.7 minutes, giving Chicago a stretch-big option during its Wednesday-Friday-Saturday run.
Dennis Schröder may be the short-term lead guard in Charlotte after arriving from Cleveland in the Tre Mann trade. Coby White and Kon Knueppel will both miss the beginning of the season, with no return timetable set for either player, leaving rookie Christian Anderson as the other primary guard option.
Schröder’s four preseason games were quiet statistically — 4.8 points and 2.8 assists in 18.8 minutes — but a larger regular-season workload should give the veteran a chance to supply 3-pointers, points and assists. He also brings a free-throw percentage above 80 percent for managers needing backcourt depth.
Leonard Miller has forced his way into Chicago’s rotation conversation. He paced the Bulls with 16.4 preseason points per game on 62.0 percent shooting, along with 6.4 rebounds, two assists, one steal and two 3-pointers in 19.7 minutes.
His 26-point, seven-rebound bench performance against Denver helped him move ahead of Noa Essengue and Patrick Williams in the pecking order. Miller averaged only 7.8 points in 15.6 minutes last season, so he remains more of a deep-league add, but his camp play makes him a player to monitor closely.
Oklahoma City guard Jared McCain fits the early-week streaming window. The Thunder play Tuesday at San Antonio and Thursday against Denver, the two lightest slates on the calendar, though Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace are stronger Thunder targets if available.
McCain averaged 12.8 points and 3.3 made 3-pointers in 18 preseason minutes. His shooting should keep him near a 20-minute role, offering a short-term points-and-threes option with modest assist expectations in nine-category and roto formats.
The Week 1 calendar
Tuesday features Boston at Detroit, Philadelphia at New York and Oklahoma City at San Antonio. Thursday brings Cleveland to Philadelphia and Denver to Oklahoma City. The volume arrives Wednesday with 11 games and Friday with 12, creating a lineup crunch later in the week.
The 76ers have four games: Tuesday at the Knicks, Thursday against Cleveland, Saturday versus Milwaukee and Sunday against Detroit. That schedule gives Philadelphia the clearest volume edge in the opening week.
Oklahoma City has three games, with two landing on the sparse Tuesday-Thursday stretch. The Knicks also play three times; New York’s Tuesday meeting with Philadelphia and Sunday matchup against Orlando are the best streaming entry points.
