Every NBA opening week makes the same promise: one big line goes up, a player gets added everywhere overnight, and half the league burns a waiver claim on a box score. Most teams have now played three games. That’s still a tiny sample, but it’s enough to separate players whose role stuck from players who had one good night. Here is how the most popular Week 1 adds look heading into Week 2, sorted by what to do with them.
Hold With Confidence
Jalen Smith, Bulls
Smith has started all three games at center with Nic Claxton out with a left hamstring strain. He’s given Chicago 15 points and 8 rebounds in Toronto, then 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 steals in Milwaukee, then 14 points against Washington. That’s 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds a night, with his minutes going from 19 in the opener to just over 24 in each of the last two.
Smith also helps in categories most backup-turned-starting bigs hurt. He’s made four threes in the last two games and is 7-of-8 from the line on the season. Claxton was set to be reevaluated about two weeks after the Oct. 19-20 update, and coach Tiago Splitter has called that an estimate. So the realistic return is early November at the soonest. Chicago plays three times this week (at Boston, vs. New York, at Boston). Smith should be on rosters in most 12-team leagues until Claxton is actually back on the court. The one weak spot is his 3-rebound game against Washington, which shows how much his floor depends on his matchup.
Grayson Allen, Hornets
Allen was the opening-night bench shooter everyone chased: 21 points and 5 threes in Brooklyn. Unlike most one-game wonders, he’s backed it up. After 11 points in Charlotte’s 47-point loss to Atlanta, where nobody’s minutes meant much, he played 34 minutes against Miami and scored 20 points with 4 threes and 5 assists. Through three games he’s averaging 17.3 points with 12 made threes and 10-of-11 free-throw shooting.
His role depends on who’s hurt. Kon Knueppel (left hamstring) and Coby White (left calf) have both missed all three games, and coach Charles Lee says there’s still no timeline. That keeps the wing minutes open. Charlotte also gets four games this week (vs. Washington, at Detroit, at Washington, vs. Philadelphia), one of the better schedules in the league. For anyone short on threes, Allen is the best shooting add available. Expect his value to drop once either of those two returns.
Situational Holds
Jaxson Hayes, Jazz
Hayes lost his starting job after one game. Will Hardy moved Ace Bailey into the lineup against New Orleans, saying he wanted to balance the two units. That shouldn’t scare off fantasy managers. Hayes played 26 minutes in both games: 6 blocks and 2 steals as a starter in Memphis, then 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting off the bench against the Pelicans. Hardy has also said he likes Hayes in pick-and-roll with Isaiah Collier on the second unit, which means the bench role looks planned, not like a demotion.
Jusuf Nurkic’s partial plantar plate tear in his right foot came with a reevaluation set for roughly four weeks after the Oct. 8 diagnosis. Until then, Hayes is a blocks-and-percentages specialist for deeper category leagues. His free-throw shooting is the cost: he went 1-of-4 in the opener.
Isaiah Jackson, Clippers
Tyronn Lue picked Jackson over Brook Lopez as the starting center, and the job has held for two games. His lines changed shape a lot. He scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in only 15 minutes against Sacramento, then played nearly 28 minutes against the Lakers with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. The second game matters more. A starting center getting close to 28 minutes and contributing defensive stats has a stable floor even on a low-scoring night. He’s a worthwhile hold in category leagues, especially if you need steals and blocks without a free-throw hit. He hasn’t attempted many free throws yet.
Cooling Off
Moussa Diabate, Hornets
Diabate had the best opening night of anyone on this list: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in nearly 34 minutes in Brooklyn. Since then he’s scored 5 points in 21 minutes against Atlanta and 4 points in 22 minutes against Miami. He’s still starting, and he’s still getting steals (eight through three games). But a center playing 21 to 22 minutes without blocks and without much scoring is hard to justify in standard leagues.
The opener came from a 34-minute workload that hasn’t returned. In leagues with fewer than 14 teams, he’s a drop candidate. Deeper-league managers can hold through Charlotte’s four-game week to see whether the minutes come back. Steals alone don’t pay off when the playing time isn’t there.
Gui Santos, Warriors
The case for Santos was simple. Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with an undisclosed health issue, so Santos was supposed to get about 30 minutes a night. That hasn’t happened. He’s played 24.7, 19.9 and 23.3 minutes, started two of three games, and scored 12, 5 and 7 points while going 7-of-17 from the field. Golden State is 0-3, and the bigger role never materialized. Santos can be dropped in standard leagues. If his minutes settle around 30, he’ll be easy to pick back up.
The Injury Pivot: Replacing Yves Missi
Missi was one of the most popular center adds after opening night, with 13 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks against Indiana. Two nights later in Utah, Zion Williamson fell into his left leg in the second quarter. An MRI showed a left knee bone bruise from the hyperextension, and the Pelicans have given no timetable. Managers who used a waiver claim on him should treat him as an IL stash, not a starter.
The replacement is Derik Queen, not the player who replaced Missi in the lineup. DeAndre Jordan started at center in Denver and gave New Orleans 9 points and 9 rebounds in about 20 minutes. Queen came off the bench in the overtime loss and had 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting with 8 rebounds in 24-plus minutes. Queen has quietly been productive all week: 10 points and 10 rebounds in the opener, 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in Utah, then the Denver game. That’s 13.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, with 14-of-15 free-throw shooting. Jordan is a short-term stopgap at 38 years old. Queen is the frontcourt player most likely to absorb Missi’s minutes for as long as Missi is out, and he’s the add here.
One Name Still Worth Watching
Keaton Wagler’s numbers so far, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in his debut, then 13 points against the Lakers, look like a rookie with a real role in a shorthanded Clippers backcourt. The concern is efficiency: he went 2-of-8 from the field in the second game and got his points on 7-of-9 free throws. He’s a fine bench stash in points leagues. In category leagues, wait to see whether he can shoot well enough to start for you.
The Week 2 Bottom Line
- Add or hold: Jalen Smith, Grayson Allen, Derik Queen
- Hold in deeper category leagues: Jaxson Hayes, Isaiah Jackson
- Stash: Yves Missi (IL slot only)
- Drop in standard leagues: Moussa Diabate, Gui Santos
The pattern from Week 1: the adds that held up got their value from a clear role, such as a starting job while someone is injured or a shooter on a short-handed team. The ones that faded got it from a single big minutes total. When you look at an opening-week line, check the minutes before the points.
See today's NBA lines on DFS Lines, each one set against the player's last ten games.