October 22 Fantasy Basketball Takeaways and Possible Waiver Wire Pickups | Al Horford, Miles McBride, Rui Hachimura, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and More

Fantasy basketball takeaways from the opening night of the NBA season.

The NBA regular season is underway after two games on Tuesday.

Let’s go over some fantasy basketball takeaways from each game, which is something we plan to do after each team plays in the opening week.

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Boston Blasts New York

The Celtics sure looked like the reigning NBA champs during their 132-109 rout of the Knicks. Boston hit 29 of its 61 3-point attempts and shot 50.5% overall. 

It was Jayson Tatum leading the way, tallying 37 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, a steal and a block. He’s one of the top fantasy players in the game and showed why on Tuesday.

Derrick White had 24 points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal. He’s another daily fantasy starter, and although he won’t always score this much, he should be pretty involved until Kristaps Porzingis returns from injury.

Jaylen Brown posted 23 points, seven rebounds and one assist and rebound. He’s another great fantasy asset and will probably lead the team in scoring a decent amount this season. 

Jrue Holiday was also good, finishing with 18 points, four rebounds and assists and a steal. He’s yet another daily fantasy starter, and someone who can fill the box score despite being a guard.

Al Horford got the start with Porzingis out and had 11 points, five assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block. Until Porzingis returns, Horford should be another Celtic who you can plug into your starting lineup every time the team is playing.

Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser were the most-played players off the bench, each playing 24 minutes and change.

Pritchard had just three points on 1-of-10 shooting, but also added four rebounds and assists. He’s a streaming option, and after the poor outing, might become available in a decent amount of leagues. He’s in for much better showings going forward, so scoop him up and stash him if you can.

Hauser went for 10 points, five rebounds and an assist in his time on the floor. Despite being a bench and role player, Hauser should play enough most nights to be a decent fantasy option. He’s usually just a scorer, but if he can consistently add rebounds, maybe he’ll be a touch better fantasy asset for this season.

Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman Sr. logged 19 and 17 minutes, respectively. They’ll hold the top backup big men roles until Porzingis returns, then one will see their role likely decrease.

Kornet had four points, three boards and one assist, steal and block. He’s a streaming option, but just one for deeper leagues at this point.

Tillman had two points, seven rebounds and two assists. He’s another deep league streaming option, but someone to avoid in standard leagues right now.

You have to take the New York numbers with a grain of salt because of the blowout nature of the game.

Jalen Brunson led the way with 22 points, two assists and a rebound across 24 minutes. It was a decent scoring night for Brunson, but bigger and better fantasy showings are coming soon.

Mikal Bridges went for 16 points and two assists across 34 minutes. There’s a lot of offensive playmakers in New York now, so I’m curious to see if Bridges can keep this kind of scoring up.

Karl-Anthony Towns posted 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in just under 24 minutes. Like in the case with Brunson, better scoring and fantasy days are definitely ahead for KAT.

OG Anunoby played 34 minutes and had four points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal. That kind of well-rounded game is what fantasy owners are looking for, now they just need Anunoby to average double digits in points, which he should be able to do again this season.

Josh Hart was the fifth starter and played 24 minutes. He tallied 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Hart is a good all-around fantasy player, so don’t let this game impact your thoughts on him too much.

Miles McBride was great off the bench, finishing with 22 points and two assists. He might not average 25 minutes a game all season, but McBride showed last season he can be a decent fantasy performer on his scoring prowess alone. He’s a better deep league option right now, but would get standard league love if a starting guard was out for an extended period.

Jericho Sims was the most-played big off the bench, tallying 24 minutes. He had just four points, but added nine rebounds, two blocks and an assist. This performance puts him on the deep league radar, and he’d be another one to add if a starting big was out.

Cameron Payne played 20 minutes and had 11 points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal. He’s not really on anyone’s fantasy radars right now, but needs to be after the solid first game.

Lakers Fend of Timberwolves

Los Angeles won an ugly shooting game against Minnesota. LA was 5-of-30 on its 3-pointers and shot 44.2% overall, while Minnesota was 13-of-41 from deep and 41.2% overall.

Anthony Davis powered the Lakers with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. Davis is one of the best fantasy players in the game, and could be an even better fantasy asset this season with LeBron James aging and slowing down a bit.

Speaking of James, he had 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks. It was a pretty pedestrian day for LeBron, but better fantasy showings should be ahead. He’s still a good fantasy asset even if he’s only scoring around 20 points a game because of the rebound, assist, steal and block numbers.

Rui Hachimura went for 18 points, five rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist across 35 minutes. He’s rostered in just over 50% of leagues, and his percentage should go up after the strong first game. At least add him for the time being to see if he can keep these numbers up.

Austin Reaves had 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and one steal and block across 36 minutes. It wasn’t a huge scoring game for Reaves either, but his well-rounded numbers show what he brings as a fantasy performer. He should be starting just about every time he’s playing.

D'Angelo Russell was the fifth starter and totaled nine points, five assists, two steals and a rebound. I expect much better nights for Russell ahead, although if Hachimura and Reaves improve as scorers, Russell might be the most likely to see a decrease in his fantasy value.

Not many Lakers did much off the bench. Gabe Vincent played 17 minutes, while Dalton Knecht and Jaxson Hayes were at 15 minutes. Max Christie played 11 minutes.

Hayes had 10 points, four boards and a block. He’s worth an add in deeper leagues, and he should be available to just about all of you reading.

It’s no surprise that Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves. He had 27 points, six rebounds and three assists across 41 minutes. Expect Edwards to keep putting up great fantasy numbers all season - he’ll be one of the top fantasy players by the end of the season.

Rudy Gobert had 13 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and a block across 35 minutes. He’s not a huge scorer, but he showed how dominant a fantasy player he could be with all those rebounds. More blocks should come soon too, and Gobert is a great fantasy option every game.

Julius Randle had 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists in his Minnesota regular season debut. He’s another daily fantasy starter, and should put up good all-around numbers all season.

Mike Conley shot just 1-of-7 and had five points. He also had four rebounds, two assists and a steal across 20 minutes. It was a rough opening showing for Conley, who is a streaming option in standard leagues. Better days are ahead, so if he becomes available, he might be a solid long-term pickup.

Jaden McDaniels only played 16 minutes, posting six points, two rebounds and a steal and assist. Foul trouble doomed him, and it might help him become available in deeper leagues. He’s another one to take a chance on, and it’s a move that should be beneficial in the long run.

Donte DiVincenzo played 31 minutes off the bench, tallying 10 points, three rebounds and assists and two steals. I’m not sure we should expect him to play this much every game, but I also expect him to shoot better, so he’s a pretty solid starting option every game.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid played 28 and 26 minutes, respectively. 

Alexander-Walker had 14 points and five boards, while Reid had 12 points, four boards and an assist. Reid is owned in just about every league, but a better deep league starting option. Alexander-Walker is a deep league option, and should see his own and start percentages get a slight bump up, especially if he keeps posting the numbers he did in the opener.

Be sure to keep checking back in with FantasySP for fantasy basketball coverage throughout the season.

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