October 26 Fantasy Basketball Streamers: Al Horford, Dean Wade, Dillon Brooks and More
Players who have good matchups on Saturday and are widely available in fantasy leagues.
I’m targeting six NBA teams in fantasy basketball. Rather than adding players from those squads, they are the teams that I’m looking to target with opposing players. Streamers often are found most easily by attacking the weakest teams, and that’s what I’m looking to do with Atlanta, Detroit, Indiana, San Antonio, Utah, and Washington early in the season.
Those teams ranked in the top 10 in pace and bottom 10 in defensive rating last season. While players, coaches, and schemes change between years, there are a lot of similarities in team performance from year to year, and we don’t have much else to go on this early in the season.
We’ll be able to re-calibrate the teams to target in a few weeks, once everyone gets five or so games into the season, but we’re going on very little information right now.
Let’s look at three teams with good matchups on Saturday and the players on those teams who are widely available in fantasy leagues and can probably be plugged into your lineup.
Boston Celtics @ Detroit Pistons
The Pistons played at the ninth-fastest pace and had the sixth-worst defensive rating last season. They were in the top nine in most points per game allowed to every position except for point guard, where they were in the middle.
Indiana big men Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam did the most damage against Detroit in their opening game. They played Cleveland yesterday, and it was an evenly spread attack, with the five Cleveland starters and one bench guy (guard Ty Jerome) all scoring between 13 and 19 points.
Celtics’ Streaming Players
Guard
Forward
- Xavier Tillman Sr.
Center
Cleveland Cavaliers @ Washington Wizards
The Wizards played at the fastest pace in the league last season and had the third-worst defensive rating. Washington was THE team to target. They gave up a bunch of points to every position, able to be targeted with essentially anyone who gets decent minutes.
Washington hosted Boston in their opening game, and wing/forwards Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White scored the most points for the Celtics. That might just be a product of the team the Wizards were playing, but it’s worth focusing on the forwards a little bit.
Cavaliers’ Streaming Players
Guard
- Ty Jerome
- Caris LeVert
- Sam Merrill
Forward
Center
- None
Houston Rockets @ San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio played at the third-fastest pace with the 10th-worst defensive rating in 2023-24. They were better on defense in the second half, so I’m a little scared about going after Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, but the numbers say San Antonio is a team to target.
The Spurs were in the top five in points per game allowed to guards and centers last season. In their first game against Dallas, San Antonio allowed the most points to guards Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson. It’s not a surprise those guys scored the most, but it matches up with last year’s numbers.
Rockets’ Streaming Players
Guard
Forward
Center
- Steven Adams – Adams has missed the first two games, but he is expected to return some time soon. He will be a backup and worth consideration in the right matchups as a streamer.
