Week 1: Philadelphia plays four, Denver and Boston play two

The schedule

One team plays four games this week: Philadelphia. Everyone else plays three or two, and the league average is 2.9. That makes the Sixers the single biggest schedule edge of Week 1, and it reaches further down their roster than usual because Tyrese Maxey (ranked #4) and Jaylen Brown (ranked #101) both sit on it.

Twenty-five teams play three: ORL, MIN, MIL, CHI, IND, DAL, MIA, DET, UTA, NOP, LAL, LAC, GSW, MEM, SAC, CHA, BKN, SAS, ATL, HOU, WAS, OKC, NYK and TOR. That is where most of your roster already lives, so there is no decision to make for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (#2), Victor Wembanyama (#3), Luka Dončić (#5), Kawhi Leonard (#6), Stephen Curry (#9), Jalen Johnson (#10), Cooper Flagg (#11), Anthony Davis (#12) or Amen Thompson (#13). Play them.

Five teams play twice: POR, CLE, DEN, PHX and BOS. The names that hurt are Nikola Jokić (#1), Donovan Mitchell (#7), Jamal Murray (#8), Jayson Tatum (#19), Devin Booker (#25), Derrick White (#26), Donovan Clingan (#29), Evan Mobley (#35), James Harden (#48) and Damian Lillard (#51). Be clear about the comparison you are making: a three-game player ranked in the 90s can beat a two-game top-10 player for this week only. Over the season it is not close, and in a one-week-at-a-time format you should not be dropping Jokić or Tatum to chase it. The honest trims are at the back: Harden, Lillard, Clingan and Mobley at two games each are the ones a strong three-game stream can out-produce right now.

Streams for the week

Jaylen Brown is the week's clear top stream, with a week value of 40.6 across four games, and he is outside the top 90 in rank only because the pool has not sorted itself yet. He played 31 minutes in Philadelphia's Oct. 16 finale against Boston and was on the floor for the first 4:09 of the fourth quarter, with James, Embiid and Maxey alongside him in that starting group. How the shots divide among those four is not settled, and no exhibition game can settle it, but four games beats any uncertainty about shot share.

Behind him, a tight band of three-game options at 31 and change: Isaiah Hartenstein (#94, 31.5), Day'Ron Sharpe (#91, 31.5), Zion Williamson (#102, 31.1), Kevin Porter (#97, 31) and Caleb Wilson (#92, 31). Sharpe is the cleanest of these. He started Brooklyn's Oct. 6, Oct. 12 and Oct. 14 exhibitions after missing one with left shoulder soreness, and RotoWire's Oct. 12 note has him atop the center depth chart with no named competitor. Hartenstein is the starter per reporting, but he missed the early preseason with an ankle problem and I did not find a post-Oct. 13 update confirming it is fully settled, so check the opening-night status before you commit.

Caleb Wilson averaged 15.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 26.2 minutes across five preseason games with double figures in all five, and coach Tiago Splitter called him a future star while adding it is not the Caleb Show every night. I did not read a confirmed Bulls starting five, so take the minutes as an observation and not a promise. Kevin Porter is the riskiest of the group: camp previews had Ryan Rollins starting at point guard with Porter second, and whether Milwaukee opens with a third guard was unresolved in what I found.

Also live at three games each: Darryn Peterson (#93, 30.9), Norman Powell (#98, 30.9), Cameron Boozer (#99, 30.5) and Fred VanVleet (#116, 30.5). Peterson started Utah's Oct. 4 opener and CBS/RotoWire calls him the penciled-in starting shooting guard. VanVleet is the one to hold off on if you need floor: Udoka has him penciled in at point guard once healthy, but the most recent wire language was still "ramping up his rehab work," and I have no confirmation beyond that.

Adds for good

Cedric Coward (MEM, #81) is the best name on the most-added list and the only one inside the top 90 on this week's board. He started Memphis' Oct. 5 opener and the Oct. 16 finale, and Jaylen Wells, who had opened the first three exhibitions with the first unit, came off the bench in that finale. Last season Coward started 47 of 62 games with 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. The wing spot is genuinely contested with Wells, Kris Murray and Jerami Grant, so this is an add with a real role question attached.

Isaiah Jackson (LAC, #216) and Rui Hachimura (LAC, #156) are the Clippers bet, and they are different bets. Jackson told ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk on Oct. 3 that he expects to open as the starter and has been with the first unit, while depth-chart pages published before that camp report still list Brook Lopez first. That is unresolved. Hachimura is better supported: RotoWire and Fox Sports around Oct. 15 expect him to start at power forward, and with Brandon Ingram (Achilles) and Max Strus (foot) out to start the year his scoring load should be larger than it will be later. Keaton Wagler (#223) played 30 minutes in his Oct. 4 preseason debut and hit the go-ahead shot, and Ty Lue has promised on-ball reps, but no starting assignment has been confirmed.

Davion Mitchell (MIA, #113) is the steadiest add of the group: expected starting point guard, 9.3 points and 6.5 assists in 28.6 minutes last season, and three games. Khaman Maluach (PHX, #90) carries the most direct conflict in the material: Yahoo reported Oct. 18 that he started the preseason finale, while RotoWire has him opening behind Oso Ighodaro, and Jordan Ott had not named an opening-night starter in anything I found. He also has only two games. Jusuf Nurkić (UTA, #166) is listed Out, so he is not a Week 1 add. Precious Achiuwa (SAC, #199), Jeremiah Fears (NOP, #181) and Mitchell Robinson (BOS, #172) are all projected bench roles in the current reporting.

Injuries that matter

Two injuries genuinely threaten Week 1 production. Kon Knueppel (CHA, #50) missed the entire preseason with a hamstring issue and his coach would not say whether he is ready for the opener. Coby White (CHA, #80) has a calf problem with no definitive timetable and the same non-answer from his coach. Both are ramping up contact in practice. Do not plan around either until a designation posts.

Kristaps Porziņģis (GSW, #89) is Out, sidelined since late September with an undisclosed issue and only back at the practice facility, with no clearance from Steve Kerr. The listed Nov. 9 return date is speculative: the reporting explicitly says no timeline exists. Nic Claxton (CHI, #110) has a hamstring tweak on a roughly two-week timeline that wiped out his preseason and leaves him questionable for opening night, which is why his center job is worth watching rather than drafting around.

The minor group, which should not change your lineup absent new news: Stephen Curry (right ankle, non-contact tweak at practice, expected return lines up with the opener), Chet Holmgren (bruised quad, out the rest of preseason with no team concern about the opener), Bam Adebayo (right groin tightness, back at practice, questionable for Wednesday), Franz Wagner (right shoulder soreness, limited in practice, questionable), Josh Hart (right ankle soreness, coach not concerned) and Dejounte Murray (toe, sat the last three exhibitions, questionable for the Oct. 21 opener). Murray matters beyond his own line: if he misses time, Jeremiah Fears is the Pelicans guard who benefits, though the only reporting I found on that is a projection published before camp opened.