The opening night waiver wire, and how far to trust each name

Opening night produced a handful of bench lines that will show up on every waiver wire this week: Andre Drummond's double-double for the Knicks, Jared McCain's six threes for the Thunder, and Javonte Green's 19 points for Detroit after he sat the whole first half. We checked each of them against our projections before and after the game, under ESPN's default points scoring and on our nine-category board, and against the reasons each player got his minutes, since a bench player's value is almost entirely a question of whether the minutes will last.

Most of these players are adds only in deep leagues, and one game should not change that. The useful distinction is between a player whose minutes rose for a reason that may continue, such as Drummond behind a center who fouls often, and a player who simply shot well in his usual minutes, such as McCain, whose projection did not move at all.

Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.