What the preseason told us, and the box scores to ignore before your last draft

The preseason ends this weekend, and the last drafts before opening night on October 20 will be made by managers who have spent two weeks reading exhibition box scores. Some of what those games showed is real information about the season, because a coach who chooses a starter, sets a minutes limit or names his rotation is telling you how he plans to use a player in games that count. Much of the rest is noise, because shooting over a few dozen attempts or a star's line in one half says little about 82 games.

Below are examples of each kind from October 8 to 16, every one confirmed in at least two outlets, leaving out the players already covered in the rookies earning preseason minutes and the preseason roles worth a late pick. Ranks are from our points board under ESPN's default scoring and our 9-cat board, beside the analysts' points consensus. Our projections do not read preseason games, so where a role and our number disagree, we say which way the number would move.

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.