Fantasy basketball rookie preseason update 2026-27: minutes and production for the first-year class

What this is, and how small the sample is

The 2026 draft class has no NBA regular-season games, so none of them has a rank on the Parlae board. The only NBA box scores they have are from the preseason. Through Oct 12, the league has played 41 preseason games, and each team has played 2 to 4 of them. Every rookie line below is 2 to 4 games, between 37 and 91 total minutes.

That is a small sample, and preseason is not the regular season. Rotations are loose and established players sit. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played 1 preseason game for Oklahoma City (18 minutes), and Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have not appeared in any of the Thunder's three box scores; Sleeper lists both GTD. A rookie starting in October may be starting in place of someone who will be back. Read these numbers as evidence of where a coach is putting a player today, not as a projection.

The last section checks how well last year's preseason predicted last year's rookies. The short answer is: loosely.

The 2026 first-round picks, through Oct 12

Source: ESPN preseason box scores, Oct 3 to Oct 12 2026, per game. Pick from Wikipedia's 2026 NBA draft page; team is the player's current team on Sleeper. FP/G uses the Parlae board's points weights. Team rank counts total preseason minutes among everyone who played for that team.

For scale, the board's replacement line, the 157th player, scored 23.2 FP/G last season, and the 100th scored 29.0.

Who is getting the minutes

Seven of the 14 lead their team in total preseason minutes: Dybantsa, Peterson, Wilson, Wagler, Acuff, Flemings and Stirtz. Minutes are the most useful thing a preseason box score shows, because they say where a coach is looking.

Caleb Wilson, Chicago. 86 minutes in three starts, 16 more than Josh Giddey and 25 more than Matas Buzelis. He scored 17.7 a game with 2.0 threes, on 19 of 42 from the field. The cost: 3.7 turnovers a game, which is why his FP/G (24.9) trails his scoring.

Darius Acuff, Sacramento. Three starts and 77 minutes, with 18.7 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 threes. He made all 9 of his free throws and 20 of 47 from the field, and turned it over 4.0 times a game. Malik Monk, the Kings guard the rookies guide named as the returning player at his spot, has not appeared in a preseason box score and is listed GTD (rest).

AJ Dybantsa, Washington. The No. 1 pick has started all three games and leads the Wizards with 71 minutes. His fantasy number came from 2.0 steals a game more than scoring: he shot 14 of 33 from the field, 1 of 8 from three and 10 of 17 at the line.

Darryn Peterson, Utah. Three starts and a team-high 73 minutes. His 23.1 FP/G is the lowest of the top-five picks, on 16 of 33 shooting and 3.3 assists.

The two Thunder rookies

Oklahoma City has the most striking rookie lines, and the most caution attached.

Bennett Stirtz leads the Thunder with 91 minutes, 30.3 a game, and scored 20.3 a game with 4.3 threes on 13 of 22 from deep. Aday Mara started all three games at center and produced the highest FP/G of any first-year player with two or more games: 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks, on 19 of 24 from the field.

Both lines came with Holmgren and Hartenstein absent from every Thunder box score. Sleeper's depth chart has Mara third at center and Stirtz third at point guard today. Mara's preseason says he can produce when he plays; it does not say he will play once the two players ahead of him return.

Per-minute standouts in small roles

Yaxel Lendeborg, Golden State. 35.0 FP/G in 21.3 minutes: 14.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and a block a game on 18 of 31 shooting. He played 3 of Golden State's 4 games, and Jimmy Butler, listed Out (knee), has not played.

Cameron Boozer, Memphis. 23.8 FP/G in 17.3 minutes, the highest per-minute rate among the top-five picks. Memphis has spread its minutes: Boozer's 52 are one behind the team leader, Jaylen Wells, at 53.

Tarris Reed, San Antonio. 9.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 16.7 minutes off the bench.

The rookies with no line yet

Several first-round picks have little or nothing in the box scores:

• Mikel Brown (6, Brooklyn): has not appeared in a preseason box score; listed DTD (ankle).
• Morez Johnson (9, Dallas): 1 game, 12 minutes; listed DTD (rest).
• Nate Ament (13, Milwaukee): 2 games, 12.0 minutes a game; listed DTD (ankle).
• Hannes Steinbach (14, Charlotte): 2 games, 13.0 minutes a game.
• Christian Anderson (18, Charlotte), Allen Graves (19, Toronto) and Joshua Jefferson (28, Brooklyn): no box score appearances; listed DTD (ankle), GTD (groin) and DTD (back).
• Jayden Quaintance (20, San Antonio): did not play; listed Out (knee).

How much did last year's preseason predict?

The same check run on 2025's first-year players: their 2025 preseason line from ESPN against their 2025-26 regular season from Sleeper. These are the ten best preseason FP/G among first-year players with at least 2 preseason games and 20 regular-season games.

Source: ESPN 2025 preseason box scores; Sleeper 2025-26 season totals; Parlae board, Oct 13 2026.

Four of the ten finished inside the board's top 156. The best rookie of the season, Cooper Flagg, was fifth on this list in October and added 14.3 FP/G once the games counted. Brooks Barnhizer and Taelon Peter played big preseason minutes and then under 13 a night.

Across all 53 first-year players with both samples, 18 finished within 3 FP/G of their preseason number, 11 finished more than 5 higher and 15 finished more than 5 lower. Preseason is a signal about role. It is a weak one about production.

What to do with this on draft night

1. Use preseason minutes to break ties between rookies, not to rank them against veterans. Wilson, Acuff, Dybantsa, Peterson and Stirtz are getting the most run on their teams today.
2. Discount the Thunder lines until Holmgren and Hartenstein play. Mara and Stirtz are watch-list names in most drafts.
3. Leave the injured rookies on waivers. Brown, Anderson, Graves, Jefferson and Quaintance have no preseason line yet.
4. Check again after Oct 16, the last preseason date. Status changes daily on the injury page, and ranked late-round options are on the sleepers page and the cheat sheet.