NBA DraftKings DFS: October 23, 2026

Friday’s starting point: build around Dennis Schroder’s $4,900 salary, Paul George at $6,700 and a reasonably priced center. Charlotte’s depleted backcourt gives Schroder and Grayson Allen useful roles without forcing a minimum-salary punt. Giannis Antetokounmpo is my preferred premium anchor; Anthony Edwards is the guard-first alternative.

This is the six-game DraftKings slate for October 23, 2026, starting at 7 p.m. ET. Atlanta–Charlotte, Dallas–Indiana, Minnesota–Orlando, New York–Boston and Toronto–Washington start at 7. Detroit–Miami follows at 8. The roster is PG, SG, SF, PF, C, G, F and UTIL with a $50,000 cap.

The best plays at a glance

Player	Team	DK position	Salary	Use
Dennis Schroder	CHA	PG	$4,900	Priority value guard
Paul George	BOS	SG/SF	$6,700	Midrange cornerstone
Wendell Carter Jr.	ORL	C	$5,500	Preferred balanced center
Grayson Allen	CHA	SG/SF	$4,800	Shooting value
Giannis Antetokounmpo	MIA	PF	$10,200	Premium anchor
Anthony Edwards	MIN	SG	$9,500	Premium guard alternative
Anthony Davis	WAS	PF	$8,600	Upper-midrange ceiling
Naz Reid	CHA	PF/C	$6,600	Flexible forward/center
Ausar Thompson	DET	SF	$5,600	Rebounding wing
Moussa Diabate	CHA	C	$5,200	Lower-cost center
Ayo Dosunmu	MIN	SG/SF	$5,200	Secondary guard/wing
Duncan Robinson	DET	SG/SF	$4,600	Tournament shooting value

Start with Charlotte’s backcourt value

Dennis Schroder, $4,900, PG: the first value guard I would fit. He started Wednesday and played 35 minutes, taking 13 shots and recording six assists. Coby White and Kon Knueppel remain out, leaving a compelling price-to-opportunity case. His passing gives him another way to contribute when his jumper is off. That makes him a better starting point than chasing an inexpensive reserve whose role has not materialized.

Grayson Allen, $4,800, SG/SF: a strong complement, though more dependent on shooting. He played 29 minutes off the bench and attempted eight threes in the opener. The useful part is the shot profile and court time, not an assumption that his hot shooting continues. He does not need to start to be relevant. His dual eligibility makes the rest of the roster easier to arrange.

Naz Reid, $6,600, PF/C: is the stronger midrange way to add another Hornet. His 33-minute opener produced 20 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. I prefer his multiple scoring paths over stacking Charlotte solely for outside shooting. Three Hornets can fit, as the first example shows, but that concentrates risk in one team and should be an intentional choice.

Paul George is the midrange priority

Paul George, $6,700, SG/SF: is $2,500 cheaper than Jayson Tatum and provides valuable wing flexibility. In the Boston opener, George attempted 21 shots in 30:35. That is the reason to consider him. His seven made threes and five steals are not a reasonable baseline. I like the salary and involvement, while accepting that efficiency can fall substantially against New York.

Jayson Tatum, $9,200, SF/PF: is a tournament alternative, not a player to discard after one poor shooting night. He played 37:49, took 23 shots and delivered 11 assists against Detroit. The concern is what the higher salary costs elsewhere. A Tatum build should differ because you prefer his ceiling and roster fit, not because you are assuming he will be overlooked.

Spend-up choice: Giannis or Edwards

Giannis Antetokounmpo, $10,200, PF: is my premium starting point. His Miami debut included 19 field-goal attempts and 14 free-throw attempts in 30 minutes. That combination gives him a scoring route that does not require a barrage of threes. The trade-off is a thinner supporting cast, and Detroit is not a matchup to treat as a guaranteed ceiling game. Keep him in UTIL when the roster permits because his game starts an hour later.

Anthony Edwards, $9,500, SG: is my alternative when building around an elite scorer at guard. He took 29 shots and made nine threes in Minnesota’s opener. The attempts support the case; another nine makes should not be built into expectations. With several attractive forwards available, Edwards offers a different way to allocate the top-end salary.

Anthony Davis, $8,600, PF: is particularly interesting for an Edwards pairing. He played 34 minutes with 20 field-goal attempts, 14 free-throw attempts and 12 rebounds Wednesday. His price is $1,600 below Giannis. Use him at forward: he is PF-only on this slate, so a lineup cannot slide him into the C slot to solve a positional problem.

Centers: pay for a role rather than the cheapest name

Wendell Carter Jr., $5,500, C: is my preferred balanced center. His 31-minute opener included 10 attempts and seven rebounds. Orlando has several big men, so this remains a rotation-sensitive position, but I would rather pay for Carter’s demonstrated involvement than assume a cheaper teammate receives the same opportunity.

Moussa Diabate, $5,200, C: saves $300. He played 34 minutes with eight rebounds and five steals Wednesday. The workload makes him interesting; the steals are an outlier, not a repeatable requirement. Diabate is useful when that small saving completes a stronger lineup.

Daniel Gafford, $4,900, C: is a secondary tournament option rather than an automatic core play. Dereck Lively II is out, but Gafford’s opener still produced only 22 minutes and one shot attempt. The absence helps his opportunity case without proving a huge workload. I prefer Carter or Diabate unless later rotation news materially improves Gafford’s outlook.

Useful supporting pieces and tournament pivots

Ausar Thompson, $5,600, SF: offers a less scoring-dependent wing route. He collected 11 rebounds and five assists in 33:15 in Detroit’s opener. Duncan Robinson, $4,600, SG/SF: is the shooting-oriented alternative; nine of his 10 attempts were threes in 27:49. Both figures come from the Boston–Detroit gamebook. Choose Ausar for the broader statistical profile and Robinson when the salary saving improves your stars. Neither needs to be forced in as a Giannis opponent.

Ayo Dosunmu, $5,200, SG/SF: is another useful connector. His 29-minute opener included 13 attempts, five rebounds and three assists. Donte DiVincenzo remains out. Dosunmu is a reasonable alternative to loading every value position with Charlotte players, although one game does not fix his nightly role.

Jalen Johnson, $9,100, PF: is my alternative premium forward if avoiding Miami. He had 14 rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes Wednesday. At only $100 below Tatum, this is a profile choice rather than a major salary saving. Cooper Flagg, $8,900, PG/SF: offers rare positional flexibility at the top. His opener featured 17 field-goal attempts and 13 free-throw attempts in 33 minutes. His PG eligibility lets a build shift spending away from the crowded forward slots.

Scottie Barnes, $7,800, SF/PF: is a midrange pivot for Toronto–Washington exposure. His 26-minute opener came in a 135–92 win, with 19 shots and five assists. Do not interpret that single blowout workload as a fixed minutes cap. Barnes costs $800 less than Davis and works in either forward position, making him useful when the last roster piece needs an upgrade.

Injury decisions before 7 p.m.

The October 23, 4 p.m. ET official injury report lists White, Knueppel, DiVincenzo, Lively and Anthony Black out; Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith and Ben Sheppard remain questionable.

Keep Nesmith and Sheppard out of a set-and-forget build until their status is resolved. If either sits, reassess Indiana’s wings after actual rotation news; do not assume a particular replacement starts or receives a specific workload. The examples below do not require either questionable player to sit. Charlotte’s available guards are the clearest value starting point, but recheck the final lineup news rather than treating Wednesday’s starters as tonight’s announcement.

Two lineup options

These are salary-legal construction examples, not projection-optimized lineups. Check availability before entering. Both avoid currently listed questionable players.

Giannis with a balanced supporting cast: $49,500

Slot	Player	Salary
PG	Dennis Schroder	$4,900
SG	Grayson Allen	$4,800
SF	Paul George	$6,700
PF	Naz Reid	$6,600
C	Wendell Carter Jr.	$5,500
G	Ayo Dosunmu	$5,200
F	Ausar Thompson	$5,600
UTIL	Giannis Antetokounmpo	$10,200

Salary remaining: $500.

Giannis is the only five-figure player. Schroder and Allen fund the upgrade without a minimum-salary player; Reid and George hold the middle tier together. The main concentration risk is three Hornets. Giannis stays in UTIL and Ausar in F, preserving flexibility for the 8 p.m. game.

Edwards + Davis ceiling build: $49,900

Slot	Player	Salary
PG	Dennis Schroder	$4,900
SG	Anthony Edwards	$9,500
SF	Paul George	$6,700
PF	Anthony Davis	$8,600
C	Moussa Diabate	$5,200
G	Grayson Allen	$4,800
F	Ausar Thompson	$5,600
UTIL	Duncan Robinson	$4,600

Salary remaining: $100.

This version trades Giannis for the Edwards–Davis pairing and uses Diabate at center. Robinson is the more shooting-dependent last piece. Do not read the paired Pistons as a required stack; their individual roles and salaries are the appeal. Ausar and Robinson retain the later-game F and UTIL slots.

Last checks

• Prioritize resolved availability and real roles over opening-night fantasy totals. Hot shooting, steals and blocks are particularly easy to overpay for.
• Most of this slate locks at 7 p.m. ET. Only Detroit–Miami remains available for later changes, and equal salaries alone do not make a swap position-legal.
• A late Giannis scratch would require a coordinated rebuild, not an automatic one-player replacement. Leave enough movable Detroit–Miami pieces if you want more options.
• Use tournament pivots to change the lineup’s construction, not because of an unverified ownership claim.

Find slate coverage and availability updates in the NBA Research Center.