The 2026-27 NBA season tipped off Tuesday night, and three preseason standouts quickly moved into the fantasy basketball rankings conversation. Tristan da Silva, Aday Mara and Jarace Walker are the names drawing attention after strong showings that could turn into late-round value if their roles hold.
Da Silva has the cleanest case for early interest because his preseason line came with real volume and repeatable scoring: 16.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 stocks in 21.6 minutes per game across four outings for the Magic. He also hit 3.5 threes per game while shooting 37.8 percent from deep, the kind of perimeter output that can matter fast in category formats when a player is already seeing starter-level minutes.
That matters now because fantasy managers are trying to separate noise from something closer to a role. The preseason can exaggerate production, but it also reveals who is being used in ways that might survive once the games count. For the Magic, the appeal is that da Silva produced without needing a gimmick. He filled the box score, and he did it in a role that could keep expanding if the minutes follow the performance.
Mara is the harder read. He posted 13.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.4 blocks in five preseason games, while shooting 78.8 percent from the field and 78.9 percent at the line. At the Combine, he measured 7'3" barefoot with a 7'6" wingspan, which explains why the ceiling is obvious. The problem is that OKC already has Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Thomas Sorber in its frontcourt, so even a strong preseason can run into a roster logjam that limits how often Mara gets the kind of minutes fantasy managers want.
Walker sits somewhere in between. The No. 8 pick in the 2023 draft averaged 8.5 points, 6.5 assists and 6.0 rebounds in two preseason appearances, shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three. The catch is that his run was limited to two games because of an issue that had already kept him out of the Pacers' final two preseason games, which makes his numbers useful but less secure than da Silva's. If the minutes are there, the peripheral production fits deep-league upside. If they are not, the preseason line becomes a teaser rather than a forecast.
Of the three, da Silva looks most likely to carry preseason production into the regular season because his production came with the most stable combination of minutes, scoring and three-point volume. Mara may have the loudest per-minute case, and Walker may have the most intriguing multi-category shape, but both need their playing time to move up before fantasy managers should trust the ceiling. The first real answer will come not from preseason stat lines anymore, but from who keeps the floor after Tuesday night.
