Graded · 2 contests · 90,950 entries

NBA Oct 22 DraftKings ownership: Main slate

What the field actually played on the NBA Thu Oct 22 DraftKings Main slate, next to what we projected before lock. Our misses are shown in full.

October 22, 2026 · Updated October 22, 2026 · After The Timeout

2 games · classic

The slate at a glance

Sport
NBA
Site
DraftKings
Format
Classic
Games
2
Teams
CLE, DEN, OKC, PHI
First lock
Thu Oct 22, 7:00 PM ET
Player pool
38 players
Projections
Captured Thu Oct 22, 6:38 PM ET, before lock

Top 12 by real ownership

The chalk: who the field played most

Field ownership is the share of lineups that used each player, from 2 large-field tournament contests, 90,950 entries. Gap is the field minus our projection: green means the field played him more than we expected.

Some field numbers read low. Part of the real ownership here comes from a results source that counts each player in one roster slot only, so a player the field used in more than one slot can show less ownership than he really had.

Ours vs the field, 2 large-field tournament contests, 90,950 entries
PlayerPosOursFieldGap
Peyton WatsonCLESF/PF50.3%50.8%+0.5
Chet HolmgrenOKCPF35.0%50.4%+15.4
Joel EmbiidPHIC31.8%50.0%+18.3
Nikola JokicDENC28.9%49.6%+20.7
LeBron JamesPHIPF37.5%48.9%+11.5
Jaylon TysonCLESG/SF24.4%44.1%+19.7
James HardenCLEPG42.9%38.5%−4.4
Jalen WilliamsOKCSF25.9%38.4%+12.5
Tyrese MaxeyPHIPG31.9%36.2%+4.3
Donovan MitchellCLESG38.8%30.3%−8.5
Isaiah HartensteinOKCC14.2%26.6%+12.4
Cameron JohnsonDENSF24.5%26.5%+2.0

10 players where we were furthest off

Our biggest misses

We publish these on purpose. The players the field played far more than we expected, and the ones it passed on.

The field played him more than we projected
PlayerPosOursFieldGap
Nikola JokicDENC28.9%49.6%+20.7
Jaylon TysonCLESG/SF24.4%44.1%+19.7
Joel EmbiidPHIC31.8%50.0%+18.3
Chet HolmgrenOKCPF35.0%50.4%+15.4
Jalen WilliamsOKCSF25.9%38.4%+12.5
The field played him less than we projected
PlayerPosOursFieldGap
DeMar DeRozanDENSG/SF58.5%16.4%−42.1
Evan MobleyCLEPF/C35.5%15.4%−20.1
Jamal MurrayDENPG40.2%22.6%−17.7
Aaron GordonDENPF/C38.9%24.5%−14.4
Jaylen BrownPHISF38.0%25.6%−12.3

Large-field tournament contests · n = 41 players

How our projections held up

We compared our projected ownership with the real field for 41 players across 2 large-field tournament contests (90,950 entries). On average our number was 8.1 percentage points away from the field's. On the 25 players at 10% ownership or more, the average gap was 11.9 points. Across the board the field owned these players 0.2 points less than we projected, on average.

8.1 ptsaverage gap, ours vs the field (41 players)
0.75correlation with real ownership, 1.00 is a perfect match (n = 41)
11.9 ptsaverage gap on the 25 players at 10%+
2large-field tournament contests, 90,950 entries
The grade by contest type
Contest typeContestsEntriesPlayersAvg gapCorr
Large-field tournament290,950418.10.75

We grade a contest type once it has at least 2 contests. Cash games are not used to grade tournament ownership.

What these numbers mean

Average gap is how far our projected ownership sat from the real field, in percentage points, averaged over every player compared. If we had a player at 20% and the field played him at 26%, that player adds a 6-point gap.

Correlation measures whether we had the order right: who the field would play most and least. 1.00 would be a perfect match and 0 would be no relationship at all.

Players compared covers our whole player pool plus anyone the field used that we did not have in it.

The 3 contests behind these numbers
ContestGroupEntriesFeeMax entries
NBA $30K mini-MAX [150 Entry Max]large-field tournament71,343$0.50150
NBA $300K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]large-field tournament19,607$18-
NBA $2 Double Upcash574$2-
How our fantasy point projections held up

Across 38 players, our point projections missed by 9.6 fantasy points on average (9.4 on players who scored), with a correlation of 0.74 against what they actually scored.

Biggest point misses
PlayerOursActualGap
Nikola JokicDEN67.532.8−34.8
Jamal MurrayDEN44.922.0−22.9
Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderOKC47.727.5−20.2
DeMar DeRozanDEN32.813.0−19.8
Cameron JohnsonDEN27.19.5−17.6
By position
PosPlayersAvg missBias
C813.9−13.9
PF39.9+1.5
PF/C34.5−1.2
PG611.7−9.4
PG/SG38.2−1.2
SF46.4−6.4
SF/PF310.0−0.7
SG310.9−4.9
SG/SF55.7−4.3

Before the next lock

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