As at 25 October 2026, 9:04 pm ACDT. This is a league-dependent priority board for NBL Fantasy Draft, not a list of players confirmed to be free agents. Check your league's roster, waiver processing, position rules and next lock before making a claim.
Nine games, but the useful distinction is eight doubles and two singles
The official NBL schedule places Perth–Sydney on Wednesday 28 October, Brisbane–Cairns on Thursday, New Zealand–Adelaide and Tasmania–Sydney on Friday, Cairns–Melbourne and Perth–Illawarra on Saturday, South East Melbourne–Tasmania and Adelaide–Brisbane on Sunday, and Melbourne–New Zealand on Monday. Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, New Zealand, Adelaide, Tasmania and Melbourne play twice. Illawarra and South East Melbourne play once. For draft managers that is a fixture advantage, but it should be used as a tie-breaker after role and minutes, not as an automatic reason to cut a dependable one-game starter.
Priority 1 if available: Jaylin Galloway — Cairns, guard
Galloway's first game after shoulder surgery was not a token appearance: he played 26.5 minutes, scoring 18 points with six assists and three rebounds in Cairns' 86–84 win over New Zealand. The official game report and pre-game clearance independently establish both the debut and its context. Cairns now visit Brisbane and host Melbourne, giving him two opportunities to consolidate a substantial wing/guard role. Claim if genuinely available and your team needs guard production; he is a better evidence-based target than a hypothetical replacement who has not played. The caveat is real: one successful return game does not prove an unrestricted weekly workload.
Priority 2 if available: Nate Hinton — Brisbane, guard
Hinton's most recent outing against Illawarra was 30.0 minutes, 21 points, six assists and three steals. He also posted 13 points and five assists in 22.2 minutes against Tasmania earlier in Round 6. Brisbane's next opponents are Cairns and Adelaide. Importantly, the strong second outing came even as Raul Neto started and Tyrell Harrison returned, as the NBL's Brisbane win report documents. Hinton is an appealing two-game guard claim for teams short on minutes or defensive-category contributions. The minutes range shows why he is not a guaranteed 30-minute player; confirm the rotation again.
Priority 3 if available: Andrew Carr — Sydney, forward/centre in the current player database
Carr is the frontcourt test of whether your league has overlooked a productive role. He posted 16 points and 20 rebounds in 23.7 minutes against Illawarra, then 18 points and 11 rebounds in 28.7 minutes against Melbourne. The official Melbourne–Sydney recap corroborates the latter line. Sydney play Perth and Tasmania in Round 7. The 20-rebound night is exceptional, so do not project 20 boards every time; the stronger argument is two consecutive double-digit rebounding performances and a continuing rotation place. The current Buckets player database labels him F/C; your individual fantasy league's eligibility is authoritative. If he is already rostered, this is a hold/monitor signal, not a fictional waiver opening.
Conditional frontcourt claim: Jonah Bolden — Cairns, centre
Bolden's Round 6 performance was an unusual five points but 14 rebounds in 22.0 minutes against New Zealand, after 17 points and five rebounds in 18.6 minutes against South East Melbourne in Round 5. That is a legitimate rebounding opportunity, but also a reminder that scoring and minutes can fluctuate. Cairns' double makes him a candidate for a centre-needy side that can tolerate variation. Check whether the league's scoring values rebounds enough and whether Keanu Pinder's and the rest of the frontcourt's minutes change; do not call Bolden a universal must-add.
Return-to-play watchlist: Parker Jackson-Cartwright — New Zealand, guard
A player of Jackson-Cartwright's calibre will be rostered in many leagues, so this is not a claim that he is on waivers. But a small league or a temporary drop can create exceptions. After being cleared from a lower-leg issue, he played 26.9 minutes with 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds against Cairns. The NBL's return announcement and match report support that change. New Zealand play Adelaide and Melbourne. If he is somehow unclaimed, he jumps the queue; if he is rostered, monitor the workload rather than treating a missed-game history as current unavailability.
Lower priority: Angus Glover and Makur Maker — real form, single-game penalty
Glover (South East Melbourne, guard) produced 27, 14 and 20 points across his last three appearances, with roughly 22–24 minutes each game. Maker (Illawarra, forward) scored 23, 24 and seven points across his last three games, with his minutes ranging from 18.8 to 27.5. Both have actual rotation evidence, and neither should be dismissed solely because of one fixture. However, South East Melbourne and Illawarra play once in Round 7, so they sit below comparable two-game candidates when your waiver claim is a short-term stream. A long-term keeper league may value their role more than this week's volume.
The avoidable trap: Mitch Norton and the returned-star knock-on effects
Norton (Brisbane, guard) went from 26.6 minutes and nine assists in Round 5 to 16.0 minutes/three assists and 13.3 minutes/one assist in Round 6. Neto's return and 25.3-minute start against Illawarra materially change the temporary point-guard vacancy. Likewise, Jaylin Galloway's return creates competition for Cairns perimeter minutes even as it creates his own opportunity. Do not add a former injury replacement based only on what he did before the injured player returned. The NBL's Harrison return notice is another example of an injury status changing ahead of a game.
How to submit the claim
Use your league's actual player pool and eligibility, then rank your claims by the position you need. A reasonable conditional priority is Galloway → Hinton → Carr → Bolden, with Jackson-Cartwright ahead of all four if an unusually shallow league has left him free. A guard-needy manager can move Hinton above Galloway; a centre-needy manager can move Carr or Bolden up. Specify an exact IN and OUT before submitting, and check whether the player being dropped has a stronger two-game role than the proposed addition. No ownership percentages, availability claims or fabricated fantasy projections are used here. Recheck the official Round 7 draw and club team news before the first lock.
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