Welcome to the first edition of NBA Injury Report. The goal of the NBA Injury Report is to the set the stage for the slate as news comes out on late scratches, rest days and other scenarios, and often there is little time to react. With this article, the work of the other staff members and the amazing NBA DFS projections, those scenarios can be handled much more easily. That allows for pivoting at the drop of a hat, and the NBA Starting Lineup page is an extremely important tool as well. With that in mind, let’s go over injuries for the two-game NBA DFS slate tonight.
NBA Injury Report & Starting Lineups Today | Oct. 19
Remember to always place players from the later games in guard, forward and utility slots on DraftKings. Allow maximum flexibility to react to the news that comes out after lock, which will happen in NBA. Additionally, take advantage of the wealth of Awesemo NBA content to get ready for these slates.
Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks
Nets – Kyrie Irving – Out
Irving is the only player missing from the Nets side of the equation, and that means two things. The first facet is James Harden and Kevin Durant become much more appealing plays. Both players had over 320 minutes of court time last season with Irving not active. In that split, Durant had a 33.5% usage rate and a 1.60 fantasy point per minute while Harden had a 34.9% usage rate with a 1.69 fantasy point per minute. Harden also led the Nets in assist percentage at 53.9% and would be a threat for a triple-double in this game, which is always a nice bonus on DraftKings. His assist prop is set at 8.5 which seems very achievable given no Irving for the time being.
The second aspect is the Nets signed Patty Mills in the offseason and the expectation is he will slide in as one of the top salary savers on the board, along with teammate Bruce Brown. With it only being two games, values are not going to be the easiest to find. Mills is not likely to start but will be one of the first players off the bench for Brooklyn’s rotation. We know that Harden will play a ton of minutes, but Mills will be relied upon to handle the ball in his absence. Brown is expected to enter the starting lineup and he had a 0.94 fantasy point per minute mark without Irving last season. With both players under $4,000 on DraftKings, they do allow some flexibility with roles that matter.
Bucks – Donte DiVincenzo, Semi Ojeleye, Bobby Portis – Out
The most important roles that open are for Grayson Allen and possibly Jordan Nwora. The Bucks do not have a lot of big men after Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez and the Nets can counter with LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, and Blake Griffin.
That is not to say any of them can contain Giannis, but Nwora has had a strong preseason and could be in line for 12-18 minutes off the bench in this game. Portis played an average of 20 minutes last year so even if Nwora takes just a portion of that role, he could be interesting at the minimum price on DraftKings. In a limited amount of action last year, Nwora had a 1.30 fantasy point per minute mark. That should be taken with a grain of salt because the role would be different this season.
Having mentioned the role being different, Brooklyn was 23rd in points allowed in the paint last year and allowed the eighth-most attempts from 3. Nwora took 135 total shots last year and 33 shots came within five feet from the basket and 43 from 3-point range, making him a perfect mix for this matchup. Building off the 3-point matchup for Milwaukee, Allen fits nicely as well. He shot 39.5% from 3 last season over the course of 301 shots and would likely slot into the DiVincenzo starting role. Neither is exactly the most well-rounded player, but the price is right and the bonus on DraftKings for a made 3-point shot is nice as well.
Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers
Warriors – Klay Thompson, James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga – Out
In reality, the Warriors injuries do not move the needle to a large degree. Thompson missed all of last season while Kuminga was one of their most recent draft picks. Wiseman played 39 games last year but the last one came in April, so there is a large sample of what to look for. Kevon Looney should be the starting center with Wiseman out and in his 1,155 minutes last year without Wiseman, he produced a 0.78 fantasy point per minute mark with a tiny usage rate of 9.5%. That would easily be the lowest among the starters for Golden State, which is not surprising given who he plays with.
Lakers – Talen Horton-Tucker, Trevor Ariza – Out
Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn – Questionable
Based on the latest practice reports from the Lakers, Ellington seems to be unlikely to play Tuesday while Nunn and Monk would be active. That is not set in stone at this point, but Ellington sitting is important. He is listed as the starting shooting guard in the newly revamped Lakers lineup. If he is out, both Nunn and Monk could have elevated roles and both players shot over 37% from 3-point distance last year. That skillset is going to be valuable for the Lakers and playing with LeBron James and Russell Westbrook is a boon to both. The only small negative is as of this writing, there is no update on Ellington and the official starting lineup. However, this article is meant to point to which players to look for, and the combo of Nunn and Monk is exactly that.
The last injuries of note are Horton-Tucker and Ariza because that could open up some minutes for Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers look different this season, and Anthony looks primed for another bench role. Last year in Portland, Anthony played around 24 minutes a night and Horton-Tucker logged around 19 minutes per game. While playing with the Trail Blazers last season, Anthony had a true shooting rate of 54.7% and a fantasy point per minute mark of 0.92. He can still contribute and the shooting from 3-point range was still there at 40.6%. Los Angeles needs shooting since Westbrook is not a strong threat in that facet of the game.
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