The NBA Injury Report has multiple players that are questionable that could change this slate. 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. There are five games for NBA DFS and plenty of options.
NBA Injury Report & Starting Lineups Today | Nov. 2
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.
Teams Playing the Second of a Back-to-Back
None
Milwaukee Bucks at Detroit Pistons
Bucks – Jrue Holiday, Donte DiVincenzo, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton – Out
Grayson Allen – Probable
The Bucks are still without four starters from the normal lineup and the spotlight will shine the brightest on Giannis Antetokounmpo. His usage rate is 34.5% and the fantasy points per minute is are the highest on the slate at 1.68. Giannis is also the most expensive player on the slate, but it is deserved. The interior for the Pistons is much softer than his last game against the Jazz, as well. Detroit is 28th in rebounding and 16th in points allowed in the paint. Lastly, Giannis is fifth in points from isolation at 5.1 while Detroit is in the bottom 10 in points per possession allowed.
Bobby Portis has only played two games and the sample is 22 minutes, but his usage of 34.9% is appealing in this spot as well. George Hill grinds his way to 0.81 fantasy points per minute, so while he is not the most exciting player, the salary helps afford more in the lineup. Lastly, the Pistons are allowing the highest field goal percentage from 3-point distance at 43%. Allen is attempting nearly nine shots from 3-point territory per game and shooting 37.1%.
Pistons – Saddiq Bey – Probable
Bey is the only player on the NBA Injury Report for Detroit, and he does not appear to be in danger of missing this game.
Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks
Heat – Victor Oladipo, Max Strus – Out
Bam Adebayo – Questionable
Adebayo missed the last game but did practice in full on Monday, a good sign for his availability tonight. If he is forced to miss another game, Dewayne Dedmon would surely start again even though he struggled with foul trouble against the Grizzlies. Having said that, the 1.17 fantasy points per minute would be hard to overlook when he is under $4,000 on DraftKings. Strus does not have a major effect on any of the main cogs in this offense.
Mavericks – Maxi Kleber – Out
Kristaps Porzingis – Questionable
With Kleber out, Dallas could elect to use Dorian Finney-Smith more as he played 35 minutes against the Kings. His fantasy points per minute are just 0.74 and playing Finney-Smith can be similar to watching paint dry. If Porzingis can make it back for this game, Finney-Smith likely goes back to the bench. It would be difficult to trust Porzingis coming off a back injury after he has missed three games. Porzingis has only played 79 minutes on the season with 1.01 fantasy points per minute even with a usage over 28%. To be fair, the true shooting rate is 39.7% and the salary is quite high on DraftKings at $7,800.
Sacramento Kings at Utah Jazz
Kings – None
Jazz – Rudy Gay – IR
As of now, this is the cleanest game on the NBA Injury Report.
New Orleans Pelicans at Phoenix Suns
Pelicans – Zion Williamson – IR
Brandon Ingram, Devonte’ Graham – Questionable
The hope is this news comes sometime before lock because this game is at 10 PM with only one other game in that window. If these two players would be out, that would highlight three players in Jonas Valanciunas, Nickell Alexander-Walker and Kira Lewis. The first two players lead the team in usage at 31% and 32.5%, respectively while Valanciunas is at 1.65 fantasy points per minute. If Deandre Ayton were to be out for Phoenix, the Suns could have a very difficult time containing Valanciunas. He is leading the Pelicans in touches even when the team is healthy (aside from Williamson).
Lewis would very likely step into the starting role for Graham and he is barely above the minimum salary on DraftKings. With both Ingram and Graham off the floor, Lewis has 1.29 fantasy points per minute and a massive 45.5% assist rate to lead the team. There are a lot of choices on this slate that is built into this game with Graham and Ingram up in the air.
Suns – Deandre Ayton – Questionable
Cameron Payne – Out
Ayton’s status is important for the Suns and the Pelicans because if he sits, Valanciunas takes a bump up as well. That is because JaVale McGee would surely enter the starting lineup and would not be an ideal match to defend Valanciunas. McGee has been productive in his minutes without Ayton with 1.21 fantasy points per minute and a 22.7% usage rate. Seeing Valanciunas rank eighth in paint touches means McGee would have his hands full, but if extremely cheap on DraftKings if he would get the minutes.
Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
Rockets – Daniel Theis, Jae’Sean Tate – Questionable
There does not seem to be much concern about Theis at this point, in part because he played his regular minutes on Sunday. It would be interesting to see if Alperen Sengun would start if Theis would miss. He has been efficient while adjusting to the NBA, at least judging by his 1.19 fantasy points per minute with a 23% usage rate.
Tate has not been playing a lot of minutes in the past couple of games regardless, and that has opened up some minutes for Eric Gordon. He is mostly scoring-dependent,but when the shot is falling, he can be a major value. Taking Tate off the floor has given Gordon. 21.4% usage rate which is a bump of about 2%. The largest increase goes to Kevin Porter Jr., who sees his fantasy points per minute jump to 1.26 and the usage goes up to a team-leading 27.9%.
Lakers – Trevor Ariza, Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn – Out
Anthony Davis – Probable
LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington – Questionable
There are a lot of names on the report, but James is about the only one that matters. If he is in (and he has played 38 and 35 minutes in his past two games), there will not be much left for anyone else past James, Davis and Russell Westbrook. When James sat, Malik Monk entered the starting lineup but brings nothing to the table past shooting. In 71 minutes combined between those two games, Monk had 10 rebounds and assists in total. It also seems like a good time to remember that James and Davis were constantly on the injury report last year. With LeBron logging so many minutes, it is hard to imagine he is sitting out.
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