The NBA Injury Report could have a slate-altering injury already. 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 six games for NBA DFS tonight and a few games are full of fantasy appeal.
NBA Injury Report & Starting Lineups Today | Oct. 28
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
Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies
Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards
Hawks – Not Submitted
Atlanta played in New Orleans last night and the first version of the NBA Injury Report has not been submitted yet. However, Clint Capela sat out the preseason games with an Achilles issue and his minutes have been limited this season. Through four games, Capela has played 21, 27, 26 and 29 minutes.
Seeing as how the season high came last night, it may not be a surprise to see either Capela sitting out or on a stricter minutes limit. John Collins has 1.29 fantasy points per minute and his usage rate is 22.4% and is an appealing option no matter what. Capela being limited in any capacity would raise the desire to play him against a vulnerable Washington interior that is 20th in paint points allowed.
Wizards – Not Submitted
Just like the Hawks, Washington has not submitted the official NBA Injury Report. They will be dealing with an injury in their front court as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last night that Daniel Gafford will have an MRI today. He played just seven minutes last night, and Montrezl Harrell logged 38 with a 25-point, 11-rebound double-double. It should be expected that he shoulders another major workload and with Gafford off the court this season, Harrell has a 19.1% usage rate and 1.10 fantasy points per minute.
Detroit Pistons at Philadelphia 76ers
Pistons – Cade Cunningham – Out
Jerami Grant – Questionable
Grant’s status has a direct effect on Kelly Olynyk. If Grant is out again, Olynyk would almost surely draw the start and he played 30 minutes in the last game. He scored 38 DraftKings points and is still under $6,000. Olynyk took 15 shots and would stand to be popular. It should be noted that Saddiq Bey took a season-high in 3-point attempts without Grant as well. Perhaps that was a coincidence, but Bey has averaged 38 DraftKings points through three games while shooting 4-17 from 3-point distance, 23.5%. For context, he was at 38% in his rookie year, and the rebounding numbers (10.7 per game) are an encouraging sign as well.
76ers – Ben Simmons – Out
Joel Embiid, Shake Milton – Questionable
Embiid may well be questionable the rest of the way and he played another 30 minutes in the past game. He has not taken just seven shots in that many minutes in recent history, so it seems as though the knee could be bothering him. His performance has not been quite what was expected for fantasy at any rate with no scores over 51.25 on DraftKings. Milton could be moderately interesting because if he plays, he is minimum price on DraftKings. Last season when Simmons was off the floor, Milton had a usage rate over 27% and a 1.00 fantasy point per minute. He does not need a ton of minutes to be intriguing at the site minimum.
New York Knicks at Chicago Bulls
Knicks – Nerlens Noel – Questionable
Noel is still attempting to make his season debut, but it is not of fantasy relevance. Obi Toppin has only played 12 minutes in each of the past two games and Taj Gibson is under 20 minutes as well. If Noel plays, those get split even further.
Bulls – Zach LaVine – Questionable
The injury for LaVine popped up as a small tear of a ligament in the thumb of his non-shooting hand, so he is hoping to play through it. If he sits out, the Bulls are a puzzle. Yes, there is a sample from this season, but it is small with so many new players. For instance, Nikola Vucevic has a 24.4% usage and 1.12 fantasy points per minute but that is just a 10-minute sample. The priority would likely have to go to DeMar DeRozan who has the most minutes on the court without LaVine and has a 34.7% usage rate and 1.38 fantasy points per minute. For Lonzo Ball, the assist rate is 30% with 1.32 fantasy points per minute and it would be easier to justify spending on any of these three without LaVine. Lastly, Patrick Williams is super cheap on DraftKings and sees his usage rate double to 18.1%.
Utah Jazz at Houston Rockets
Jazz – Bojan Bogdanovic – Questionable
Rudy Gay – IR
Bogdanovic has an illness and earned the questionable tag on the NBA Injury Report. It could wind up being not much but if he sat, Joe Ingles would likely start. However, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson all still have high usage rates (above 33% for Clarkson and Mitchell) so Ingles would not be doing as much for running the offense. Generally, he is a more appealing target if one of the guards is out.
Rockets – Danuel House – Out
House was only playing 11 minutes per game, so his absence does not spread anything to any other player worth chasing.
San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks
Spurs – Doug McDermott – Out
McDermott may not be the largest name on the slate, but it does help secure some minutes for Lonnie Walker, Keita Bates-Diop and Devin Vassell. McDermott was playing 25 minutes a night so there are some to go around and with him off the court, Walker and Vassell both saw minor bumps in usage and fantasy points per minute. Based off playing time after McDermott left, Bates-Diop could start. He played all but three minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime plus five minutes in the third quarter. That could have been matchup-based since it was against the Lakers because he played just one minute in the game before. It also took him 29 minutes to generate 17.75 DraftKings points, so Vassell and Walker are the preferred fantasy targets.
Mavericks – Kristaps Porzingis – Questionable
As things stand, this is the largest question mark on NBA Injury Report. Porzingis played just 19 minutes in the last game and was unable to return due to issues with his back. Luka Doncic becomes the priority for all formats as he has a 36.2% usage and 1.89 fantasy points per minute with Porzingis off the floor. Those numbers are mostly in line with last season with the fantasy points per minute being .36 higher this year. Jalen Brunson has also played the second-most minutes without Porzingis and has 0.98 fantasy points per minute with a 23.7% assist rate. Compare that to 0.76 fantasy points per minute for Tim Hardaway Jr. and Brunson has plenty of reason to play him as well. Hardaway Jr. has a 68% true shooting rate on top of it, which will not last.
Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors
Grizzlies – Not Submitted
The Grizzlies played in Portland last night, so they had no report to file in the first run of the official version. Since they were blown out and curtailed the starters at the end of the game, any injuries are probably not serious,
Warriors – Klay Thompson, Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman – Out
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