The NBA Injury Report is shorter than normal, at least for now. 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 5 games for NBA DFS but the main slate only contains four of them.
NBA Injury Report & Starting Lineups Today | Oct. 31
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
Utah Jazz, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons
Sacramento Kings at Dallas Mavericks
Kings – None
Mavericks – Kristaps Porzingis – Questionable
Regardless of Porzingis playing or not, Luka Doncic will be looking to shake off a sluggish start to the season as he is averaging under 47 DraftKings points per game. He is only shooting 25.7% from 3-point range compared to 33% for his career. He is another player that has seen his free-throw attempts drop by a significant amount from 7.5 for his career to 4.1 so far this year. While Porzingis has been off the floor, Doncic has a 37.1% usage rate and 1.47 fantasy points per minute through 108 minutes this year.
Jalen Brunson also continues to help fill the Porzingis void in the lineup with the second-most usage at 20.7% and 1.01 fantasy points per minute. This matchup could help since the Kings are ninth in pace and 23rd in defensive rating, a great mix for production.
Portland Trail Blazers at Charlotte Hornets
Trail Blazers – Tony Snell – Probable
Hornets – Terry Rozier – Probable
Rozier being able to play again would likely give the Hornets their everyday starting lineup. Kelly Oubre has been starting for Rozier but the expectation is he will retreat to the bench tonight and he is the only player on the report.
Utah Jazz at Milwaukee Bucks
Jazz – Not Yet Submitted
The Jazz visited the Bulls last night, so the first run of the official NBA Injury Report will have to wait. They were without guard Mike Conley last night but that was for rest/management purposes. The expectation is Utah would be at full strength again.
Bucks – Not Yet Submitted
The official version is not available, but Coach Mike Budenholzer helped the DFS community He’s stated that Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez are not expected to play either game over the weekend. They can safely be built without tonight, and Donte DiVincenzo continues to rehab his injury and has no timetable.
Bobby Portis is on track to play since he sat for rest on Saturday night so, past the previous three players, Milwaukee could be fully healthy. Unless something changes, the continued focus from this team will remain on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. The Jazz is in the top five as far as defensive rating while the Bucks are fourth in pace, making this game an interesting stylistic matchup.
Detroit Pistons at Brooklyn Nets
Pistons – Not Yet Submitted
As of last night, the Pistons welcomed Cade Cunningham into their lineup for the first time since he had missed time with an ankle injury. That gave them their full complement of players, but Cunningham played just 19 minutes. It is not hard to build a scenario where Detroit wants to be hyper-cautious with their franchise cornerstone and he could possibly sit.
Nets – Kyrie Irving, Nicolas Claxton, Paul Millsap – Out
The fact that Claxton and Millsap are both out could present some strong value in LaMarcus Aldridge. He played 28 minutes last game and while the rotations for the Nets are volatile, this game stands out as a strong matchup. Aldridge averages 5.6 paint touches per game and Detroit is 27th in paint rebounds allowed. They have not allowed a lot of points in the paint thus far at second lowest, but Aldridge has a 1.27 fantasy points per minute with Claxton and Millsap off the floor. The Nets could play small, but they are also down to Aldridge and Blake Griffin for reliable big men. With a DraftKings salary under $5,000, Aldridge could be popular.
Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
Rockets – John Wall – Out
Kevin Porter Jr. – Questionable
Porter Jr. is being listed as questionable, but the reports have him trending towards playing. If he were to miss, Christian Wood sees his usage jump to 25% and 1.53 fantasy points per minute. Jalen Green would also become more interesting with 0.70 fantasy points per minute and an abysmal 35.5% true shooting rate. He is capable of scoring with a 30-point effort already under his belt, it is just harder to believe in any type of consistency. With all the injuries for the other team so far, the Lakers are fifth in pace and have the fifth-worst defensive rating in basketball.
Lakers – Talen Horton-Tucker, Trevor Ariza, Kendrick Nunn – Out
Anthony Davis – Probable
LeBron James – Questionable
Potentially the most important injury on the NBA Injury Report is LeBron’s ankle. It was a bit surprising to see him emerge with a questionable tag for this game considering he played 38 minutes in the previous game. That would lend some credence to it may still actually be an issue. With Davis probable and Russell Westbrook not on the report, they would be the primary targets here.
When LeBron has been off the floor, both players are over a 32% usage and nearly identical 1.48 (Davis) and 1.47 (Westbrook) fantasy points per minute. Malik Monk has taken the starting role for James but is reliant on scoring for his fantasy output with just a 13.8% usage and 0.68 fantasy points per minute. Chalky players with those metrics are easy to find pivots away from in tournaments.
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