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Charlotte Hornets
Gordon Hayward WILL PLAY
Hayward is off of the injury report after fracturing his finger. He was able to get in two practices and should be good for a normal workload. His injury is just a matter of pain management.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Donte Exum, Matthew Dellavedova, Kevin Love, Kevin Porter Jr. OUT
Cleveland will continue to be without a lot of key rotation pieces. This most notably secures Darius Garland and Collin Sexton has the two guards who should carry most of the ballhandling duties. Kevin Love being out helps distribute usage across the entire starting five. Drummond and Love are a pretty bad fit together, so Love being out helps Drummond significantly. Last year we saw weird minutes for Drummond with Tristan Thompson there, Thompson is now in Boston. Drummond is a great DFS play, and I love his PTS+REB props.
New York Knicks
Austin Rivers, Omari Spellman OUT
Dennis Smith Jr., Mitchell Robinson WILL PLAY
Austin Rivers continues to miss time for the Knicks. With Rivers out, that allows the Knicks to add rookie guard Immanuel Quickley into the rotation. Mitchell Robinson is a great fantasy point per minute producer, he is expected to come off of the bench this season.
Indiana Pacers
Goga Bitadze OUT
T.J. Warren WILL PLAY
Not much to report here. Indiana returned nearly every player from their team last season. We should expect similar rotations to last year in a plus matchup versus the New York Knicks.
Miami Heat
Jimmy Butler WILL PLAY
After missing the preseason Jimmy Butler is ready to try and get the Miami Heat back to the NBA Finals.
Orlando Magic
James Ennis OUT
James Ennis will miss this contest. He missed Orlando’s last pre season game as well. The expectation is that Dwayne Bacon will step into the starting lineup. Bacon is a low usage player and a rather unappealing fantasy asset.
Washington Wizards
Rui Hachimura OUT
Ruin Hachimura will miss multiple weeks to start the season. Davis Bertans gets the biggest bump for the new-look Wizards. Bertans is one of the best shooters in the NBA. The Wizards may opt to start Anthony Gill, but Bertans will close.
Philadelphia 76ers
Clean Report
The Sixers have a clean bill of health. The situations to monitor will be Joel Embid’s minutes, along with how Seth Curry and Danny Green fit with the trio of Embid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris. I believe that removing Josh Richardson and Al Horford from this Sixers team allows Tobias Harris to take on a larger scoring role this season.
Milwaukee Bucks
D.J. Augustin OUT
DJ Augustin will miss opening night for the Bucks. Augustin is supposed to play a significant role for the Bucks this season. The departure of Bledsoe and the fumbling of Bogdan Bogdonavic has opened up opportunities in the Bucks backcourt.
Boston Celtics
Kemba Walker OUT
Kemba Walker will start the season on the shelf. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown will be asked to take on a larger ball handling presence during Walker’s absence.
New Orleans Pelicans
Clean Report
The Pelicans starters will be asked to play big minutes under new Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau has always pushed his starters in the mid-high 30s wherever he has been throughout his career.
Toronto Raptors
Patrick McCaw OUT
Norman Powell Q
Norman Powell is one of our few truly questionable spots on this slate. If Powell were to miss then it would lead to more O.G Anunoby minutes, or G-League superstar Chris Boucher playing more in bigger lineups.
Atlanta Hawks
Rajon Rondo, Clint Capela, Tony Snell, Kris Dunn OUT
Cam Reddish, Kevin Huerter WILL PLAY
The Atlanta Hawks injury report impacts this slate significantly. Rajon Rondo Rondo and Kris Dunn missing time to start the year keeps Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdonavic’s minutes extremely secure and gives them potential minutes upside. The most impactful piece of injury news is that Clint Capela is dealing with Achilles soreness. This will allow John Collins to slide down to the 5 where he has been an absolute offensive monster. This move makes the Hawks defense a lot worse, the lack of rim protection will be alarmingly bad.
Chicago Bulls
Tomas Satoransky DOUBTFUL/LIMITED
Thaddeus Young OUT
Satoransky was out due to Covid protocols. He has yet to get in a full practice yet, he will be extremely limited splitting time with Ryan Arcidiacono or not play at all.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Trevor Ariza, Ty Jerome OUT
Ty Jerome missing will allow Hamidou Diallo to play backup PG minutes.
Houston Rockets
James Harden Q (Strip Club)
John Wall, Demarcus Cousins Q
Chris Clemons, Ben Mclemore OUT
James Harden is being investigated for potentially breaking Covid protocols and attending a strip club. This is a situation to monitor. If Harden were to be held out this would make John Wall a very good DFS target. Wall and Cousins have been added to the injury report and may miss tonight’s game because of Covid contact tracing. This would make Christian Wood a priority.
San Antonio Spurs
Derrick White OUT
Derrick White will miss time to start the year. His injury is not significant and he should return rather soon. White being out will move Lonnie Walker into the starting lineup. Walker is a lower usage player than White. This helps Dejounte Murray and Demar Derozan’s usage. Murray is one of my favorite DFS targets today.
Memphis Grizzlies
Jaren Jackson Jr., Xavier Tillman, Justise Winslow OUT
This group of Grizzlies will miss significant time to start the year. Brandon Clarke and Kyle Anderson will be asked to carry the PF workload in their absence.
Detroit Pistons
Clean Report
Clean injury report. It Will be interesting to see how their rotations shake out after playing 15 man rotations for the entire pre-season.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Deangelo Russell WILL PLAY
Russell has been removed from the injury report and should not be limited in any capacity for their opener,
Sacramento Kings
Clean Report
The young Kings have a clean bill of health. How will they handle the Mikal Bridges/Richaun Holmes/Hassan Whiteside big man split will be interesting.
Denver Nuggets
JaMychal Green OUT
The Nuggets will look to supplement Green minutes with slightly more Paul Milsap, or more Michael Porter Jr. at the 4.
Utah Jazz
Derrick Favors WILL PLAY
Favors may be limited after no playing much during the pre season. We did not expect him to play over 20 minutes regardless.
Portland Trail Blazers
Clean Report
Portland will be at full strength to start the year. How they handle Gary Trent, Carmelo Anthony, and Robert Covington’s minutes at the 3/4 will be a situation to monitor.
Dallas Mavericks
Kristaps Porzingis OUT
Maxi Kleber WILL PLAY
With PorzinGOD out to start the season look for Luka Doncic to do it all. Josh Richardson and Tim Hardaway Jr. will be asked to take on big scoring roles for the Mavericks until PorzinGOD returns.
Phoenix Suns
Chris Paul WILL PLAY
Dario Saric OUT
We will get to see Chris Paul for the first time in a Suns uniform. Paul should help create open shots for Deandre Ayton, and Devin Booker all season long. I am very excited to watch this new look Suns team. I don’t think we should expect big minutes from Chris Paul coming off of his ankle injury.
