On draft day, a lot of fantasy basketball general managers were deciding where to rank and how to draft a number of injured stars. Of course, many of them offer good value but the issue is that it was clear they’d be sideline for a period of time. Some owners invested and in some leagues, these players have been left on the waiver wire. As they get closer to returning to action, we’re sending out a reminder to either pick them up now or add them to your watch list:
Kyrie Irving
Cleveland Cavaliers
Irving went through another full practice on Monday and according to the Cavaliers, he will make his return “sooner rather than later”. Most reports are expecting to see him back in full swing in January. Cleveland is undoubtedly that much more dangerous with their star point guard in the lineup and he should be ready soon. Irving is probably owned in many leagues but the challenge is that he might not be a solid contributor right off the bat. To start, he’s coming off of a serious injury. Secondly, he could be rusty for the first couple of weeks. And thirdly, there’s a small change that he’s never the same. You’ll have to stay away from him in daily fantasy early on.
If you invested in him in a season-long league, you’ll be glad to see him back in action but temper your expectations. If he’s on the waiver wire, you’ll want to start considering adding him before someone else does.
Brandon Jennings
Detroit Pistons
Jennings has resumed working out for the Pistons and with the exception of full five-on-five scrimmages, he has done everything needed to get back in the lineup soon. It’s only a matter of time before Jennings takes that final step. Despite suffering a minor setback earlier in his recovery as a cyst developed behind one of his knees, he is now back on track to return.
The challenge is that we don’t know what we’ll get from Jennings both physically and from a fantasy perspective. Last we saw him, Jennings was almost playing at an MVP-type level. However, the Pistons have since acquired Reggie Jackson and now Jennings will be limited to the sixth-man role for Detroit. Given the potential upside we saw from him last year, he’s someone that you’ll want to stash and hold if you have a roster spot. However, it’ll be hard to gauge what he can do coming back from a serious injury in a new role.
Jusuf Nurkic
Denver Nuggets
The 2014 first-round pick from last year’s NBA Draft averaged 6.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in just 17.8 minutes per game off the bench last year. He was primed for a bigger role this year before suffering a knee injury. Nuggets’ head coach Michael Malone recently said that Nurkic is less than a month away from making his season debut and that means you’ll want to start keeping tabs on him. Denver is a struggling team and Nurkic is deemed to be one of their best building blocks. He’s going to be a strong fantasy asset that provides points, rebounds and blocks.
Myles Turner
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers’ rookie first-round pick was forced to undergo surgery to repair a chip fracture in his left thumb and while he will miss at least the next few weeks, now might be the best time to target him – especially in leagues where impatient owners dropped him. Indiana made Turner the 11th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft for a reason and he could be an elite contributor by the end of the year. The Pacers have proven to be one of the NBA’s surprise teams this season and they have a lot of quality pieces in the backcourt. However, the frontcourt is lacking and Turner will have the opportunity to soak up plenty of minutes and stats.
