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Your weekly primer on some of the critical injuries that will impact fantasy basketball. <\/p>\n
\u25b6 ForwardsStart: Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies<\/p>\n
In his NBA debut, Coward finished with 14 points, three rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block in 22 minutes off the bench. Now, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is questionable with an ankle injury. Coward proved himself in his first game as a reserve and was able to make an impact without even taking a three, which is one of the stronger parts of his game. They have a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday with the Heat and Pacers, and it\u2019s entirely possible that Coward gets his first start.<\/p>\n
Start: Obi Toppin, Indiana Pacers<\/p>\n
It turns out the answer to who is going to fill Myles Turner\u2019s role this season isn\u2019t Isaiah Jackson or Jay Huff; it\u2019s Toppin. Jackson was the starter in the season opener, but only played eight minutes after getting in foul trouble. Despite that, Huff only played 12 minutes, while Toppin was productive in 40 minutes off the bench. Jackson and Huff will likely still get opportunities this year, but it seems like Toppin is going to be more important to what this team wants to do. Indiana has a back-to-back against the Grizzlies and Timberwolves on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
Sit: Luguentz Dort, Oklahoma City Thunder<\/p>\n
Dort is still one of the best defenders in the NBA, but he hasn\u2019t had as much offensive success as he has in the past. So far this season, he\u2019s shooting 22.2 percent from the floor and is 1-of-12 from beyond the arc. He\u2019ll get going at some point, but with only one game this weekend, it may not happen yet. The Thunder play the Hawks on Saturday, and Atlanta only allowed the Raptors to hit six three-pointers in the season opener.<\/p>\n
Sit: Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz<\/p>\n
Bailey was on a minutes limit in his regular season debut and wasn\u2019t effective in the minutes he was on the floor. He was battling an illness, but he\u2019s not on the injury report for their game against the Kings on Friday night. Bailey will have a fine rookie year, but he may not immediately move into the starting lineup and be fully healthy to have a big performance just two days later. Play the waiting game with Bailey.<\/p>\n
\u25b6 CentersStart: Ryan Kalkbrenner, Charlotte Hornets<\/p>\n
Charlotte has two games this weekend, with a back-to-back against the 76ers and Wizards. Joel Embiid only played 20 minutes in the season opener, and he didn\u2019t look good in those minutes. Even if Embiid bounces back, Kalkbrenner will still have a matchup with Washington. Alex Sarr is a talented player, but his strength is on the perimeter, not in the paint. Kalkbrenner could certainly leave this weekend with two double-doubles and a plethora of blocks.<\/p>\n
Start: Neemias Queta, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
Queta had 17 points and eight rebounds in the season opener, and now he has two games against the Knicks and Pistons this weekend. New York is without Mitchell Robinson again, which means Queta\u2019s first matchup is Ariel Hukporti. The second game will be against a Detroit team that just allowed Nikola Vucevic to score 28 points in the season opener. Vucevic is obviously a superior offensive player, but it could be two strong opportunities for Queta.<\/p>\n
Sit: Yves Missi, New Orleans Pelicans<\/p>\n
New Orleans only has one game this weekend, and it\u2019s a matchup with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. Missi is dealing with an ankle injury, so if he doesn\u2019t play, the center minutes will fall to Karlo Matkovic (back) and Derik Queen. This goes for all three bigs. Whichever one starts should be avoided.<\/p>\n
Sit: Nic Claxton, Brooklyn Nets<\/p>\n
Claxton was decent in the season opener, but now he has two matchups against the Cavaliers and Spurs this weekend. Having to deal with Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Victor Wembanyama over a three-day span isn\u2019t ideal for anyone. Coach Jordi Fernandez used a balanced rotation in the season opener, which yielded just 23 minutes for Claxton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether you\u2019re in a Yahoo! High Score league, a Sleeper league, a league with a games cap or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-237965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}