Welcome to the Week 15 fantasy basketball injury report where we cover the latest in medium to long-term NBA injuries and their relevance to you – a fantasy basketball player.
Week 15 Fantasy Basketball Injury Report
Joel Embiid, C – Philadelphia 76ers
Injury: Left knee injury
Projected Return Date: Mid-April?
Embiid injured his left knee in Tuesday’s game against the Warriors and has since been diagnosed with a torn meniscus. While no recovery timeline has been released yet, this is clearly a nightmare scenario for all the fantasy teams rostering Embiid. Unless there’s an urgent reason for the waiver wire, I would wait for more news to come out before I drop Embiid. The recovery estimates I’ve seen have been between 4 weeks and 6 months depending on the surgical procedure needed. So at the most optimistic end, he could still play a part this fantasy season.
Meanwhile, Paul Reed becomes a must-roster in all leagues. In the 13 games he’s played without Embiid this season, he’s averaged 11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.2 steals in 26 minutes. That is equivalent to roughly a top 60 fantasy player. But Reed isn’t exactly going to fill Embiid’s offensive role. No one can but Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris will get big boosts to their statlines. As will Kelly Oubre Jr. and De’Anthony Melton (once returned from his injury). In deeper leagues, Marcus Morris and Nicolas Batum might be worth a look.
Recommendation: Wait to drop.
Tyrese Haliburton, PG/SG – Indiana Pacers
Injury: Left hamstring strain injury management
Projected Return Date: Day-to-day
Haliburton injured his hamstring, returned unexpectedly early for Pascal Siakam’s Pacers debut, missed 5 more after that, and is now playing on a minutes restriction. It’s reasonable to speculate that he wouldn’t be playing at all without the 65-game and 20-minute requirement to qualify for post-season awards and a bigger contract. By my count, he can still miss 4 games of the 33 remaining and meet the threshold. Not great for fantasy players but I wouldn’t panic either. If anything, I’d try to finagle a trade for Haliburton if the current owner is panicking. At some point, he’s surely coming off the restriction. At the very least after the All-Star break. Of course, there is still a risk of re-injuring the hamstring. Precarious situation but I’m leaning towards being more bullish on Haliburton. As long as the minutes are restricted, the backups in Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell remain somewhat viable fantasy players. I suppose.
Recommendation: Don’t panic.
Julius Randle, PF – New York Knicks
Injury: Right shoulder dislocated
Projected Return Date: Post-ASG
The Knick All-Star dislocated his shoulder last week against Miami. He’s going to be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks. This is a good time to remember that Re-evaluated Is Not The Same As Returning or RINTSAR for short. Depending on how the recovery goes, this might just as easily drag into March. Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart seem to be the main beneficiaries of the situation with DiVincenzo putting up elite numbers so far. Though both are universally rostered by now there doesn’t seem to be anyone off the bench to be worth rostering. At least with Thibs you can bank on the starters playing 40 minutes a game.
Recommendation: None really.
Jalen Williams, SG/SF/PF – Oklahoma City Thunder
Injury: Right ankle sprain
Projected Return Date: In a week or so
Williams will miss the next couple of games with an ankle sprain according to coach Mark Daigneault. Williams has been a top-50 fantasy player this season and will have big shoes to fill. Though, I’d expect the second-tier players to alternate big minutes and big games in a way that none of them will be particularly good fantasy pickups. I’m talking of people like Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins. The only must-roster players in OKC remain Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.
Recommendation: Look elsewhere.
Jarrett Allen, C – Cleveland Cavaliers
Injury: Left ankle injury
Projected Return Date: Week-to-week
Allen left Thursday’s game against Memphis with an ankle injury. No specifics on severity have been released yet so it could be anything from a small-time ouchy to a few weeks rest. The injury lines up annoyingly well with Evan Mobley’s return so Allen’s stats would have started to diminish anyway. Allen is too good to drop unless the injury turns out to be very bad so I’d wait this one out with him on the IR.
Recommendation: No big opportunities here.