NBA Minutes Report: Injuries to Nikola Jokic, Austin Reaves, more have changed landscape

Welcome to the Fantasy Basketball Minutes Report. Every week, I will review each team’s updated minutes per game to see which players are seeing the court more or less than in previous weeks. With this information in hand, I’ll try to discuss any relevant fantasy risers or fallers; players who we should be adding off waivers or removing from our teams.

The charts below are also great for exploring on your own. You can track the minutes over the last three, five, and ten games, and for the entire season, to see which trends stand out to you.

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All of this data was made accessible by Kyle Bland, who is incredibly talented and also extremely generous. Be sure to follow him to check out all of his baseball data as well.

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Atlanta Hawks

Kristaps Porziņģis returned on Wednesday after missing 10 games with an illness. The Hawks will take the time to ramp him up, and he will eventually cut into minutes for Vít Krejčí and others. I also wrote an article this week on why the Hawks have been better without Trae Young, but why it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to trade him for much.

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Boston Celtics

The Celtics have been relatively healthy for the last few weeks, and we’ve seen very little change in their minutes allotment.

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets are currently dealing with injuries to Egor Dëmin and Terance Mann, and Ben Saraf has been sent to the G-League, so the rotation could be shaken up a bit this week. However, they did get Cam Thomas back for the last two games, so we should see his minutes tick up a bit over the next few games (if he can play better defense). He could also take over the lead if/when Michael Porter Jr. is traded.

Charlotte Hornets

Miles Bridges suffered an ankle injury this week, and while it might not be a serious one, I covered the fallout from that in a video this week. I also discussed the injury to Ryan Kalkbrenner and how it has led to an emergence for Moussa Diabaté.

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Chicago Bulls

In a week full of injuries, the Bulls suffered two big ones with both Josh Giddey (hamstring) and Coby White (calf) getting hurt on Monday. I discussed all the repercussions in a video this week.

Cleveland Cavaliers

De’Andre Hunter is battling an illness, but his minutes have dipped a bit anyway with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen both active. There’s a chance the Cavs could get Max Strus back in the next two weeks, which would be a big boost for them.

Dallas Mavericks

The Mavericks aren’t really a healthy team, but they have been healthy over the last few weeks, so we’ve seen their rotation stabilize. Brandon Williams is back to being the main point guard, with De’Angelo Russell and Ryan Nembhard splitting back-up minutes. That kills the fantasy value for the latter two.

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Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets got good news (kinda) on Tuesday when it was revealed that Nikola Jokić will only miss a month with a knee injury. That’s obviously a long time, and made doubly disruptive by the fact that his fill-in, Jonas Valančiūnas, said he felt a pop in his calf this week. That would leave the Nuggets without any real center and also without other starters like Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, and Christian Braun. These could be a bleak couple of weeks for Denver. My colleague, Kurt Helin, wrote an article about the entire fallout.

Detroit Pistons

Tobias Harris (hip) and Caris LeVert (knee) are both dealing with injuries, and while they aren’t considered long-term injuries, they have shifted the minutes usage a bit, especially for Marcus Sasser, who used the Harris injury and mediocre production from Ausar Thompson to sneak into a larger role.

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Golden State Warriors

The Warriors are relatively healthy, except that Seth Curry is yet another player out with sciatica (what is going on?) Quinnen Post has seen his minutes start to dry up with De’Anthony Melton and Will Richard playing more in smaller lineups.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets got Dorian Finney-Smith back and continued to play Tari Eason more minutes, which has led to a much smaller role for Josh Okogie. Alperen Sengun is also battling a calf injury, and Steven Adams is dealing with an ankle injury, so we’ll see if those linger at all.

Indiana Pacers

Isaiah Jackson is dealing with a concussion, but other than that, this Pacers rotation has been pretty consistent for the last few weeks.

Fantasy Basketball Week 2 Injury Report: Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards headline the list of sidelined stars

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The Pacers, Lakers and Thunder are among the teams with lengthy injury reports at the halfway point of Week 2.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers weirdly went on a nice run after Ivica Zubac got hurt. A lot of that has to do with the recent production from Kawhi Leonard, which I covered in a video this week, but getting Derrick Jones Jr. back has also been a nice boost. The minutes decrease for John Collins can just be chalked up to a recent illness.

Los Angeles Lakers

Austin Reaves is hurt again, which means the Lakers have gone back to using Jake LaRavia for major minutes. Rui Hachimura is also dealing with a calf injury, which is why Jarred Vanderbilt has seen his minutes tick up.

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Memphis Grizzlies

With Brandon Clarke and Zach Edey still out, GG Jackson has emerged as a consistent part of the rotation. Injuries to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (hamstring) and Vince Williams Jr. have also opened up more minutes for Cedric Coward again, and the Grizzlies are even trying to experiment with Christian Koloko as a starting frontcourt player. It hasn’t worked great.

Miami Heat

Tyler Herro continues to miss time, and now Pelle Larsson is out with an ankle injury. That has led to more minutes for Nikola Jović, who had a decent outing earlier this week. Bam Adebayo also missed two games with a back injury, but he was back for 21 minutes on Monday, so he should begin to ramp back up to his usual workload.

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Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo returned this week, and I talked about the fallout to the rotation in a video this week.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota has a pretty consolidated six-man rotation, and little has changed. Bones Hyland, Mike Conley, and Jaylen Clark hover on the periphery as the rest of the rotation, but none of them play enough minutes to matter for fantasy leagues.

New Orleans Pelicans

Herbert Jones is battling an ankle injury that has kept him off the court and led to a brief boost in minutes for Bryce McGowen; however, that has not lasted. Kevin Looney has also returned this week and has played solid minutes off the bench behind Derik Queen. This team is really Queen, Trey Murphy III, and Zion Williamson, when he’s healthy, with some solid production from Saddiq Bey sprinkled in at times throughout a given week.

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New York Knicks

The Knicks welcomed Deuce McBride back from his ankle injury, but now Josh Hart is out. We’ve also reached a point in the season where the Knicks are playing so many games in a short period of time that head coach Mike Brown has really extended the rotation to include plenty of young guys like Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar Jr., and Mohamed Diawara. It won’t last, but they’ve looked solid.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Things have remained pretty consistent for the Thunder over the last two weeks, but that also means that Isaiah Hartenstein is in a much smaller role than we saw earlier in the season when Jaylin Williams was out. However, he has also been battling a calf strain, so there’s a chance the Thunder are keeping his minutes in the low-to-mid twenties to manage that as well.

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Orlando Magic

Jalen Suggs returned this week from his hip injury, and while he still isn’t built up to a full workload, it’s nice to see him back on the court. The Magic can use his ball-handling, and his return would likely mean a hit in usage for Desmond Bane and Anthony Black, even though Black will likely remain in the starting lineup and maintain fantasy value. Tyus Jones will also see a big decrease in minutes.

Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers are healthy, and, for now, that means limited minutes for Adem Bona and Jared McCain. We know Bona will be relevant whenever Joel Embiid misses time, but it seems that the strong play from Quentin Grimes has really capped McCain’s value right now. Kelly Oubre Jr. could also return next week, so we’ll need to keep an eye on how that changes the dynamic in Philly.

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Phoenix Suns

Grayson Allen remains out with a knee injury, so Collin Gillespie has remained incredibly valuable to the Suns. With Jalen Green expected back in the second week of January, it will be interesting to see what that does to Gillespie’s role, but he has been a top-40 player in fantasy basketball over the last two weeks, so he needs to be relied on until the Suns show us otherwise.

Portland Trail Blazers

I admit that I thought this team would be better. Yes, Jrue Holiday is still out, and Jerami Grant has missed the last seven games with an Achilles injury, but the younger players haven’t taken the leap I thought they would. Scoot Henderson and Holiday are both doing on-court basketball activities, so it’s possible that both could be on the court within the next two weeks. That would take away almost all of the playing time for Caleb Love, and Grant’s return would move Kris Murray back into a smaller role.

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Sacramento Kings

I never thought we’d see Maxime Raynaud lead the Kings in minutes this season, but here we are. With Zach LaVine (ankle) banged up and Russell Westbrook having his minutes dialed back from early-season highs, we also got to see Keon Ellis play more minutes and rookie Nique Clifford get more run. Frankly, that should have been the case all along, but I’m hesitant to believe the Kings keep this up when they’re healthy.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs seemed to survive a big-time scare when Victor Wembanyama went down with a knee injury in the New Year’s Eve game against the Knicks. Sadly, given his frame, I’m not sure we’ll ever really see him consistently play 70+ minutes a game. The Spurs also lost Devin Vassell to an oblique injury, but it is reportedly expected to only last a couple of games. Dylan Harper should get more run as long as Vassell is out.

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Toronto Raptors

RJ Barrett returned this week, and Scottie Barnes had a record-breaking game mixed in. I covered it all in a video this week.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz had been playing too well, so Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and Jusuf Nurkić all missed some games this week. With Ace Bailey (hip) out, Brice Sensabaugh has been getting some extra run, and Kyle Anderson returned on Thursday to play 32 minutes and put up a solid line. The Jazz were very depleted in that game, so I wouldn’t expect that level of production to continue with the team fully healthy.

Washington Wizards

The Bub Carrington mini breakout appears to be over. We also had a hip flexor injury to Kyshawn George, which has allowed Justin Champagnie to see an uptick in minutes and usage. George’s absence has also allowed Bilaly Coulibaly to return to a higher usage role on the team, which has regained some of his fantasy value.