Injury Report

To stay up-to-date on all of the injury news with up-to-the-minute updates, make sure to check out our LIVE Injury Report!

Note that teams have until 1 p.m. local time on the day of a game to submit their report for the second leg of a back-to-back, so look out for updates throughout the day as appropriate.

Teams that have a Tuesday-Wednesday B2B: None

Charlotte Hornets @ Los Angeles Lakers

Game Time:  10:00 pm ET

DraftKings Lines

LA -12 (-700), CHA +12 (+500)
Game Total: 227

Key Storylines

Center Rotation Part 1: On the Lakers’ side, starting center Jaxson Hayes only played seven minutes last time out as he had to exit the game due to a face contusion. Good news is that Hayes is off the injury report for Wednesday’s contest. Hayes should continue to start for the Lakers for now and can be rostered in standard formats. Alex Len logged 22 minutes in his Lakers debut prior to the break, amassing four points, seven rebounds, two assists and one block. While both Hayes and Len are not the long-term solutions for the Lakers at the five, they do not have any competition really (apologies Christian Koloko) for minutes on the current roster, unless the Lakers decide to pivot and go with a small-ball center such as Dorian Finney-Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt or even Rui Hachimura. Until we see that happening, both Hayes and Len will be usable in fantasy, although Hayes is preferred right now as Len has not been able to be impactful in large minutes throughout his career and is older now.

Center Rotation Part 2: All three Hornets’ Centers (Mark Williams, Jusuf Nurkic and Moussa Diabaté) will be suiting up on Wednesday (Williams is probable). This will be the first time that all three big men will be available post-trade deadline. Fantasy managers should monitor how head coach Charles Lee manages the playing time distribution. Diabaté can play the four, but this move would severely limit the spacing on offense for the Hornets. Mark Williams is the expected starter, but fantasy managers should expect Williams to miss games down the stretch of the season considering his injury history and the Hornets’ position in the standings. He had already been sitting every back-to-back anyway and this is actually the first leg of one such back-to-back. Games in which Williams will be unavailable for will be prime opportunities for Nurkic and Diabaté to be strong streaming options in standard formats. However, in standard-size leagues, holding onto Nurkic and Diabaté in non-stashable formats (such as leagues without extended benches) while Williams is healthy might be difficult to do with fantasy playoffs approaching in many leagues. If you have Diabate, you should hold for these next two games to see what his role looks like with Williams returning and likely sitting one.

Additional Notes: At time of writing, LaMelo Ball is listed as probable and is poised to make his return vs. the Lakers. LeBron James is listed as questionable, which is not surprising after the All-Star game shenanigans. James should be able to play on Wednesday. However, should LeBron not play, expect players such as Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura to get a boost in usage and shot opportunities on Wednesday.

Stream of the Game

Nick Smith Jr. is getting more opportunities since Brandon Miller went down with an injury and can be considered as a streaming option in standard formats.

Alternatives: Moussa Diabate (Jusuf Nurkic may be risky if he is the third center), Jaxson Hayes and Josh Green. Dorian Finney-Smith, Alex Len and Jarred Vanderbilt (deeper formats).

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