Fantasy Basketball Injuries to Monitor Early On: LeBron James, Tyler Herro, Darius Garland and More
Looking at injured fantasy basketball players as the regular season nears.
The NBA regular season gets started on Tuesday, October 21, so this is the last weekend you can draft before the new fantasy basketball season kicks off.
With that in mind, I wanted to put together a few basketball-related stories. This one will focus on some injured players as the year starts up.
Check out fantasy basketball Average Draft Position data on FantasySP as you prepare for the 2025-26 NBA season!
Long-Term Injuries
Of course, there's already a bunch of long-term injuries that are going to change the fantasy basketball landscape this season.
Boston's Jayson Tatum is likely out for the season after suffering an Achilles injury last postseason. In his absence, you can expect several Celtics to step up, including Jaylen Brown, Anfernee Simons, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard and more.
Dallas' Kyrie Irving is working his way back from an ACL injury. There's hope that he could return in January. Without him around, D'Angelo Russell, Cooper Flagg, Dereck Lively II, Klay Thompson, Dante Exum, Brandon Williams and more will take on more for the Mavericks.
Houston's Fred VanVleet is out for the season with a torn ACL. That will put more on the plate of Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun, Aaron Holiday and more.
Tyrese Haliburton is out for the whole season with his Achilles injury he suffered last postseason. Andrew Nembhard, T.J. McConnell, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, Ben Sheppard, Pascal Siakam, Obi Toppin and Isaiah Jackson will help shoulder the load this season.
Damian Lillard is another big-name player out for the year with an Achilles injury. That leaves Jrue Holiday, Shaedon Sharpe and others to hold down the point guard spot, while Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan, Jerami Grant and others will be utilized a bit more.
Other Injuries
Cleveland's Darius Garland (toe) and Max Strus (foot) are expected to miss a little time, at least, with injuries. That will leave more for Lonzo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, Sam Merrill and others at the guard spot in the early going. Guys like De'Andre Hunter, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and more will also help pick up the slack.
Detroit's Jaden Ivey will be re-evaluated in four weeks after having a knee ailment. That means Caris LeVert, Marcus Sasser and Duncan Robinson could have expanded roles early on, while Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren, among others, get slight fantasy boosts too.
Golden State's De'Anthony Melton is set to be re-evaluated at the end of this month. Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Buddy Hield will shoulder more with Melton out, while Jimmy Butler III, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Jonathan Kuminga and others could also see boosts until Melton is ready to go.
Indiana's McConnell should be back on the court sometime in November, but his absence will put more on Nembhard, Mathurin, Sheppard, Nesmith and others. Cameron Payne could also see an expanded role early in the season with McConnell out.
LA Lakers' LeBron James will miss a few weeks with a sciatica injury. Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia and Maxi Kleber could all help out until James returns. More will be on the plates of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton, while Gabe Vincent and Marcus Smart and more will see more time and usage until LeBron comes back.
Brandon Clarke (knee) and Zach Edey (ankle) will miss some time to start the season for the Grizzlies. Jock Landale, Santi Aldama, GG Jackson II and Jaren Jackson Jr. will all pick up the slack at the big men spots. Ja Morant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jaylen Wells, Ty Jerome, Cedric Coward and Vince Williams Jr. could also see more usage in the meantime.
Miami's Tyler Herro is out several weeks with a foot/ankle injury. Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware will pick up the slack in the starting lineup (most likely), while Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic and others could also take on more in the early going.
New Orleans will be without Kevon Looney (knee) for a bit, and Dejounte Murray (Achilles) until early in 2026. Guys like Jordan Poole, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones, Jeremiah Fears, Jordan Hawkins, Saddiq Bey, Zion Williamson, Derik Queen and Yves Missi could pick up the slack in the early going.
Kenrich Williams (knee), Nikola Topic (testicular) and Thomas Sorber (out for season with ACL tear) are the Thunder players battling injuries. Not much will change in the team's starting lineup, but guys like Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins and Jaylin Williams could take on more early with that trio of players out.
Philly's Jared McCain has a thumb injury, and isn't expected to miss much time. Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, VJ Edgecombe and Kelly Oubre Jr. are among the players who could help out more early on, and guys like Adem Bona, Justin Edwards and Andre Drummond will help out for any games Joel Embiid and Paul George miss.
Phoenix's Jalen Green is going to be re-evaluated in about a week - he's dealing with a hamstring injury. Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and others will fill the void early on. Ryan Dunn, Dillon Brooks and Devin Booker could also have a bit better fantasy outlooks until Green is back up to speed.
Scoot Henderson is likely going to miss at least a couple weeks of the regular season with a hamstring injury, so Portland will be hurting without him and Lillard. In the meantime, Holiday, Sharpe and others will have to step up. Henderson will be someone to stash for his return, and hopefully he can stay healthy after that.
Sacramento's Keegan Murray got a new contract recently, but also is out with a thumb injury. He's expected back sometime in November or December. The Kings don't have great talent at forward, so Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan could be asked to shoulder even more than normal. Domantas Sabonis, Dennis Schroder, Keon Ellis, Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk will also be asked to do more, and maybe Doug McDermott, Drew Eubanks and Dario Saric also pick up some slack early on.
Jeremy Sochan (wrist) and De'Aaron Fox (hamstring) aren't expected to miss a ton of time, but they are banged up to open the season. Jordan McLaughlin, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and others will help fill in for Fox, while Harrison Barnes, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Julian Champagnie and others will help out at forward/center. Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk could also work in behind Victor Wembanyama.
Utah's Georges Niang is dealing with a foot injury. He shouldn't miss a ton of time though. Taylor Hendricks, Lauri Markkanen, Ace Bailey, Kyle Filipowski and more will help out at the forward spots until Niang returns. The injury could also thrust Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh and Walter Clayton Jr. into bigger roles.
Bilal Coulibaly is expected to miss a little time maybe with a thumb injury. Kyshawn George, Corey Kispert, Justin Champagnie and Khris Middleton will hold things down at the forward spots. More could be asked out of Bub Carrington, CJ McCollum, Cam Whitmore, Tre Johnson, Alexandre Sarr and Tristan Vukcevic in the meantime too.
