Injuries Spark Mass Drops: Fantasy Basketball’s Latest Roster Cuts

After looking at some more fantasy basketball waiver wire options, let's go over some of the most-dropped players. 

More drops can be found daily on the FantasySP waiver trends most dropped tab, which can be found on any fantasy basketball page on the site. 

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Jusuf Nurkic - Utah Jazz

Nurkic is the top drop of the day, down 25.8%. He's rostered in 47% of leagues right now.

Nurkic is the latest Utah big man to be lost for the season. He is out for the remainder of the season because he has to undergo a surgical procedure on his nose.

Over 41 games (36 starts), Nurkic averaged 10.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks over 26.4 minutes a night. He had 15 double-doubles and three triple-doubles this season.

He was picking up some of the slack with Walker Kessler out for the season. Jaren Jackson Jr. is also out for the season. That leaves guys like Kyle Filipowski (who we covered in the waiver story) to lead the Jazz at power forward/center.

As for Nurkic, he's safe to drop in all redraft leagues, no matter how large or short the rosters are. This shouldn't affect his long-term outlook, so he's worth stashing in some dynasty/keeper leagues, but he still could be droppable in those leagues, especially if roster spots are tight.

Dillon Brooks - Phoenix Suns

Brooks is owned in 56% of leagues at the moment - he's down 7.8% today. Brooks is out 4-6 weeks with a left hand injury. 

He started all 50 games that he's appeared in this season, averaging 20.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1 steal and 0.2 blocks over 30.6 minutes a night. This has been a breakout year for Brooks, so it's a bummer that he's now out several weeks.

Based on how he heals/ramps back up, he will either return in late March or mid-April. The NBA regular season ends on April 12, so Brooks is going to miss most of the rest of the regular season, if not all of it. 

That means that Brooks might not be worth holding on to in a lot of fantasy leagues, especially if you don't have an injured reserve spot to stash him in. Assess your team, but it's likely that Brooks is only worth holding on to in really deep leagues.

It's going to hurt the fantasy teams that rostered him, as he's been a fantasy surprise this season. No one waiver wire option will be able to replace Brooks, but at least that player gives you the chance for some fantasy production, while Brooks doesn't while injured, of course.

Jalen Smith and Anfernee Simons - Chicago Bulls

Smith has been let go in 6.3% of leagues, while Simons is down 3.4%. Smith is owned in 60% of leagues, while Simons is rostered in 70%.

Smith and Simons are two more guys dealing with injuries, so it's really no surprise to see all four guys we've discussed being dropped. Smith is day-to-day with a calf ailment, while Simons is out with a left wrist injury (his return isn't known).

Over 46 games (15 starts), Smith is averaging 10.3 points, 7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.5 steals over 20.3 minutes a night. He was picking up more after the team traded Nikola Vucevic away (for Simons), so him now being out is a bummer.

Smith had done some nice things without Vucevic around, so hopefully he isn't out too much longer, and he can get back to producing like he had been.

Smith is droppable in standard leagues, and he could become droppable in deeper leagues if he misses a few more games. His status is worth watching, as he's worth adding/utilizing in deeper leagues and some standard leagues when he's active.

Simons has upped his play since joining the Bulls, although playing more minutes a night should result in that. He's averaging 15.2 points, 3 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 0.3 blocks over 28.3 minutes in his six games (five starts) with Chicago.

Simons is a good deep-league asset, and worth some standard league ownership at those averages, but now he's being dropped thanks to this injury. That makes sense to me, but again, I'd be watching his status and be ready to re-add him when he's close to returning.