The NBA regular season was not even a full night old before the first major injury struck taking down one of the games big-name newcomers on one of the most well-known teams in the league. Last night in LA, as the Lakers were getting hammered by the Rockets, first-rounder Julius Randle collapsed after taking a shot less than 14 minutes into his NBA career.
Randle was taken off the court on a stretcher and X-rays later revealed he had a broken tibia in his right leg. The timetable for his return is still to be determined based on the results of further tests, but he will definitely miss significant time. The progression of Randle was supposed to be a bright spot in the Lakers sure-to-be-dismal season, and now that will be derailed for a few weeks as well.
From a fantasy basketball perspective, Randle had intriguing upside on a team where he would get plenty of playing time even if shots were going to be hard to come by. With the injury, he can now be dropped in all but the very deepest re-draft formats and dynasty leagues since he will miss such a significant portion of the season.
In his absence, the big fantasy basketball winner is Carlos Boozer who will now dominate the minutes at power forward and holds a firm grasp on the starting role. Boozer isn’t going to post jaw-dropping numbers on most nights for this team, and there will likely be a few stinkers along the way. However, his increased minutes and steady rebounding numbers with consistent scoring is the kind of non-sexy but solid pickup that can push your team up the early-season standings.
Boozer should be added in standard formats and should provide solid, balanced lines like he did last night. In his team-high 28 minutes Boozer scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and handed out two assists.
Another beneficiary from Randle’s absence is Jordan Hill who will play a larger role in the big-man rotation and should be able to provide boards and blocks at a fantasy-relevant rate as long as he can overcome a neck injury that cost him some time in preseason. The other player who could offer some interesting stats if he gets some of Randle’s minutes is Ryan Kelly who had some solid stretches in his rookie season last year and now could see run as Boozer’s backup. Kelly is still working his way back from his own injury (hamstring), but watch his minutes once he returns to see if he’s worth a fantasy play in the right situations.