Injuries to Watch: March 17

We have a lot of tough spots for minutes today, and I tried my best to get all the quotes to help paint a picture in NBA Matchups. Definitely check out NBA Matchups. For injuries here, I think it’s best to just lead with what we learned on the 1:30 update.

1:30 Updates

Well, this came out later than usual and we just found out Kyrie Irving (sore groin) is out today. Big yikes in a non-B2B game for a guy that misses a lot of games. James Harden is now basically a must play while basically every Net gets a big boost. This should also slide up Bruce Brown to be more of a guard than a forward, so he should also really benefit. Plus, this will up Jeff Green’s minutes with Brown sliding up. I’d expect Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to be in the rotation over Chris Chiozza while this doesn’t change Tyler Johnson much.

The lead here is Jimmy Butler (ankle) is questionable. He clearly turned his ankle on Tuesday, so getting the Q tag is no surprise. He did downplay it (he’s Jimmy), but the Heat are being more cautious in this wild schedule. If he can’t go, we’ll see a ton of heavy-guard lineups while KZ Okpala would likely move back into the starting lineup. Precious Achiuwa would likely get minutes, but he’s not an option.

Rodney McGruder (elbow) joins Wayne Ellington (groin) with a doubtful tag. This creates a mess at SG. Coach Dwane Casey has said the first unit needs shooting, but the Pistons really don’t have options. My first thought was Sekou Doumbouya starting because coach Dwane Casey likes to keep his second units together. Delon Wright could also slide over to the SG spot to get Dennis Smith Jr. as the starter, but that just doesn’t seem like something Casey would do. I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Deividas Sirvydis gets the start because he shot it great overseas, but he may not be on the roster for his basketball skills.