My ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball team was hit by a couple of significant injuries last week, losing Kevin Martin (and his 30 ppg average) for 6-8 weeks, and Tony Parker to a sprained ankle.
The Parker injury isn’t serious – he’s listed as day-to-day. But Martin’s is exactly the sort that creates major challenges in fantasy NBA leagues.
First, some background: NBA teams have an active roster of 12 and up to three “inactive” players. There’s no “disabled list.” Like many fantasy NBA leagues, mine follows that same model. This one uses a ten-man active roster (PG, SG, SF, PF, C, G, F, 3 UTILS) and a three-man bench.
So, I can’t add anyone to replace Martin without dropping a player.
And that’s the problem.
If a long-term injury hit one of my spare players… someone like Jonny Flynn or Mario Chalmers… I’d drop him and look to the wire. But Martin is one of the league’s top scorers – it’s worth my trouble to work around his absence. Besides, if I drop a player of Martin’s caliber, some other owner will snap him up in a second.
That means I might have to make a move with another player that I like – a Chalmers, or a Lou Williams – to find a viable Martin replacement for the next two months. For now, I’ll try to hang on with Williams and Flynn in Martin and Parker’s regular spots – and hope no one else gets hurt. (I’m looking at you, Manu Ginobili.)
Read the rest of the column and this week’s waiver wire picks at NBA.com – Replacing Kevin Martin.
