Utah lost both of its All-Star forwards before halftime on Monday night, and it lost the game with them. The Jazz fell 110-105 to the Memphis Grizzlies at Delta Center, but the score is not the story. Lauri Markkanen left in the first quarter with a right wrist injury. Early in the second quarter, Memphis guard Ty Jerome drove to the rim, took a foul from Svi Mykhailiuk and fell into Jaren Jackson Jr.'s right knee. Jackson stayed in for one more possession, checked out with 10:04 left in the quarter and did not return. He finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 10 minutes.
Tuesday brought the imaging, and the imaging brought the verdict. Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon reported for ESPN that Jackson tore the MCL in his right knee, that he will be sidelined six to eight weeks and that he will not require surgery. That is the update our fantasy basketball HQ page is built on, and the most important words in it are the last three: no surgery required. Six weeks puts him back in the second week of December. Eight weeks puts him back the week before Christmas. The schedule Utah plays between now and then runs to about 20 games, and every one of them needs a new center.
Here is what fantasy teams are losing. Jackson opened the season averaging 19.7 points and 5.7 rebounds through the first three games, and his Friday line against New Orleans was the full show: 24 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Utah had just made him the starting center after sign-and-trading Walker Kessler to the Lakers in the summer, so there is no understudy waiting with the job memorized. The minutes, the rim protection and the blocks are all up for grabs at once.
So here is the fantasy ruling. Jackson goes into an IL spot today if your league gives you one, and he is not a drop in most formats. A top frontcourt option who scores, rebounds and protects the rim does not grow on the wire, and a six to eight week timeline with no surgery is a hold, not a funeral. The only real conversation is a shallow league with no IL spot and a bench squeezed to nothing, and even there the calendar says December and not March.
The stream is the man who took the minutes on Monday. Mo Bamba replaced Jackson in the second quarter and never gave the job back: 29 minutes, 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, with Utah outscoring Memphis by 11 while he was on the floor. Will Hardy leaned on him as the defensive anchor, and he gets San Antonio at home on Wednesday and Portland at home on Saturday this week. If your team needs blocks and rebounds right now, Bamba is the add.
Now the honest part, because the job is rented and not owned. Jaxson Hayes started at center on opening night and averaged 23.7 minutes through the first three games. Only right shoulder soreness kept him out on Monday, and the reporting has no firm timeline on him yet. Jusuf Nurkic has not played a minute this season with a toe injury. When either big man is cleared, Bamba's minutes squeeze, so treat him as a game to game stream and not a two month set piece. Kyle Filipowski is the name the fantasy sites are pushing, and on Monday he played eight minutes and finished a minus-13 while Bamba ran the middle. He is a speculative add in deep leagues only. And keep one eye on Markkanen: his wrist went through the same Tuesday imaging and no timeline has been announced. If he misses time too, Ace Bailey's usage climbs after his 17 points and 10 rebounds on Monday.
By Kingston O'Neal, who stashes the star and streams the minutes.