Fantasy Mailbag: Concern over Giannis Antetokounmpo's knee injury

The trade deadline has passed, former All-Stars are joining title contenders for free, and the fantasy playoffs are in sight.

So, you have questions, and I have what I guess you could call answers. Time for the fantasy basketball mailbag.

How worried are you about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s knee? @etai_b (IG)

I think you have to be worried about Giannis. Yes, the Bucks are being extremely cautious, but he has now missed five consecutive games with a sore knee.

People forget that when the season shut down last March, Giannis was out with a knee issue then, and we know he suffered some injuries in the playoffs that caused him to miss games in the series the Bucks eventually lost to the Heat.

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So, it would be foolish to just pass this off as an excuse to get Giannis some rest after a busy regular season.

I’m not saying that he is missing the rest of the regular season - that would be the 1st percentile outcome - but the concern is really about how many games he misses here and how many more sporadic absences there will be when the real focus for Milwaukee is in May.

How do you project Toronto’s centre rotation? What kind of impact can we expect on Chris Boucher’s numbers with Khem Birch coming in? - @gusssyboy (Discord)

We will have a better idea after Monday’s game, but Nick Nurse’s comments pregame don’t bode particularly well for Boucher.

Nurse views Boucher as a power forward and pregame when asked about Birch, he said it was great to have some size and that going small has not been good.

I can see Birch starting within the next week, and while that doesn’t make him a pickup, it drastically reduces the 28 minute potential of Boucher.

What is Mason Plumlee’s outlook for the rest of the season? - @cecil (Discord)

The Pistons are going absolutely nowhere. They have a first-round pick centre on the bench behind Plumlee, in Isaiah Stewart.

So, even if Plumlee doesn’t get outright benched, his minutes have already been trending down, and he has been subject to sporadic rests.

From here on out, I honestly think that Plumlee will play fewer minutes total than Stewart, and his status as a must roster player for fantasy leagues will end.

It just makes sense to reduce his playing time and see what Stewart can do. Of course, Dwayne Casey’s rotations have been insane, so that could be an issue, but I would be worried if I had Plumlee.

Is Moses Brown a 12 team drop for points leagues? - @ryanshnoi (IG)

Brown was putting up some huge numbers a couple of weeks ago.

Unfortunately for Brown's fantasy owners, the Thunder acquired Tony Bradley and Brown has seen his production fall -all without Isaiah Roby even playing.

Bradley is currently outperforming Brown, and given how the minutes are playing out most nights, it’s hard to place any long-term trust in Brown being a consistent top 100 player.

He will have good nights, but he will also have a share of bad ones and with Darius Bazley back and healthy, when Roby returns, it could get even more crowded at the five in OKC.

I think Brown’s roster spot would be better off being used for streaming in most cases.

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