Magic's Mo Bamba, Jonathan Isaac Fantasy Outlook After Nikola Vucevic Injury
Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic will reportedly miss at least the next four weeks due to an ankle injury.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the news. Vucevic went down in Wednesday's loss to the Toronto Raptors, finishing with three points, five rebounds and five assists in 11 minutes. The big man had been putting up numbers similar to his 2019 All-Star campaign, averaging 17.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 blocks to stand out as one of the NBA's most versatile bigs.
The Magic also lost Aaron Gordon to an ankle injury in that contest, though no long-term prognosis has been given. Assuming Gordon at least misses a couple of games—and perhaps longer—this will be an opportunity for fantasy owners to hopefully get production from some of their other young bigs.
Jonathan Isaac
Isaac should already be owned in every season-long format, but he has the best chance to break out as a value in DFS. The third-year forward finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocks against Toronto, numbers that may wind up holding up in the short term. There is going to be an 18-rebound void that needs to be filled every night, and Isaac has already shown signs of a major leap on the defensive end.
Provided he stays a mid-tier choice in nightly salary, Isaac should become a nightly double-double threat who also gets you two or three blocks per night.
Mo Bamba
Let's not mince words here: Bamba has been a huge disappointment since arriving in Orlando. He's seemingly made no progress from Year 1 to Year 2 through 12 games and is shooting a ghastly 33.9 percent from the floor as a 7-foot big man.
If he's going to flash as an NBA player, now is the time to get started. Vucevic's injury should force him into extended minutes and give him a chance to work through his growing pains for the first time in his NBA career. We'll have to see how the center minutes are distributed, but Bamba will have every opportunity to become a valuable fantasy piece—particularly in the rebounds and blocks categories.
It'll say a lot about where the Magic see him as a player if Khem Birch winds up getting those vacated minutes instead.
