Injury Report

WNBA injury report

Who is out, questionable or probable for tonight, and which teammates stand to gain if a player sits. The status is the starting point; the useful part is what it does to everybody else in that rotation.

Why an absence matters more in the WNBA

Rosters carry around a dozen players, so there is far less depth to absorb a missing starter than in a deeper league. The minutes and the usage concentrate rather than spread, which means one absence can move several players' projections by a large margin.

Usage and minutes move separately and both matter. A bench player might inherit thirty minutes without inheriting the shots, because the shots go to the returning star already in the lineup. The player worth rostering is usually the one who gains both, and those are not always the same person.

Because slates are small, a single injury can reshape the entire optimal lineup. On a three game night there are not many alternatives, so the value created by one absence gets concentrated into a handful of plays.

Handling questionable tags

A questionable player is a genuine coin flip and pricing usually does not fully reflect that. The players behind her are the safer expression of the same view, since they gain if she sits and lose relatively little if she plays, especially if she is on a minutes restriction on return.

Watch for late news. WNBA statuses often resolve close to tip, and the market moves quickly once they do, so the value in a backup is largest before the announcement rather than after it.

Frequently asked questions