WNBA Injury Report for DFS

What this WNBA injury report ranks

Most injury reports list every name with a tag and leave the math to you. This one keeps only the players whose status changes a DFS decision, then ranks them from 10 down to 4 by how much of their team's minutes, fantasy points and usage are in question. Next to each player are the teammates who stand to gain, with the real numbers before and after: minutes, DraftKings fantasy points and usage rate from the games the injured player has already missed this season on the same team.

Statuses come straight from the WNBA injury report and refresh every 30 minutes through the day. WNBA statuses often resolve close to tipoff, and the market moves quickly once they do, so the value in a backup is largest before the announcement. Check the board again before lock.

How the 1 to 10 impact score works

The score measures the size of the role that is in doubt, not how bad the injury sounds. A player averaging 38 or more DraftKings fantasy points a game and listed Out or Doubtful is a 10, because the whole rotation reshuffles around her. A player at 32 to 38 FPTS is a 9 if she is Out, and an 8 otherwise. The score steps down from there: 27 to 32 is a 7, 22 to 27 is a 6, 17 to 22 is a 5, and 12 to 17 is a 4.

Out and Doubtful add one point at the same role, because those players almost never play. Probable subtracts two, because a Probable player usually plays. A player out 6 or more straight games subtracts three, because her absence is already priced into her teammates' minutes and salaries.

WNBA rosters are small, so one absence can move several players' projections by a large margin. The minutes and the usage concentrate rather than spread, which means a single injury can reshape the entire optimal lineup on a short slate.

How we measure who benefits

For each injured player we look at every teammate who has played with her and without her this season on the same team, and compare the teammate's minutes, DraftKings fantasy points and usage rate in the two splits. The before number is the teammate's average with the injured player active. The after number is her average in the games the injured player has already missed. Small samples are marked by the games without count, so a two game split is not the same as a six game split.

When a teammate has not played a game without the injured player, we fall back to the same position group: the next player at her position who is in line for the minutes, with her own season averages for minutes, fantasy points and usage. That fallback is labeled so you know which numbers are a real split and which are a position projection.

Using injuries in DFS lineups

The best injury plays are the cheap teammates who inherit minutes before their salary moves. DraftKings sets prices early in the day, so a bench player who becomes a 30 minute starter is still priced like a bench player at lock. That is where cash game value comes from.

Minutes and usage do not always move to the same player. One teammate may inherit the minutes while another inherits the shots. The player worth rostering is usually the one who gains both, and those are not always the same person. Read the before and after numbers next to each beneficiary instead of assuming the next man up gets everything.

Questionable players are coin flips that the field tends to treat as sure things in one direction or the other. The teammate behind a Questionable starter is often the smarter way to hold the same view, since she gains if the starter sits and loses little if the starter plays on a minutes restriction.

Frequently asked questions