One of the biggest breakout players this season is Nikola Jokic, who has emerged as the Denver Nuggets star big man and averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game over the last two months, including 23.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game as a rookie.
But now the Nuggets will be without Jokic's services for at least the next two games after the 21-year-old suffered a hip injury on Thursday night.
With Jokic out of action, it will open the door for Jusuf Nurkic to step in as the starter for at least the next two games. This season, Nurkic has averaged 8.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and averaged nearly 19 minutes on the court per game. However, Jokic's ascent into the starting lineup pushed Nurkic into the 15-minute per game range, where he averaged roughly seven points and five rebounds per game.
For fantasy purposes, Nurkic can be avoided in season-long leagues until the Nuggets can succesfully trade him to a team that needs a starter. He can also be avoided in DFS simply because the 9.8 points per game he averaged as a starter this season, just doesn't show enough upside as of now to spend money on him.