By Ved Trivedi
A big part of the NBA season for many fans is participating in the fantasy league, where players who have good statistics generate high fantasy points. However, this season has been a struggle for many fantasy team managers.
With COVID-19 looming as a constant risk, coaches are being much more cautious as to who is playing. If a player breaks protocol, they can miss an upward of five games while quarantining.
Source by Janmak Saji
The standings vary of fantasy teams who are having their seasons affected by players constantly having to sit out for COVID.
On top of that, teams have been much more cautious with their players’ health. To ensure that their best players can perform at peak performance, coaches are less concerned when their superstar cannot play. Kevin Durant, the Nets small forward, for example, has been listed as injured for a hamstring sprain for the last two months.
As the year progresses, the possibility of COVID-19 looms as the ultimate deciding factor whether or not a player will compete.
“Most years, injury is a scary thing that you don't want your players to get. However, this year it seems as though luck plays a big part in keeping your players playing in games because of the COVID protocols,” said senior Daniyal Azeem.
“Unfortunately, this season, NBA fans have seen too many great players get their 2021 season taken away due to injuries stemming from issues indirectly produced by the coronavirus...”
With the Washington Wizards acquiring star point guard Russell Westbrook, they had high expectations and hopes for a promising season. Numerous times, the team had most of their star roster quarantined and had to play their bench players. This led to a horrific record at the beginning of the season, but fans have seen them slightly adjust to the new season. On top of that, the Wizards lost their upcoming star player, Thomas Bryant, to a severe ACL tear, which could have been the outcome of several months of not playing competitive basketball.
“Thomas Bryant was quietly putting up incredible numbers. It’s sad to see COVID have such a bad impact on his conditioning,” said senior Vishal Macwan.
Ever since the NBA had to shut down, many wondered whether or not the players would return with the same conditioning and health. This season, NBA fans have seen too many great players get their 2021 season taken away due to injuries stemming from issues indirectly produced by the coronavirus.
The Miami Heat is a strange case of a team. After making a surprising run to the NBA Finals last year, many thought it was a fluke. With Jimmy Butler leading a young team of promising stars, he was able to make the Heat look invincible in the East. However, that same energy did not transfer over during the beginning of the season because Butler caught COVID-19 and the team fell into a slump. However, once he came back, he put up MVP level stats and led his team to a nine-game winning streak.
“Having Jimmy Butler on my fantasy team, I was scared for what he would be like when he came back. Will he be in tip-top shape? Will he get the Heat wins? These questions loomed but in the end, Butler came back as strong as ever,” said senior David Son.
Although society and the sports world have taken steps to contain the virus, it is clear that it has been strongly interfering with professional athletics and NHP students’ fantasy league teams.
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