Draymond Green listed as out for season opener vs. Nets [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Dec. 21, 5:31 p.m. — Green is being listed as out for the season opener vs. the Nets, per the 5:30 NBA injury report on Monday. James Wiseman is not listed on the injury report and will be active.

Golden State Warriors PF/C Draymond Green may be held out for the regular-season opener against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Saturday that an MRI on Green’s foot revealed nothing long-term. Kerr said that Green has a chance to play on the Warriors’ four-game road trip to open the season, but the opener is unclear.

In other big news for Warriors centers, rookie James Wiseman is expected to be ready for the opener vs. the Nets, per Kerr. The coach called Wiseman the long-term starting center but wouldn’t confirm if Wiseman would start in the opener. With Green potentially out, the Warriors are going to need Wiseman’s size. He is expected to start at some point this season, just not right away. Wiseman had been dealing with Covid-19.

So if Dray is out for the opener and Wiseman isn’t going to start, we can definitely anticipate Eric Paschall being in the lineup at PF against Brooklyn. The Warriors could run a smaller lineup with Kelly Oubre playing PF, Paschall at C and Andrew Wiggins at SF with Stephen Curry and Damion Lee in the backcourt. Kevon Looney is also a candidate to start at center with Paschal at power forward.

Kerr shed some light on how the rotations may shake out. He wants to stagger Wiggins and Curry to make sure a shot creator is on the court at all times, according to reports. That could mean Curry stays in with the second unit and when he exits the game to start the second quarter, Wiggins comes back in to be the primary shot taker. This may mean Brad Wanamaker will see a decent amount of time at the point in place of Curry, since those two don’t make sense playing together in the same backcourt.

Right now, the line on this game is Nets -5.5. If Green is going to be out, that makes life much easier for the Nets front court, plus takes away a great passer and playmaker from the Dubs. If you were considering Brooklyn at that spread, you’d best jump on the line now while it’s still favorable. You can also grab an alternate point spread of -6 for the Nets at -103. These will likely shift with the news about Green.

As for DFS options, we have a two-game classic slate on DraftKings for opening night. Green was priced at $6,300. We’ll have a few value options to sift through. Looney is priced up at $5,200 while Paschall is only $3,800. Wiseman comes in at $4,900, though we know he isn’t starting and could be eased into action as a rookie coming off very little preseason work.

Paschall seems like the clear chalk play if Green is out. He could end up starting and we saw the type of production he’s capable of last season. The other name worth mentioning is Marquese Chriss at $4,000. Chriss isn’t a bad tournament pivot off the potential Paschall/Looney/Wiseman chalk. Chriss started some games last season and it wouldn’t surprise me if he sees a decent amount of minutes with Dray out. This isn’t likely, but depending on how the Nets look, this game has blowout potential as well. That would mean garbage minutes for guys like Chriss and Paschall.