Nets shake up starting lineup with Kevin Durant sidelined

The Brooklyn Nets are going to be without Kevin Durant for the next week. We did not expect them to go all crazy with the starting lineup for Tuesday’s matchup vs. the Utah Jazz at home. So this has been confirmed by multiple reports, but it appears that Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, DeAndre Jordan and Joe Harris are going to come off the bench on Tuesday. Here’s a look at the starting 5 ... It’s interesting.

PG: Kyrie Irving ($9,300)
SG: Bruce Brown ($3,000)
SF: Taurean Prince ($3,300)
PF: Jeff Green ($3,100)
C: Jarrett Allen ($5,800)

Just for my own sanity and yours, here’s the Nets tweeting the lineup:

So the new additions to the starting five are Allen, Brown and Green. Prince was always going to slot in there with Durant sidelined. TLC had been starting for Dinwiddie but is being replaced by Brown and Harris also won’t be in there with Green. So yeah, this is a pretty drastic change. Allen hasn’t started a game this season after starting most of 2019-20 with Jordan sidelined.

So I’ve seen this type of thing from teams before and sometimes it results in players who normally start playing limited minutes. We don’t know if that’s the case for TLC ($3,700) and Harris ($5,600). Jordan ($4,400) is also a weird case. He generally doesn’t play a ton despite starting, splitting time with Allen. Rodions Kurucs is also out, so there’s another body who we have to account for. Either way, it’s going to be tough to trust any of these DFS plays on DraftKings.

I’d say shy away from some of the value that this creates in cash games. We don’t know if these starters will get a ton of run or if this is some sort of dummy lineup or coach Steve Nash sending a message. In GPPs, I’d say go nuts with guys like Brown and Green. Prince has sort of played terribly this season. He can’t shoot. Brown and Green haven’t been as much of a factor. Green isn’t a bad play in my eyes. Brown is risky since he hasn’t been playing as much.