Lauri Markkanen's Wrist Injury Leaves Utah Jazz in Questionable Purgatory
Lauri Markkanen is officially listed as questionable for Tuesday with a wrist injury, adding another chapter to the daily drama of the NBA injury report.
If you have any financial or emotional investment in the Utah Jazz, you already know the drill. The questionable tag is the league's most frustrating coin flip, leaving everyone in the dark until about 45 minutes before tip-off.
Markkanen reportedly banged up the wrist in a recent matchup against the . Now, his status is hovering in that gray area that drives bettors and fantasy managers up a wall.
He is the absolute engine of the Utah offense. When the seven-foot sharpshooter is on the floor, the Jazz are a legitimate headache for opposing defenses. When he sits, they look a lot more like a team actively trying to secure lottery ping-pong balls.
Being an NBA fan right now means spending half your week refreshing an app to see if a guy's wrist is feeling 60 percent or 65 percent.
For context, if I tweak my wrist, I just type my group chat messages a little slower. If Markkanen tweaks his, the entire Las Vegas spread shifts by four points and the Utah rotation turns into a guessing game.
Keep an eye on the shootaround reports on Tuesday morning. If the franchise cornerstone is ruled out, expect a heavy dose of the young guys stepping into the void.