If they're out · DEN

Who gains without Strawther, Nnaji and DeRozan

Strawther, Nnaji and DeRozan haven't sat together since last season, so this comes from who replaced each of them and how the team played without each one. Braun usually plays 32 minutes; our estimate: 36 minutes (Worth watching).

They never sat together since last season. Their minutes when they play: Strawther 16, Nnaji 12, DeRozan 26.

Strawther has missed 5 of the team's last 10; Nnaji has missed 6 of the team's last 10, so most of their minutes are already in everyone's recent numbers.

Likely strong evidenceLean some evidenceWorth watching a tip, not a promise
Christian Braun
G · 49 games since last season
Worth watching
Minutes32 → 36 +3
Shots10 → 11 +1
Fantasy pts24 → 27 +3
  • came in for 42% of the times one of them left a game
  • +6 minutes in 26 games without Nnaji alone since last season
  • +3 minutes in 10 games without Strawther alone since last season
Aaron Gordon
F · 41 games since last season
Worth watching
Minutes28 → 30 +2
Shots13 → 13 0
Fantasy pts28 → 29 +1
  • came in for 25% of the times one of them left a game
  • +6 minutes in 20 games without Nnaji alone since last season
Everyone else · usual → tonight
How this works, and how often it's rightShow

We start from each teammate's recent minutes, shots and fantasy points since last season, then hand out the minutes the missing players have been playing: mostly to whoever came in when each of them left a game, and to whoever played more when each one sat on his own, with a small nudge toward the same position. Minutes a player already lost while someone was out are not counted twice. Shots move with how often each teammate finished plays when none of the missing players were on the floor. When the exact group has sat together 4 or more times, those games count too.

We checked it on 1,183 games in 2025-26 where a team had two or more rotation players out, using only games played before each one. Our minutes were off by 5.2 a player on average in games from February on, against 6.06 using season averages and 9.41 adding up each missing player's own "who gains" numbers. Fantasy points: off by 8.12, against 8.59 and 12.48. Our biggest predicted minutes gainer was one of the night's two biggest gainers 52% of the time (adding up single-player numbers: 37%).

Likely means 6 or more minutes over his usual: 79% of those players really did play at least 2 more. Lean (3.5 to 6 more): 65%. Worth watching (2 to 3.5 more): 52%. Blowouts, foul trouble and coaches' whims make any one night noisy.