Marcus Smart's Forearm Keeps Him Sidelined Against the Hawks

Marcus Smart is officially out for Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks with a left forearm strain, which is exactly the kind of vague early-season injury that makes fantasy managers stare blankly at their screens.

After being downgraded to questionable and then ruled out over the weekend, the Houston Rockets are putting their veteran guard on ice for at least one more night.

"Underdog NBA reported: 'Marcus Smart (forearm) listed out Monday.'"

Smart is currently averaging 7.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists. Those are the kind of numbers that look less like a starting point guard's stat line and more like a random sequence of lottery digits.

When a guy who built his entire brand on diving into the third row for loose balls starts missing consecutive games with a forearm issue, you know the medical staff is either being overly cautious or he actually tried to block a bowling ball.

For anyone looking at the board, Smart's absence means Houston's backcourt rotation is going to get weird against Atlanta. You do not need a degree in advanced analytics to know that missing your primary defensive irritant changes the math on the perimeter.

The Rockets will have to patch together their guard minutes on Monday night. Until Smart's forearm stops acting up, expect Houston to keep shuffling the deck while the rest of us try to figure out who actually benefits from his missing minutes.