Fantasy Fallout: Gordon Hayward is back; this is not a drill

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Here are the fantasy implications following the news that Utah Jazz SG/SF Gordon Hayward is expected to make his season debut Sunday:

It was announced back on October 7 that Hayward would miss approximately six weeks due to an injured finger on his non-shooting hand. With Hayward now expected to return for Sunday's game against at Madison Square Garden, he's beaten that timetable by about two weeks, initiating a mad scramble to reappraise the Jazz rotation.

Prior to injury, Hayward was being valued as one of the better sub-elite small forwards, ahead of similar fantasy players like Nicolas Batum. When news broke that he'd miss regular season action, he slide down into the fifth round of many drafts. Having missed just six games, he still has an opportunity to produce like a top-30 fantasy player down the stretch.

His ownership was close to 100 percent on opening day, but some impatient owners saw value in dropping him a week into the season. What a blunder. He's probably not available in your league, but you may as well look into his availability on the off-chance that he's in the free agent pool.

Otherwise, you should send in a couple of offers to his current owner to see if you can still acquire him at a discount. Dwyane Wade for Hayward? If you can pull that off, the Bulls' front office should offer you a job, but it wouldn't be the first time a past-his-prime All-Star was moved for an underrated small-market fantasy stud.

Unfortunately, Hayward's return does hurt the outlook of a number of players that have been quality fantasy options to date. PG George Hill and SF Rodney Hood have combined for 37.5 points per game through six outings, a total that's bound to come crashing down once Hayward starts getting his 15 shots per game. Both are still worth owning but it would be surprising if they each continued to see more than seven or eight shots a night as role players.

Seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson takes the biggest hit. He'd been playing nearly 30 MPG as a starter but is better suited to a reserve role where he can use his still-potent size to bully opposing bench units. If the return of Hayward signifies a return to the 13/3/3 averages that Johnson put up with Miami in the second half of last season, he becomes more of a tournament play in daily fantasy than an option in 12-team or smaller season-long leagues.

A quick note for daily fantasy players: Hayward's price will take a couple of games to start rising back to normal levels but with the team playing well, there's no reason to think that he'll immediately return exceptional value even at a slightly reduced price point. You should avoid too much exposure to the Jazz's role players. Some are coming off their best stretches in years and are bound to regress.

It might take a week for Hayward to find his shot and get his legs accustomed to NBA game speed, but when he does hit his stride, expect him to lead the Jazz in shot attempts and scoring, while splitting playmaking duties with Hill. A deep team gets even stronger but expect to see all of Utah's early breakouts sliding down the rankings in the week to come.