DFS Alerts
Dejounte Murray (illness) available to play Sunday
Murray has officially been upgraded from questionable and will be available to play in Sunday’s matchup against the Miami Heat despite dealing with an illness, while Rudy Gay was already ruled out with an illness that has now forced him to miss two games. Gay has managed to record at least 20 minutes off the bench in six of his previous seven games, so there will certainly be a sizable amount of playing time that will need to be absorbed by some combination of Lonnie Walker IV, Marco Belinelli, Jakob Poeltl, or even DeMarre Carroll this evening. This will more than likely be a difficult situation to dissect given head coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation tendencies, which relegates all of the aforementioned players to tournament-only options on today’s two-game slate, but Walker is the most intriguing of the bunch with a 23.4% usage rate and an average of 0.81 DraftKings and 0.78 FanDuel points per minute with Gay off the court this season.
As reported by: Paul Garcia via Twitter
Rudy Gay (illness) officially out Sunday
As expected, Gay has been downgraded from doubtful and won’t play in Sunday’s matchup against the Miami Heat due to an illness that has now forced him to miss two games, while Dejounte Murray will be available to play following his original questionable designation with an illness. Gay has managed to record at least 20 minutes off the bench in six of his previous seven games, so there will certainly be a sizable amount of playing time that will need to be absorbed by some combination of Lonnie Walker IV, Marco Belinelli, Jakob Poeltl, or even DeMarre Carroll this evening. This will more than likely be a difficult situation to dissect given head coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation tendencies, which relegates all of the aforementioned players to tournament-only options on today’s two-game slate, but Walker is the most intriguing of the bunch with a 23.4% usage rate and an average of 0.81 DraftKings and 0.78 FanDuel points per minute with Gay off the court this season.
As reported by: Paul Garcia via Twitter Positional Scarcity
Jokic is the player I find myself having the most exposure to across the industry as he headlines a weak Center position. Sites with multi-positional eligibility (DraftKings/FantasyDraft) allow you a few more options to play at C but on sites without the flexibility (FanDuel/Yahoo) the opportunity cost of fading Jokic is extremely high.
Evan Fournier (illness) will start Saturday; Michael Carter-Williams (shoulder) available
As expected, Fournier will start in Saturday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors after missing shootaround this morning due to an illness, while Carter-Williams will be available to play off the bench following a 13-game absence because of a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. Fournier made his return to the starting lineup in Thursday’s blowout loss, but he was rather underwhelming from a fantasy perspective in 29 minutes of action. The Magic are still without D.J. Augustin, so head coach Steve Clifford already confirmed with reporters at his pregame media availability that Carter-Williams will step into the backup role behind Markelly Fultz at point guard this evening. Fultz isn’t exactly a monster fantasy producer in a per-minute sense, but he does have a respectable 22.7% usage rate, a 29.4% assist rate, and is averaging 0.98 DraftKings and 0.96 FanDuel points per minute with Augustin, Jonathan Isaac, and Al-Farouq Aminu off the court this season.
As reported by: John Denton via Twitter Other tagged players: Michael Carter-Williams Steven Adams (knee) available to play Saturday
Adams has officially been upgraded from questionable and will be available to play in Saturday’s second leg of a back-to-back set against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing one game due to a right knee contusion, while Danilo Gallinari, Terrence Ferguson, and Abdel Nader have already been ruled out with their respective ailments. In Adams’ absence, Nerlens Noel ended up receiving the start at the center position in Friday’s loss, but he was limited to just 21 minutes and was relatively solid from a fantasy perspective in his return from a six-game injury layoff. Mike Muscala wasn’t as productive for fantasy purposes, but he did manage to absorb the remaining 27 minutes at the center spot off the bench. Darius Bazley will more than likely receive the start at power forward with Gallinari resting, but he’ll be nothing more than a tournament dart throw with his putrid 14.6% usage rate and a mediocre average of 0.73 DraftKings and 0.72 FanDuel points per minute with Gallinari, Ferguson, and Nader off the court this season.
As reported by: Maddie Lee via Twitter Allen Crabbe (illness) out Saturday
Crabbe has officially been downgraded from questionable and won’t play in Saturday’s second leg of a back-to-back set against the Toronto Raptors due to an illness, while Karl-Anthony Towns has finally been removed from the injury report after returning from a 15-game absence because of a sprained left knee in Friday’s loss. Towns managed to put together a solid real-life performance and logged 28 minutes in his first game back from an extended layoff, but it remains unclear if he’ll be allowed to see that amount of playing time on back-to-back days. Without Crabbe available for last night’s contest, head coach Ryan Saunders condensed his rotation to just nine players, but Andrew Wiggins, Jarret Culver, and Robert Covington were still the only starters to eclipse the 30-minute mark, and once Crabbe is cleared to play, he’ll likely siphon playing time from the likes of Jordan McLaughlin, Keita Bates-Diop, and Josh Okogie moving forward.
As reported by: Danny Cunningham via Twitter Anthony Davis (glute) out Saturday
Davis has officially been downgraded from questionable and won’t play in Saturday’s matchup against the Houston Rockets due to a Gluteus Maximus contusion that has now forced him to miss five games, while Rajon Rondo will miss a third straight contest with a non-displaced fracture in his right finger and Alex Caruso will be available to play despite dealing with a sore neck. Caruso exited in the first half of Wednesday’s loss, which allowed Quinn Cook and Troy Daniels to each log at least 21 minutes in relief off the bench, so if Caruso isn’t subject to a minute restriction, there will be a plethora of playing time available at the guard positions for him to absorb this evening. It comes as no surprise that LeBron James sees his usage spike to 38.1% with Davis and Rondo off the court, and he is averaging 1.67 DraftKings and 1.60 FanDuel points per minute in a 293.9 minutes sample size.
As reported by: Dave McMenamin via Twitter Fred VanVleet (hamstring) will play Saturday
As expected, VanVleet has officially been upgraded from questionable and will play in Saturday’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves after missing five games due to a strained right hamstring. Head coach Nick Nurse didn’t disclose if VanVleet would rejoin the starting lineup right away, but he did say that VanVleet will play in seven or eight minutes stints, which put him at a likely 25-28 minute cap in tonight’s contest. He also stated that Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol will continue to have the same minute restrictions they’ve had since returning from their respective injury absences, and they each logged fewer than 29 minutes in Friday’s blowout win. The Raptors are a tough team to target in daily fantasy formats with all of their injured players returning from injury and several playing limited minutes, but Siakam still leads the team with a 29.9% usage rate and is averaging 1.18 DraftKings and 1.15 FanDuel points per minute on the season thus far.
As reported by: Eric Smith via Twitter Reggie Bullock (neck) will start Saturday
As expected, Bullock will start in Saturday’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers after missing one game due to a sore neck, while Wayne Ellington remains questionable with an illness and RJ Barrett was already ruled out with a sprained right ankle. Prior to his brief injury layoff, Bullock had seen at least 23 minutes in both starting and reserve roles over the previous six games, so if he isn’t subject to a minute restriction, he should be allotted similar run as a member of the starting unit this evening. Other than Bullock and his increased role in the rotation, Marcus Morris and Frank Ntilikina have been the other main beneficiaries with Barrett and Dennis Smith Jr. off the court this season, as they each own a minimum of a +3.2% increase in usage rate and are averaging +0.14 more fantasy points per minute over their normal season-long numbers.
As reported by: Stefan Bondy via Twitter Glenn Robinson III (ankle) listed out Saturday
Robinson III has been listed out on the latest Warriors’ injury report and won’t play in Saturday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic due to a sprained right ankle, while Draymond Green and Jacob Evans III were already ruled out with their respective ailments. Robinson may not be the most consistent fantasy producer, but his and Green’s absences still leave a massive void in head coach Steve Kerr’s rotation and consequentially opens up a plethora of playing time at the forward positions. If Omari Spellman continues to start at center, Alec Burks and Eric Paschall would be the most logical candidates to enter the starting lineup, but Kerr could go big by starting Willie Cauley-Stein to counter the Orlando starting frontcourt consisting of Khem Birch and Nikola Vucevic this evening. Spellman has benefitted the most with all of the injured Warriors off the court, as he owns a 19.6% usage rate, a 15.8% assist rate, and is averaging 1.06 DraftKings and 1.05 FanDuel points per minute in a 255.4 minutes sample size.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Cameron Johnson (quad) listed out Saturday
Johnson has been listed out on the latest Suns’ injury report and won’t play in Saturday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics due to a right quad contusion, while Kelly Oubre Jr. remains in the concussion protocol and will miss a second straight game with concussion-like symptoms. In Oubre’s absence, Mikal Bridges ended up receiving the start at small forward, but he was rather disappointing from a fantasy perspective in 35 minutes of action and was slightly outproduced by Johnson off the bench in his 23 minutes in Thursday’s win. Other than Bridges’ increased role in the rotation, Dario Saric and Ricky Rubio have been the main beneficiaries with Oubre, Johnson, and Frank Kaminsky off the court this season, as they each own a minimum of a +3.0% increase in usage rate and are averaging at least +0.19 more fantasy points per minute over their normal season-long numbers.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Depleted Offense Means Concentrated Usage
The Blazers were already without C.J. McCollum, but they just announced a trade that sends away Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver. This leaves them eight players for tonight’s game, meaning usage and minutes and going to be extra concentrated for Portland. I already had Lillard targeted as one of my favorite plays already on this slate, but this makes him even more of a priority. I think it’s fair to include some kind of logic in your GPP builds as well that force at least one Blazers player in every lineup just because the minutes will be there. All of Lillard, Simons, Anthony and Whiteside should be priorities for you on this slate.
Injuries Opening Way For This Stud
The Celtics have announced both Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker as out. Per CourtIQ, when these two have been off the court this season, Tatum’s usage shoots up to 37.1% and he averages 1.4 fantasy points per minute. Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart also become more appealing as they both average over a fantasy point per minute in this scenario, but it’s Tatum who I’m interested in now in all formats.
Kemba Walker (knee) out Saturday
Walker has officially been downgraded from questionable and won’t play in Saturday’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns due to a sore left knee, while Jaylen Brown remains sidelined with a sprained right thumb and Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis will play following their original probably designations. In Brown’s absence, Smart ended up receiving the start alongside Walker in the backcourt, and he was rather productive from a fantasy perspective in 36 minutes of action in Thursday’s loss, which isn’t too abnormal from his typical minute workload off the bench on a game-to-game basis. Smart will remain in the starting lineup for at least one more game, but the clear beneficiaries with him Brown off the court have been Smart and Jayson Tatum, as they each own a minimum of a +2.5% increase in usage rate and are averaging at least +0.24 more fantasy points per minute over their normal season-long statistics.
As reported by: the Boston Celtics via Twitter Mike Conley (hamstring) will play off the bench Saturday
As expected, Conley will play in Saturday’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, after missing over a month due to a strained left hamstring. There haven’t been any specific reports on how many minutes Conley will be limited to in his first game, but the fact that head coach Quin Snyder has decided to bring Conley off the bench in tonight’s contest should signal that the Jazz is planning to ease him back into full game action. This means that Donovan Mitchell will have at least one more game where he is handling a sizable portion of the ballhandling duties in the starting unit, and he’s mostly been phenomenal for fantasy purposes while Conley was sidelined, as he amassed a 31.2% usage rate, a 24.8% assist rate, and averaged 1.14 DraftKings and 1.09 FanDuel points per minute in 647.4 minutes over this span.
As reported by: Shams Charania via Twitter