DFS Alerts

Carmelo Anthony (illness) listed out Saturday

Anthony has been added to the Rockets injury report and is listed as out for Saturday’s matchup against the San Antonio Spurs due to an illness, while Eric Gordon and Michael Carter-Williams both remain listed as questionable. The statuses of Gordon and Carter-Williams will go a long way in determining what head coach Mike D’Antoni’s rotation looks like this evening, but if they’re both available, Gerald Green should be expected to step into most of Anthony’s minutes off the bench, but he’s averaged just 17 minutes the last three games with Gordon and Carter-Williams sidelined and has essentially been passed by Gary Clark in the rotation.

Ersan Ilyasova (knee) and John Henson (wrist) listed as available Saturday

Ilyasova and Henson have both officially been upgraded from questionable and will be available to play in Saturday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers due to a bruised right knee and sore left wrist, respectively. Henson was also listed questionable prior to the Bucks previous game, but he logged just 13 minutes off the bench, which has become the norm for him in head coach Mike Budenholzer’s rotation. On the other hand, Ilyasova has consistently been seeing playing time in the 22-24 minutes range, essentially serving as the Bucks sixth man in the early portion of the season.

Goran Dragic (knee) listed questionable Saturday; Dwyane Wade (personal) out

Dragic has officially been listed as questionable on the most recent version of the Heat’s injury report for Saturday’s matchup against the Washington Wizards due to a sore right knee that’s already kept him sidelined two consecutive games, while Dwyane Wade remains away from the dealing with a personal matter. If Dragic is unavailable again, Wayne Ellington should continue starting on the wing in his place and has averaged 30 minutes over the last two games despite some mixed results from a fantasy perspective. Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson, and Josh Richardson have absorbed near all of the ballhandling responsibility in Dragic’s absence, though Johnson has been the most consistent value of the three given his inexpensive price tag. In fact, he owns a 23.9% usage rate (+4.8%) while averaging 0.97 DraftKings and 0.96 FanDuel points per minute with Dragic and Wade off the court this season.

Lock and Move On

Kevin Durant is one of the easier cash game plays we’ll get all season. Over the last two seasons, Durant has posted a massive 39.6% usage rate when both Steph Curry and Draymond Green have been off the court. Durant will be leaned on heavily to lead the Warriors offense on Saturday night and he gets a favorable matchup against a Brooklyn defense that has slowly been regressing as the season progresses.

CJ Miles (hip) will play Saturday

Miles has officially been upgraded from probable and will play in Saturday’s matchup against the New York Knicks after missing one game due to right hip bursitis. Head coach Nick Nurse surprisingly limited his rotation to just nine players in that contest sans Miles and Norman Powell, but Miles will most likely step back into his mid-teens minutes role off the bench, expanding the rotation to 10 total players. This means his availability will keep Malachi Richardson from seeing any playing time apart from potential garbage time minutes since the Raptors are heavy favorites over the Knicks this afternoon.

Jakob Poeltl (ankle) out Saturday

Poeltl is a new addition to the Spurs injury report and has been ruled out for Saturday’s matchup against the Houston Rockets due to a sprained right ankle. He’ll join Pau Gasol and Rudy Gay among the other Spurs inactives, which forced the team to recall Chimezie Metu from the G-League, and he may even be relied upon to soak up meaningful minutes in their depleted frontcourt. In the previous game with Gay available, head coach Gregg Popovich opted to start Derrick White and Bryn Forbes in the backcourt, but White was limited to just 15 minutes in his season debut. Unsurprisingly, the primary beneficiary with Gay and Gasol off the court has been DeMar DeRozan, who leads the Spurs by a massive margin with a 36.7% usage rate (+3.8%) and is averaging 1.46 DraftKings and 1.47 FanDuel points per minute in this scenario as well.

Devin Harris (hamstring) will play Saturday

Harris confirmed with reporters that he will play in Saturday’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder after originally being listed as questionable on the Mavericks injury report with a strained left hamstring. Harris doesn’t project for a substantial role in head coach Rick Carlisle’s rotation, and he’ll likely be competing for minutes with Jalen Brunson and J.J. Barea for backup guard minutes, though neither has played more than 16 minutes in any of the last three games. In fact, Dorian Finney-Smith is the only reserve player that has consistently seen more than 20 minutes in recent weeks, which just atones to how often Carlisle has been utilizing his starting five ever since Harrison Barnes returned from injury.

Big Guard Minutes In This Tankapalooza

The Cavaliers are extremely banged up right now. George Hill was a surprise scratch the other night and is now going to miss a few weeks. Kevin Love is out. Sam Dekker is out. Cedi Osman went down in the last game and will be out for a while. Larry Nance is not allowed to play more than 16-18 minutes for some reason that is unbeknownst to me. The Cavaliers are going with small ball lineups quite a bit, and they actually have a winnable game tonight against the similarly-awful Bulls. Commence operation tank for R.J. Barrett! In any case, we have to expect big minutes for Cleveland’s healthy guards. Collin Sexton started and played more than 40 minutes on Wednesday. Larry Drew also came out in support of him after the game. Jordan Clarkson also played big minutes and took a ton of shots. These two players are the biggest beneficiaries from all the injuries, and Clarkson is the higher upside option even if he continues to come off the bench. Neither player is afraid to shoot (Sexton had just one assist in those 40+ minutes in the previous game), and who else is going to score for Cleveland? There is extreme value in both price tags, and I’m fine with either Clarkson or Sexton (or both) in cash game builds tonight.

Room To Grow For This Stud

As for Paul George, George has been a little more hit or miss this year than we would like from a top play, there’s still room for him to grow. He leads the league in steals per game and had six the other night. He is averaging seven rebounds and four assists per game. He carries a 33% usage rate without Russell Westbrook. He posted a full line in the last game. The ONLY thing holding him back has been the fact that his shot hasn’t been falling, as George is only shooting 39% from the field for the year. That’s a full 4% below his career average. He will only get better, and he’s my top cash play tonight… by a nose over Kevin Durant.

Clear-Cut Top Value

We are still dealing with a small sample size with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green both off the floor, but there is plenty of opportunity for the Warriors tonight. Quinn Cook should start in place of Curry, especially with Shaun Livingston also out, and Cook carries a respectable 29% usage rate with those two players off the floor — in addition to his dirt cheap DFS price tag. He jumped right in with a 15/2/15 line over 19 minutes on Thursday, with much of that coming after Curry left due to his injury. Another piece of good news here is that we saw Cook get plenty of run in a similar situation in March and April last season. He averaged 35 minutes per game from March 9th through the end of the regular season, and he put up averages of 14 points, three rebounds, and four assists per game over that stretch. That gives him a nice baseline of around 25 fantasy points, which is solid production given his dirt cheap price tag on every site. I expected the sites to pro-actively price him up given Curry’s injury, but that did not happen. We need to take advantage of that with our cash game builds tonight.

NBA Injury Rundown - Saturday, 11/10

New York Knicks – Courtney Lee (Out), Lance Thomas (Out)

Toronto Raptors – CJ Miles (Probable), Norman Powell (Out)

Milwaukee Bucks – Ersan Ilyasova (Questionable), John Henson (Questionable)

Los Angeles Clippers – Avery Bradley (Questionable), Luc Mbah a Moute (Questionable)

New Orleans Pelicans – Nikola Mirotic (Questionable), Elfrid Payton (Questionable – GTD)

Cleveland Cavaliers – Cedi Osman (Out), George Hill (Out), Sam Dekker (Out)

Memphis Grizzlies – Shelvin Mack (Probable), Omri Casspi (Out)

Miami Heat – Goran Dragic (TBD), Dwyane Wade (Doubtful)

Houston Rockets – Eric Gordon (Questionable), Michael Carter-Williams (Questionable)

San Antonio Spurs – Rudy Gay (Out), Pau Gasol (Out)

Golden State Warriors – Stephen Curry (Out), Draymond Green (Out), Shaun Livingston (Out)

Oklahoma City Thunder – Russell Westbrook (Out)

Dallas Mavericks – Luka Doncic (Questionable), Wesley Matthews (Questionable), Devin Harris (Questionable)

Los Angeles Lakers – Lonzo Ball (Questionable)

Jimmy Butler will start Friday

Butler will play and start in Friday’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings after previously being considered a game-time decision. Meanwhile, despite never being listed on the Timberwolves injury report, Andrew Wiggins was a late scratch due to a right quad contusion. In his absence, Josh Okogie will draw the start at the shooting guard spot alongside Derrick Rose in the backcourt. Okogie’s playing time has come back down to earth with Butler, Rose, and Wiggins all active the past two games, but he had typically been logging minutes in the upper-20s with one or two of them sidelined. Butler has yet to convert on his +3.9% usage rate differential with Wiggins and Teague off the court, but he still leads the team with a 29.8% usage and is averaging 1.16 DraftKings and 1.20 FanDuel points per minute in this scenario, making him a viable tournament target now that he’s officially available to play this evening.

Andrew Wiggins (quad) out Friday

Despite never being listed on the Timberwolves injury report, Wiggins has been ruled out for Friday’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings due to a right quad contusion. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler remains a game-time decision but appears much likelier to play following this late news of Wiggins’ unavailability. In his absence, Josh Okogie will likely draw the start at the shooting guard spot alongside Derrick Rose in the backcourt. Okogie’s playing time has come back down to earth with Butler, Rose, and Wiggins all active the past two games, but he had typically been logging minutes in the upper-20s with one or two of them sidelined. Butler has yet to convert on his +3.9% usage rate differential with Wiggins and Teague off the court, but he still leads the team with a 29.8% usage and is averaging 1.16 DraftKings and 1.20 FanDuel points per minute in this scenario, making him a viable tournament target if he plays this evening.

DeMarre Carroll (ankle) available to play Friday

Carroll has officially been upgraded from probable and will be available to make his season debut in Friday’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets after missing the first 11 games recovering from an arthroscopy on his right ankle. Head coach Kenny Atkinson did confirm that he plans to ease Carroll back into the rotation, and he’ll see time at both the small and power forward positions. Jared Dudley continues to start at power forward over Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, but the two have seen inconsistent minutes of late with Atkinson opting to ride with the hot hand. Although he’ll be limited from the outset, Carroll’s presence just adds another variable to the frontcourt rotation, making it difficult to trust any Nets forward in daily fantasy formats on a nightly basis.

Victor Oladipo (knee) will play Friday

Oladipo popped up as questionable on the most recent version of the Pacers’ injury report, but he will play, as expected, in Friday’s matchup against the Miami Heat despite dealing with a bruised left knee. Oladipo has started every game this season and is the only Pacer that is averaging more than 30 minutes per game, just atoning for the depth of head coach Nate McMillan’s rotation in the early going. As expected, Oladipo leads the team with a 33.8% usage rate and is averaging 1.31 DraftKings and 1.30 FanFuel points per minute through 12 games, keeping him in play for daily fantasy formats on a near-nightly basis.