Boris Diaw Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Coach Quin Snyder decided to take Joe Johnson out of the starting lineup for Game 3. He's played at least 29 minutes in every game he's come off the bench this season though, so he should still have a sizeable workload. Diaw has seen his playing time decrease over the course of the playoffs. Even though he'll start, he may be stuck around the 20-minute mark or below. Rudy Gobert does better with Diaw on the court and Johnson off, he's averaged 1.15 FD ppm this season, an increase of 0.09.

Diaw will be inserted into the Jazz starting lineup at power forward for tonight's game against the New York Knicks, which will send Joe Johnson back to the bench to resume his reserve role. Even with the starting nod, Diaw can easily be ignored in daily fantasy formats this evening. This lineup change was presumably made to better matchup with Kristaps Porzingis on the defensive end, which is honestly laughable. Porzingis would have obviously had a more distinct size advantage over Johnson than Diaw, but he is shaping up to be an interesting tournament option despite the perceived difficult matchup with Utah.

Joe Johnson once again returns to the starting lineup and this will be his third start since Derrick Favors went down four games ago. Johnson has not greatly exceeded value and is more of a small slate play. His upside is fairly limited considering his game is extremely scoring dependent. Johnson could log over 28 minutes but simply remains a GPP option. George Hill and Gordon Hayward are the primary beneficiaries with Favors out and Hill is still considerably cheaper than Hayward. Considering SF is a mess tonight, Hayward could also be a viable GPP play. He comes with risk considering this is the slowest projected game environment and Marcus Morris is one of their better defenders.

Diaw will be inserted into the Jazz's starting lineup at power forward for tonight's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, which sends Joe Johnson back to the bench to resume his reserve role. Diaw is priced at the minimum salary across the industry but still isn't a particularly viable daily fantasy option, as he is highly unlikely to see more than 20 minutes of playing time in tonight's contest. Utah is still without Derrick Favors due to a knee injury, which is typically good news for Rudy Gobert's projected fantasy value, as his expected rebounding opportunities significantly increase. However, in the Jazz's two prior meetings with the Clippers this season, Gobert has failed to exceed salary-based expectations on both occasions. The Clippers are a neutral matchup for centers, as they rank 13th in DvP, meaning Gobert can certainly still be fired up in tournaments despite his two prior underwhelming performances against the Clippers.

Favors will return to the starting lineup in tonight's game against the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since returning from injury. This lineup change sends Boris Diaw back to the bench to resume a reserve role. The Jazz are bringing Favors along slowly, as seen by his previous 15-minute restriction off the bench. It has yet to be confirmed whether that limit has been increased or possibly lifted, but it's safe to assume that Favors is on track to see more playing time in this one. If Favors is able to eclipse that 20-minute mark (or approach 25 minutes), he makes for an outstanding tournament play on sites where he has seen a significant price decrease, especially on DraftKings where he can be had for a ridiculous $3.8K price tag.

Derrick Favors is expected to return to the starting lineup tonight against the Kings. He will likely not see the court for more than 15 minutes and should not be used tonight. The return of Favors also ruins the value of Diaw and Lyles, making both players too risky to trust in a low-scoring slow paced game. Rudy Gobert remains the elite big man option for the Jazz. Gobert dominated the Kings earlier this month and should see 35+ minutes tonight.

Trey Lyles has been playing solid recently with Favors banged up. Lyles has seen 30 or more minutes in two of his last three games and is averaging over 16 points and five rebounds in that span. The matchup isn't great against the Nuggets and the Jazz have the lowest implied total of the slate. That being said, because he should see 30 plus minutes and he is still underpriced, he is worth a look in tournaments.

Favors is still sidelined with a knee injury that kept him out of Utah's previous game, so Lyles will draw the start at power forward for tonight's game against Houston with Diaw being rested on the front end of a back-to-back. This is a part of a maintenance plan the Jazz have in place for Diaw in an effort to maintain his health throughout the season and we can expect him to be rested on back-to-back sets regularly. If playing the early slate, Lyles has become the best value option on the board and is basically a cash game lock for his price around the industry. With George Hill, Favors, and Diaw off the floor this season, Rodney Hood and Lyles have seen the largest increase in their usage rates among the Jazz regulars, with 7.8% and 3.6% bumps respectively. The Jazz are extremely short handed this evening, especially in the frontcourt, so there will be a plethora of extra minutes to go around. A solid case can be made for any Utah starter in the early slate, but Hood and Lyles remain the preferred targets.

This isn't a huge surprise as George Hill has missed the past few games for Utah and Favors is still dealing with the knee injury. Dante Exum and Shelvin Mack will handle the Point Guard duties and Boris Diaw will start in place of Favors. Trey Lyles has also been very solid in Favors' absence and is worth consideration tonight against the Chicago Bulls. Rudy Gobert remains an elite tournament option in this spot with the expected bump in usage and favorable matchup as Chicago ranks in the bottom six in DVP vs Centers.