Emeka Okafor Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Okafor has officially been cleared to play and will suit up for Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers after previously being listed as questionable on the New Orleans Pelicans' injury report with a sprained right ankle that had forced him to miss one game. With Okafor sidelined, Nikola Mirotic drew the start at power forward and logged 30 minutes en route to exceeding salary-based expectations, while Anthony Davis slid over to center. Cheick Diallo was the main beneficiary and essentially stepped directly into Okafor's minutes in the rotation and absolutely crushed expected value in just 23 minutes of action off the bench. However, now that Okafor is available, he'll likely reclaim the starting center spot, sending Mirotic and Diallo back to their normal reserve roles and minute totals, barring any unforeseen limitations.

Okafor has officially been ruled out and won't play in Sunday's game against the Dallas Mavericks after previously being downgraded to from probable to questionable on the New Orleans' Pelicans' injury report with a sprained right ankle he sustained during Wednesday's win. Nikola Mirotic replaced him in the starting lineup to start the second half of that contest, so with Okafor now unavailable, Mirotic will return to the starting lineup at power forward alongside Anthony Davis after Okafor started the last seven games at center. Ever since DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn Achilles injury, Anthony Davis has recorded a 36.1% usage rate and has averaged 1.64 fantasy points per minute on DraftKings and 1.71 fantasy points on FanDuel, keeping him in consideration as an elite option for all daily fantasy formats on most nights moving forward.

During his pregame radio interview, New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry disclosed that he plans to start Emeka Okafor at center for Monday's game against the Detroit Pistons, which will move Anthony Davis over to power forward and send Nikola Mirotic to the bench to assume a reserve role. Despite the starting lineup change, it's unlikely that Okafor or Mirotic see their minute allotments drastically change since Gentry is seemingly just trying to limit the amount of time Davis is matched up with Andre Drummond on the defensive end, as Drummond is the prototypical center that Davis has traditionally struggled against. Okafor is coming off of an impressive fantasy performance in 20 minutes in Friday's loss, but that minute threshold should be considered at or near his ceiling in terms of playing time regardless of starting lineup.

Jerami Grant will be starting for Okafor and is coming off consecutive 30+ fantasy point nights. Grant is a viable punt option in both cash and tournaments. There are a lot of Sixers on minutes restrictions tonight so Grant has a chance to play substantial minutes.