Wesley Johnson Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

With the Pacers resting just about everyone (but not Darren Collison or Tyreke Evans???), it should make for plenty of usage and minutes for Cory Joseph, Doug McDermott, and Aaron Holiday, while TJ Leaf may also warrant some consideration. There will be plenty of teams resting to create value, so this is not a unique scenario, but it is one of the more conclusive sets of resting players to have so early in the day, so plan accordingly.

Moore has officially been downgraded from questionable and won't play in Sunday's matchup against the Charlotte Hornets due to a left tibial contusion he sustained during Friday's loss, while Frank Jackson remains questionable with a sprained right ankle that's already forced him to miss two consecutive games. Head coach Alvin Gentry has already confirmed that Wesley Johnson will start at small forward despite averaging just 11.6 minutes over the Pelicans last four games, which leaves the projectivity of his minute floor in a bit of doubt. Jrue Holiday sees a substantial boost in usage without Moore and Elfrid Payton on the court, as he leads the team with a 31.5% usage rate and is averaging 1.14 DraftKings and 1.11 FanDuel points per minute in this scenario.

Jackson tweaked his ankle during pregame warmups and has officially been ruled out for Wednesday's matchup against the Washington Wizards due to a sprained right ankle. Jackson's role in the rotation has been sporadic, at best, but his absence will clear the way for Frazier to see meaningful minutes as the starting point guard in tonight's contest, which will send Wesley Johnson to resume a reserve role and enable Jrue Holiday to play off the ball a bit more often than he has in recent games. Frazier has played more than 21 minutes just once all season, so this news doesn't mean he's automatically locked into a starters' minute workload alongside Holiday in the backcourt. On top of that, he has just a 12.7% usage rate and is averaging only 0.67 DraftKings and 0.66 FanDuel points per minute on the season, making him a pretty unappealing punt option in tournaments.

The Pelicans are still without Elfrid Payton due to a sprained right ankle, and head coach Alvin Gentry has opted to start Wesley Johnson at small forward in Saturday's matchup against the San Antonio Spurs to primarily deal with DeMar DeRozan on the defensive end of the floor. New Orleans has quite a logjam at the forward positions with Darius Miller returning from injury, so it doesn't appear likely that Johnson will be relied upon for heavy minutes despite getting the first crack at slowing down DeRozan this evening. This lineup change is probably just matchup-related, so it'd surprise no one if Frazier is right back in the starting lineup for the Pelicans next game if Payton misses more time.

Williams has been ruled out and won't play in tonight's game against the Dallas Mavericks due to a right ankle injury, despite never previously appearing on the Los Angeles Clippers' injury report, while Wesley Johnson has also been ruled out with a sore left foot. Additionally, Austin Rivers has cleared the concussion protocol and will return to the lineup following a two-game absence. There's been no reported minute restriction for Rivers and is virtually guaranteed to be reinserted into the starting lineup at shooting guard alongside Milos Teodosic in the backcourt, while Sam Dekker is the likeliest candidate to draw the start at one of the forward positions with Johnson also sidelined. There is legitimately no sample size for the projected starters with the aforementioned players off the court this season, but Jawun Evans should be the first guard off the bench and owns a +7.6% usage rate differential and has averaged 0.86 fantasy points per minute on DraftKings and 0.82 on FanDuel in this scenario.

Johnson will not play in tonight's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to the birth of his child. Johnson is not a major factor in the Clippers' rotation, but his allotment of minutes will likely be disbursed among Brandon Bass, Raymond Felton, and Alan Anderson. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned players will see enough of a minutes boost to warrant daily fantasy consideration.

Paul will not play in tonight's game against the Phoenix Suns after previously being listed as doubtful on the Clippers injury report with a strained left hamstring that has now forced him to miss six of the Clippers' last seven games. Clippers' head coach Doc Rivers has rotated replacement starting point guards in Paul's absence, but Austins Rivers is most likely to draw the start once again. Rivers has played relatively well filling in for Paul, and he has seen at least 32 minutes of playing time in three of the last four games. The one exception was due to an early ejection. According to our CourtIQ tool, Rivers leads the Clippers with a 4.2% usage rate differential (24.3%) with Paul and Blake Griffin off the court this season. So, needless to say, he makes for a fine value point guard option on tonight's slate in an ideal pace-up matchup against the Suns' horrendous back court defense.