Meyers Leonard Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Jae Crowder (calf), Goran Dragic (knee), and Meyers Leonard (calf) out Saturday.

Meyers Leonard (calf) listed out Sunday

Leonard has officially been downgraded from questionable and won't play in Tuesday's matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers due to a strained left shoulder, while Kelly Olynyk and Gabe Vincent will both be available to play following their previous probable designations on the Heat's injury report. This leaves Miami with the minimum required eight active players to avoid a postponement, so look for Olynyk, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Precious Achiuwa, Andre Iguodala, Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, and Chris Silva all to see substantial playing time this evening.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has opted to start big with Meyers Leonard and Bam Adebayo manning the frontcourt in Friday's Christmas Day matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, which will send Maurice Harkless to the bench to assume a reserve role. The power forward position was always poised to be a revolving door in Spoelstra's rotation, so even though Leonard will receive the starting nod this time out, there's no guarantee he'll see anywhere close to typical starting minutes with the likes of Harkless, Andre Iguodala, Kelly Olynyk, and Precious Achiuwa all vying for minutes at both forward spots. Leonard may be worth a look in tournament formats on the five-game slates across the industry, but it's still difficult to envision him producing a relevant output for large-field contests this afternoon.

Leonard will be available off the bench for tonight's game against the Miami Heat after previously being listed as questionable on the Portland Trail Blazers' injury report with an illness, but he is unlikely to play and will only see minutes on an emergency basis. This means that Zach Collins will draw the start at center in place of both Leonard and Jusuf Nurkic, who will miss his third consecutive game. In the previous games Nurkic has been sidelined, Leonard has drawn the start at center and has been inconsistent in his 19 minutes per game average, while Collins and Ed Davis combined to average nearly 33 minutes of the bench. However, with Leonard ruled out, Collins now becomes an extremely interesting salary saver after logging 25 minutes and easily exceeding salary-based expectations in Portland's previous game. Evan Turner will remain in the starting lineup at small forward even with Maurice Harkless back in the fold, but Damian Lillard will continue to be an elite option no matter the starting lineup, as he owns an insane +10.8% usage rate differential with Nurkic off the court this season. Not only that, but he also leads the Trail Blazers by a wide margin with a 42.6% usage rate and has averaged 1.40 fantasy points per minute on DraftKings and 1.33 on FanDuel in the aforementioned scenario.

Aminu had started the last two games, but coach Terry Stotts made a last-minute decision to roll with the 7'1" Meyers Leonard in their matchup with the Jazz.

Leonard will be inserted into the Trail Blazers starting lineup for tonight's game against the Phoenix Suns in place of Jusuf Nurkic, who was recently ruled out for a minimum of two weeks with a non-displaced fibula fracture in his right leg and will be reevaluated then if Portland makes the playoffs. His extended absence will allow Leonard to receive the first crack at claiming the starting center spot for the remainder of the regular season. However, Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts will be quick to the hook with Leonard if he believes he is underperforming considering Portland is still fighting for their playoff lives. Even so, Leonard is one of the top value options available on tonight's slate and should be expected to see a minimum of 26-28 minutes on the court. For the stone minimum across the industry, that is more than enough time for him to exceed salary-based expectations this evening.

Aminu suffered a knee (sprain) injury in the teams last game and will miss Portland's game tonight against the Utah Jazz. Noah Vonleh, Ed Davis, and Meyers Leonard all stand to split the 30 or so minutes Aminu would normally play but it's a tough match up against the defensive-minded Jazz. That said if you're looking for value, one of those three could fit the bill for you tonight.