Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 3/14/16

Welcome to the daily updates and injury news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!

Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock tonight.

By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!

What We Know

Pau Gasol is out, Jimmy Butler will Play
The Bulls are full of question marks (which I'll get to shortly) but we at least know Gasol won't play tonight. He's not even with the team. This will open up significant big man minutes for Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic. On most nights Portis and Gibson would be coming in at neat must plays considering their prices and how short-handed Chicago is looking. But this isn't most nights and there are more potential punts than one can handle. I'm pretty confident that Gibson sees huge run and I'd be fine running him in cash games. Portis is a bit riskier mostly because he stands to come off the bench. But if he's starting then I think he's a must play.

Butler playing without Rose is interesting, but the minutes could really be in question here as he hasn't played much lately.

UPDATE: Gordon Hayward will sit tonight. Hard to see this making one particular punt play worth it but rather slight boosts to the other Jazz offensive guys like Mack, Hood, etc. 

What We're Waiting to Know

Will Luke Babbitt start again?
Man the Pelicans are a mess. They've rolled out a bevy of losers in major minutes roles this season with Babbitt being just the latest example on Saturday. He came off the very end of the bench to start against Milwaukee and went minutes with a 16/9/3 line. At or near the minimums on both sites, he'd be intriguing against the Warriors today if drawing another start.

Will Dwyane Wade play?
Wade's questionable right now and his status would have a dramatic effect on guys like Goran Dragic, Joe Johnson and Justise Winslow among others. Those three rolled a ton of minutes in regulation against Toronto on Saturday and would be in line for rather dramatic minutes and usage bumps were Wade to sit again. Plus the matchup is more choice against a weaker Denver team.

Oh man, what is going on in Memphis?
You can tell by the outline picture that Briante Weber is so new to the scene that we don't even have a good headshot for the dude. Memphis is obviously in injury disarray right now though that can be advantageous for DFS purposed. They are somewhat blowout proof in that while the Grizz are big underdogs to Houston, it stands to reason all three of these guys, Stephenson, McCallum and Weber see a vast majority of the backcourt minutes. Memphis just doesn't have anyone else. Update: Zach  Randolph is OUT tonight. 

Will Derrick Rose play?Right now Rose is doubtful. If he were to sit again then look for Justin Holiday to play another bunch of minutes in the backcourt. Last game with the Bulls decimated at guard Holiday went 38 minutes for a 14/4 line. That gets it done at his prices though it is worth it to note that it took him a ton of time on the court to do much of significance.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

I'm going to update this later because there are just too many unknowns right now to get a feel for the every lineup guy. But there are two dudes who will be everywhere for me almost without hesitation

Russell Westbrook - FD 10400 DK 10800
Opponent - POR
FD Proj. Pts - 51.65 DK Proj. Pts - 53.55
Anthony Davis - FD 10200 DK 9900
Opponent - GSW
FD Proj. Pts - 49.89 DK Proj. Pts - 50.65
Kevin Durant - FD 10500 DK 10500
Opponent - POR
FD Proj. Pts - 48.57 DK Proj. Pts - 51.37
For me, these three are rather easy and obvious if for nothing else than they come in at the highest raw points on a night when fitting salary (even three of the big boys) is going to be no thing almost any way the news wind blows. There are just too many open possibilities for cheap/ high upside punt plays that going a stars and scrubs approach is almost for sure the way to go tonight.

Obviously, the blowout risk is a problem for Davis in particular but this is the kind of day you can risk it I think.

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below - on us! You can also get started with DFSR pro - our brand new lineup optimizer!