Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 3/19/16

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
He's sat the last three games and I wish I could tell you it's directly translated to other players on the Bulls seeing a boost in expectation. But it hasn't. Taj Gibson seems like the most obvious beneficiary but he's playing hobbled right now so it's tough to throw 34 or so minutes his way. Nikola Mirotic also seemed like he'd get some front court run, but he's been hit or miss. We can give Bobby Portis a few minutes uptick but I get worried about guys coming off the bench. It also doesn't help that this matchup against the Jazz is a real tough one for big men.

Ian Mahinmi will play
Mahinmi sat out last game with a back issue but it looks like he will suit up and play tonight against Oklahoma City. This will send Jordan Hill back to the bench and really neither guy is in play any more because of the lower minutes expectation on both. I suppose there's some chance Mahinmi sees enough minutes in this game which could boost him into tournament consideration. But I probably won't go there.

What We're Waiting to Know

Will Matt Barnes get suspended
There's been some Twitter rumblings that Barnes could get suspended after his altercation with John Henson on Wednesday. Barnes followed Henson to the locker room in true psycho fashion. If Barnes were to sit it's hard to know exactly how it plays out for the Grizzlies. Z-Bo is looking doubtful and Memphis is already really shorthanded. I suspect we would see just tons of Tony Allen, more JaMychal Green and a bunch of minutes distributed to random bench guys.

Will Gordon Hayward play?
He went through shootaround this morning and I suspect he plays tonight but is still listed as questionable. Joe Ingles has drawn the start in the last two games Hayward missed and has played enough minutes to consider at a low end salary if Gordo can't go. Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood and Shelvin Mack all see expected usage bumps is Hayward isn't on the court. All three would be in play tonight against Chicago if they were more focal points on offense, but I think everyone trends back to the middle some if Hayward plays.

Will Kenneth Faried play?
Man the Nuggets are just a DFS nightmare. They are nearly impossible to forecast because there's no real rhyme or reason to how Mike Malone deploys minutes on a game-to-game basis. Last game Darrell Arthur drew the start but only played 18 minutes in the blowout to the Hawks. Joffrey Lauvergne and Jusuf Nurkic both got heavy run off the bench and if you could project either in the 24-27 minute range they'd be prime values at their position. But you can't project them for that run and everyone falls into a weird in between state.

Will Kent Bazemore play?
He sat out last game with a knee issue though is considered probable to play tonight. If for some reason this news turns then look for Tim Hardaway Jr. to get the start again.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Russell Westbrook - FD 10600 DK 10500
Opponent - IND
FD Proj. Pts - 54.71 DK Proj. Pts - 56.61
Every lineup both sites and I don't really see that changing at all. Indiana is well below average this season against opposing point guards and this game is projected to stay close. I think Westbrook is the safest play on this slate by a fair amount in this price tier. He will be in every cash game lineup I run tonight.

Michael Beasley - FD 4100 DK 4400
Opponent - ATL
FD Proj. Pts - 24.9 DK Proj. Pts - 26.12
Oof, do you trust this? Me neither, but based on what Beasley's doing with the Rockets right now, even at a moderate minutes expectation he is showing up nearly everywhere because the price is still so low. In his last four games Beasley is averaging 22 minutes and a 15/6 line. The big thing with him is when he comes on the court with the second unit he just pumps up shots early and often. He's a ridiculous usage guy for his time on the court. He's probably running a little hot from the field, but still is in consideration today. I don't feel like he's safe, but the system's giving him a green light on the price.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - FD 5300 DK 5700
Opponent - BKN
FD Proj. Pts - 27.1 DK Proj. Pts - 29.68
Lance Stephenson - FD 7200 DK 6100
Opponent - LAC
FD Proj. Pts - 34.63 DK Proj. Pts - 36.16
Right now this is a bit site dependent. KCP is coming into every FanDuel lineup while it's Stephenson on DraftKings. This will happen from time to time considering the nature of pricing differences. It's also a good example of why playing different sites on the same slate creates a natural hedging possibility.

These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!