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Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 3/24/16
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
WARNING: This is a slow news day! I guess that isn't a warning so much as a note about how little is going on. It gives me both a feeling of calm and of mass panic at the same time. On the one hand it doesn't seem like we are waiting on much. On the other hand, the NBA ha a way of throwing massive curveballs out of nowhere.
Ryan Anderson is out
This is a very helpful piece of news to know well in advance. It basically clears up any projection issues for the Pelicans going into tonight's short slate. Without Anderson and Davis (and Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans, yikes, the Pelicans man jeez) New Orleans will continue relying on Jrue Holiday and a misfit band of D-Leaguers, has-beens, never-were's and never-will-be's. More on Holiday and Luke Babbit down below, but know that without Anderson we have a pretty clear look at the Pelicans' projected minutes. (Except for Norris Cole, which I'll also get to.)
MAJOR UPDATE: Jrue Holiday is out. Initial bumps to T. Douglas, T. Frazier, Babbit and Cunningham.
What We're Waiting to Know
Will Norris Cole play?
This is the only real piece of outstanding news for the Pels. He's missed a ton of time and has been ruled out early in almost all of their past games. I don't suspect we see him on the court tonight, though he is officially listed as a game time decision. Cole playing would impact Jrue Holiday, Toney Douglas and to a lesser extent, Tim Frazier. Holiday wouldn't change too much for me, but the latter two would definitely see a minor bump down.
Pau Gasol is Questionable
This would have some minutes' effect on the Bulls big men tonight. Though it's a little tough to say how. Guys like Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and to a lesser extent Bobby Portis are difficult to project with minutes because the run's been so variable of late.
The "Every Lineup" Guys
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.
Russell Westbrook - FD 10800 DK 10300
Opponent - UTA
FD Proj. Pts - 54.69 DK Proj. Pts - 56.55
This is both an easy one and a tough one. The easy part, seemingly, is that on such a short slate it becomes very difficult to fade a player like Westbrook considering there some easy and obvious ways to save and he isn't priced completely out of contention. The tough part is the defensive matchup against Utah is the hardest one of the slate and this game has the lowest expected total of the four. I'm somewhat willing to move past that because it's Westbrook but it is the one thing giving me some hesitation.
Jrue Holiday - FD 8200 DK 8400
Opponent - IND
FD Proj. Pts - 47.91 DK Proj. Pts - 49.7
Luke Babbitt - FD 3800 DK 4000
Opponent - IND
FD Proj. Pts - 25.96 DK Proj. Pts - 28.49
With Brow done for the year these two guys have been the biggest fantasy beneficiaries. Neither is priced correctly and should be in every one of your lineups tonight. The Pacers aren't a great matchup, but Holiday's usage is off the charts now (he pumped up 21 shots last game against the Heat) and Babbit is seeing a ton of minutes and looks as well. The latter is particularly mispriced and I suspect he's the highest owned player on the slate today because the salary isn't anywhere close to caught up.
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!
image sources
- Russell Westbrook: (AP Photo/Jeff Haynes)
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Perhaps the kind of day where there is no big injury news but someone gets a night off right before lock tonight…oy
Yup, at some point OKC needs to rest guys. They aren’t moving up or down in the standings and need to get some of these guys a night off. Same for the CAVS and then you have guys like Gasol who probably will sit. 6 teams on back to backs that could sit guys as well. I fully expect to be scrambling before tip putting together a lineup.
Yeah could go that route. This is what makes NBA the cruelest (yet most exciting) of the DFS sports IMHO
I feel like I’m chasing points tonight but with such a short slate I’m not sure how you do not play Love, Mirotic, and Porzingis. For the first time I got 1st place in a GPP yesterday – just a .25 cent game on DK but I was pumped nonetheless. Appreicate the help guys!
That’s awesome! Nice score. And thanks for the nice words.
Is there anything to be concerned about with Cleveland.?I’m afraid they may rest or limit 1 or 2 of their stud players.
At shoot-around Lue said he “might rest guys tonight against BKN”
Gasol out tonight.
We worried about k. Irving getting a rest tonight?
If Gasol is out, what kind of bump could that give the lesser Lopez? or is that already baked in?
Purely for ease of use of this site, would you consider adding a time stamp to the visitor comments? Just makes it easier to discern which are newest (given that responses with the ‘freshest’ info don’t necessarily end up at the bottom if they’re a reply.
Agreed. Time stamp would be a great asset
Tonight is the night that the optimizer can really prove itself if it spits out a gem I’ll promote for a week straight on my Twitter page to my 190k followers
how do we feel about mirotic?
Mixed feeling on Mirotic. Like him better if Gasol sits but it took Butler being terrible and an absolute blowout for him to put up that stat line last night. NY had a 19 point lead at the start of the 4th and the Bulls just let Mirotic run big minutes. ( believe he played the entire 4th quarter).
Does anybody know what Cavs player is sitting? Tyronn Lue said he will rest somebody tonight on the back end of a back end of a back to back… that will definitely change the usage around in Cleveland… Huge bump to one of the big 3 and JR Smith gets a huge bump everytime any of them sit.
Also is Shane Larkin starting tonight?
With LeBron’s comment about building a super team with Melo, CP3 and Wade and then the Lue/Ownership having a talk with LeBron he seems like the obvious guy to sit being it’s on a back to back…. but they’ve been pretty bad when he sits. Seems to me that you sit a Thompson or a JR Smith or both of them.
LeBron just sat out a game last week…it’s hard to imagine he would sit another one this soon. Of course, Love just sat out the other day as well.
Agree, but you could play the day of rest card externally but internally you sit him and let him know he’s being a terrible team leader the past few days. No matter who they sit they should beat BKN and TOR losing last night gave them a little more flexibility
Personally, I love that attitude. I’d bench him for that reason but it’s hard for me to see Lue doing that. Maybe it’ll happen – and if LeBron does sit that is a totally plausible reason why.
Looking at the log… Kyrie Irving hasnt sat out a full game since December… Seems like he might be the guy to sit tonight! which changes a lot of projections!! lol
What does everyone think of Robyn Lopez tonight? On his log he actually plays better on the back end of back to backs weirdly…
I like Lopez but always seem to miss his breakout nights. Not planning on using him so you are probably in luck.
I don’t have cavs in either of my lineups tonight, but if one of the big 3 sits, that changes some things especially with a Nets team that hasn’t seemed to quit on the season.
Lol I know what you mean. Man.. I need this news on the cavs to come out already…
Norris Cole ruled out for tonight
Norris Cole is out
Dont love this. Alexis Ajinca starting which sends Babbitt to the bench. Boooo!
Babbitt will start, Cunningham is the one going to the bench
All Cavs available but Mo Williams.
Gasol out. Cristiano Felicio STARTING
WOAH! Holiday OUT
Who on earth is going to score now for the pelicans?
Toney Douglass and Babbit! Only people left lol
Jrue holiday out and all cavs starting? Time to remake every lineup…. Lol
Doug, which do you like better for PG, Mack or Douglass?
Thanks in advance!
Douglas!
thoughts on Felicio? or which bulls big man is the best option?
Not enough minutes I don’t think. Other better cheap options on the Pels. Mirotic I like still.
Lillard, Douglas, McCollum, Ellis, Hayward, Babbitt, Love, Gibson, Jordan
Any opinion?
Can’t believe the cavs aren’t resting anyone. Maybe they feel they can blow them out and coast in the 4th?
Holiday out
Holiday is out. But they are playing the Indiana Pacers not the cabs just to make sure everyone knows
any chance butler has a big game? I have a few extra bucks and can grab him over monta
Too many moving parts with the PELS 🙂 With Holiday out Alexis Ajinca now back to the bench. Starting Asik, Douglas, Babbitt, Cunningham and Gee
Shane Larkin starting for BKN.
Love and Hayward
or
Mirotic and PG
so many great pels plays. so much money left i can’t start all my punts
Only 1 active pelican player over $4000
Douglas and Frazier have to play 48 minutes tonight
Yup both are locks for 38+ i feel and are blowout proof due to the lack of players
Well I guess Gee could take some from them
4 spurs OUT….. tomorrow LOL. Damn pop confusing me when he’s not even playing. he knew it was DFS lineup lock
Should be some interesting winning lineups tonight
What a mess 🙂 Of course on the nights I feel like I have no idea what I am picking in panic mode I usually do well by not overthinking 🙂
Good luck to everyone tonight!
Hmmm, the guys who seem to be a step ahead of most news are WAY under-owned on Rose and betting heavy on Butler. Smells like a late scratch coming for Rose.
A HUGE thanks for a +$29 night all told on both DK and FD, as well as a 19th place finish in the FD Mega Slam Satalite netting me a ticket for the big event next week, mainly due to Klay’s 3 off the Assist from Steph!!! Thanks guys!!! Looking for more tonight!!!
What a shit show tonight
No doubt. Pelicans announced three different lineups in the span of about 15 minutes. Babbitt was out, then in when Holiday went out then back out just before tip.
Babbitt is OUT, or just a Non-Starter?!?
He’s playing. Was moved to bench to give the 2nd unit some sort of scoring pulse.
That’s what I thought too so I kept minutes in same range. But he’s just not playing as the Pels went double big and Ajinca is taking every shot.
Hope he’s not out, he is in 3 of 4 of my lineups
9 min and no babbitt so far
No he is playing, he has a steal, with all due respect folks please be careful how you use the word OUT, scared the hell out of me… Good luck to you all tonight!
Is it just me or did the top optimal change right after lineup lock
The DK lineup switched after lock. Originally had Durant and Westbrook right up until lock but then went Paul and Westbrook after lock. Few other pieces moved around as well.
The Holiday news screwed everything late because Ellis lost all his value so the whole deck was reshuffled/
I was updating system until lock and even after to account for the later slates. It was constantly changing. Tonight was a crazy night trying to project minutes. The Holiday thing was a scramble with Pelicans’ minutes. Porzingis got a very late slight bump too.
Probably did, seems like the Holliday injury screwed a lot of things up, I sure as hell am glad I checked!
Blind squirrel kind of night. The people who went with Ajinca and Turner and got 10x just set themselves up to pay up at just about every other position. Even 4x from the big dogs combined with Turner and Ajinca probably wins tonight.
Agreed this was a tough one. I mean, Pelicans hang and Babbit plays nothing. Nets beating Cavs right now. Thunder running away with things.
Can y’all add birthdays into the system? 😉 Would’ve caught Myles Turner tonight.
I got killed on all my lineups tonight!
But…it’s the first time I’ve lost in a week.
Can’t complain!
lol i got scared of myles turner last minute… smh…
but I ended up winning double ups by .8 with the JJ Redick Game winner!! pushed me in haha.. today was UGLYYY!!! for everybody… Lets kill it tomorrow!!