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Basketball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice

12/13/2017
Austyn Varney

Daily Fantasy NBA News and Injury Updates - 12/13/17

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What We Know

Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier have been ruled out against the Clippers

Both of these guys are key cogs in this offense, a their absence will be felt in a huge way. Fournier has already been out and a few games and we have a taste of what to expect there. Aaron Afflalo, who's questionable, has been picking up a lot of them. If he's out, expect Wes Iwundu, Mario Hezonja, and D.J. Augustin to all benefit. As for the minutes with Gordon, most will go to Hezonja and Speights. Now for the juicy part. Jonathan Simmons, Nikola Vucevic, and Elfrid Payton will all see upticks in usage and are tremendous plays. Vucevic and Simmons are two of my favorite plays in all formats across the entire slate.

Al Horford will be rested against the Nuggets

This is pretty cut and dry. Aron Baynes will pick up most of the minutes and becomes one of the top value options on the day. Daniel Theis and Jayson Tatum may get a few, but don't jump up enough to gain relevancy for this reason alone. The match-up with the Nuggets Is a solid one and even better if Nikola Jokic is ruled out. More on that later.

Andre Roberson has been ruled out for the Thunder

Roberson is a pretty irrelevant DFS player, but he gets a lot of minutes. Alex Abrines will likely get the start and could see 30 minutes if he's lucky. The rest will go to Terrance Ferguson and Josh Huestis, who ended around 12-14 each last game. It also helps Victor Oladipo, who will now force the Thunder to cross-cross defensive match-ups. This is a game you can stack and I'll personally have a lot more than the field with almost every guy.

What We're Waiting to Know

Anthony Davis "feels good and should be able to go", but ultimately remains questionable

Whatever that means. AD is obviously a pain to deal with and his status updates are more of the same. It looks like he'll give it a go and my guess is he just sees slightly limited minutes. He has a phenomenal match-up, but I'm not comfortable playing him in this situation. I'd rather go Cousins who's in an even better match-up and will see an extra few shots. Dante Cunningham will get the start if he plays and could be a fine punt. Rondo and Holiday would also see a strong boost if AD ends up sitting. I just think Holiday draws Giannis and Middleton all game, which isn't all that fun. At all. I think this is a night for the Boogie man.

Nikola Jokic is questionable to return against the Celtics

The Nuggets are always one of the more annoying teams in the league to decipher and they proved it more than ever with Faried seeing no playing time last night. It's a surprise in a microscope, but not at all if you look at how this team handled things last year. As long as there are more than 1 warm body available per position, you have no idea how many minutes a big will get with Jokic and Millsap out. If Jokic remains out, you can go with a Plumlee or Faried, but you have to understand that a 0 is in the books. If Jokic plays, I don't have much interest, but like the match-up if he was fully healthy. If you don't like the other 500 centers in play, he's interesting. Just not necessary off of an injury against a big in Aaron Baynes that's better than the typical starter Horford. The rest of the starting lineup obviously sees an uptick with Jokic out, but I'm not sure any of them are high on my cash game board.

Nicolas Batum is probable to return from injury against the Rockets

This really only takes away from Jeremy Lamb. They both take the same amount of usage away from the others, so it's pretty useless info for them. This muddies the water at SG for Charlotte and turns it into a spot we'll look to avoid in a friendly match-up with the Rockets.

Darren Collison is questionable against the Thunder

This is a game we're going to try to target a lot and Collison is going to be a big factor. If he plays, I'll stick to Victor Oladipo. Roberson is out and the Pacers are the favorites, so the scoring will come from somewhere. If Collison misses, Cory Joseph will see 30 minutes and be one of the top value plays on the slate. Oladipo would also have the able in his hands for a few more possessions, but it's nominal. Joseph is the real winner here and I guess Russell Westbrook will see a worse defender, but he's match-up proof, so meh. All in all, look at Cory Joseph is we get word on Collison being out.

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