Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 3/15/16

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

Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic are out again
Enter CJ Watson! If he plays. He's got the NBA Flu, and this might just be Brandon Jennings instead. But Jennings also has Achilles issues. Maybe Shabazz Napier? Oy, what a mess.

If he does play, Watson is very interesting. He was bad against Portland, but great against the Kings. It's clear that the Magic are content to play him high 20s low 30s minutes if things are going well, but that makes me a lot more confident to deploy him in big tourneys than in 50/50s. Meanwhile, Vucevic's continued absence makes way for more shots for everyone, and increased playing time for Dedmon and Jason Smith. Smith put up one monster game in this role, and both have been fairly solid. But the combination of getting Skilesed and generally low minutes to begin with has me a little cautious with playing either in a 50/50.

Hollis Thompson, Nerlens Noel get bumps with Covington and Grant out again
All three have shown big fantasy upside, and Landry and Noel have shown great safety as well. Terrific match-up for all of them, and I'd be happy to play them anywhere.

Lou Williams screwed up everyone's minutes in LA
Well, him and Kobe playing together did. It's a real shame, because this is an awesome match-up for guards, but I'm not sure you can trust anyone to play more than 30 minutes. And their various prices, that leaves only Kobe Bryant as a consideration for me on the Lakers tonight. Brandon Bass sitting (more on that later) would free up some of the big minutes, but the guard situation is just a quagmire right now.

What We're Waiting to Know

Kobe Bryant - a "game time decision"
The Lakers have slapped Kobe with a GTD every day it seems, but we often know well before tip-off what the real story is. As of now I'm assuming he's going to play, which makes all the other guards a lot less attractive. But if they're calling him a game time decision, you probably can't play him on sites like FanDuel that don't have late swap. Monitor this one, though, because news of Kobe's absence would make guys like Lou Williams and D'Angelo Russell excellent plays.

Update: Kobe is now doubtful. Meta World Peace is starting for him, which actually could mean something. I'm giving D'Angelo Russell a big boost as well because he's the primary usage benefactor when Kobe's out.

Will Bismack Biyombo get the start for Valanciunas?
JV left last night's game after ten minutes, and he's hurt his hand in this exact spot before. They're calling him day to day, but the tone of the reports I've read lead me to believe he's more doubtful than questionable. If he's out, Biyombo has put up big numbers as a starter in the past, and he's basically a minimum priced guy. Keep an eye on this one.

Will Kelly Olynyk play?
Seems like kind of small potatoes, but he's a direct competitor to Jared Sullinger for minutes, and as of now, our projection system loves Sullinger. If we got word that Olynyk was back from his shoulder injury, Sullinger would be a less attractive option for sure.

Brandon Bass miss tonight's game?
Also sounds like small potatoes, but the Lakers are playing a lot of guys 20-25 minutes right now, and freeing up Bass' 25 minutes for guys like Randle and Nance should make a big difference in a fast paced match-up with the Kings. Randle becomes interesting in particular, since he had been playing bigger minutes before Lou Williams returned against the Knicks. Why Lou Williams would impact Randle's minutes is anybody's guess, but Bass' absence should move things back toward the minutes equilibrium Randle had before Williams returned.

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.

DeMarcus Cousins - FD 11100 DK 10500
Opponent - LAL
FD Proj. Pts - 52.31 DK Proj. Pts - 52.95
To absolutely no one's surprise. It's really hard to spend up today - our system is bearish on Chris Paul and Giannis, and Boogie has one of the best match-ups in the league. Yes, he's expensive - but he's worth every penny.

Victor Oladipo - FD 7000 DK 7400
Opponent - DEN
FD Proj. Pts - 34.9 DK Proj. Pts - 36.54
I wasn't surprised by this one, either. Shooting guard is tough, and Oladipo stands to be running the point a decent amount today with the considerable point guard woes the Magic have right now. It's also a terrific match-up with the Nuggets, who have wing problems of their own.

Darren Collison - FD 5300 DK 5200
Opponent - LAL
FD Proj. Pts - 27.46 DK Proj. Pts - 28.99
This one is cheating, since Collison only shows up in the top 7 lineups. But with Ben McLemore injured and Marco Belinelli out of favor, Collison stands to reap 30-37 minutes of action against the NBA's 2nd worst shooting guard defense. I'd be happy playing him anywhere.

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!