Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 3/18/16

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

Tim Frazier is starting
Frazier caught a lot of daily fantasy basketball players' eyes on Wednesday, dropping 33 fantasy points in 27 minutes in a blowout win over the Kings. He caught Alvin Gentry's eye, too, as Frazier has been announced the starter (likely in place of Toney Douglas) for Friday's tilt with with the Trail Blazers (revenge game, btw!). But man, it's pretty tough to figure out exactly how many minutes he's going to play. He'll be directly competing with Jrue Holiday, Toney Douglas, and Luke Babbitt for minutes, and Gentry's "short leash" tendencies have me a little spooked. Still, it's a good sign that he played 27 minutes in his first game with the Pelicans, and an even better sign that his coach was so inspired as to bump him into the starting lineup after one game. I'd guess he'll play high 20s minutes tonight, and should have no problem paying basically minimum prices.

All of this assumes that Norris Cole is out again, by the way. Chances are good that Frazier's signing was an indication that Cole isn't close, but if he does come back, I wouldn't play Frazier anywhere.

Brandon Bass is playing tonight
We were on this in Bass' last game, and his absence predictably meant a rise in minutes for Julius Randle. Well, with Bass back tonight, it's only sensible to offer downward guidance on Randle even in a great match-up with the Suns tonight. Still some upside there, but don't count on him for 30 minutes.

What We're Waiting to Know

Reggie Jackson - Will his breathing issue hold him out?
Jackson missed practice on Thursday with what's being called a "breathing issue," and the Pistons have gone ahead and signed Lorenzo Brown as "insurance" against Jackson not playing tonight. I don't think I'd play a guy fresh up from the D-League in anything but a big tournament, but I'd turn my attention to both Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andre Drummond if he sits, as both get nice usage bumps if he sits.

Actually, I'll just give you the numbers for the guys you can consider, since they all have a nice match-up with the Kings.

Usages with Jackson playing: KCP - 18.6, Marcus Morris - 19.2, Tobias Harris - 21.4, Andre Drummond - 26.1.

Usages with Jackson out: KCP - 23.4, Marcus Morris - 25.1, Tobias Harris - 24.4, Andre Drummond - 29.2.

On court/off court data thanks to NBA Wowy.

Update: Jackson will play tonight.

Will Rajon Rondo return?
Rondo's absence made Darren Collison a chalk play in a great match-up with the Pelicans, and he performed well as compared to his price. The only problem was that the Kings got blown out, and Collison lost some minutes. The interesting punt play from that game wound up being James Anderson, who played 34 minutes and put up 24 fantasy points against the Pels. He was actually pulled when the rest of the first unit was pulled, and could have played more minutes had the game been closer. The only problem is Marco Belinelli, whose return tonight could cramp his style. Anderson is more of a long shot big tourney play, even if Rondo sits.

Elfrid Payton's status
This will be a big shoe to drop whenever Payton finally comes back, because both CJ Watson and Brandon Jennings have done terrifically when placed in the starting role for the Magic. Jennings has the momentum at the, um, moment, and will likely get the start again tonight if Payton misses this one. He's a better play on DraftKings, but is a fine play regardless of the format.

Will Bismack Biyombo get another start?
With the Proud Lithuanian questionable once again, we might have yet another Biyombo sighting. Bismack has been a force of nature in the last 3 Raptors games, and has a nice match-up with the Celtics' front court here. The big question looming is - what will his minutes look like after playing 42 in an overtime game with the Pacers last night? He's not as cheap as he was, but as a point-per-minute fantasy player, he's likely still very undervalued. Looking at his game log, the 42 minutes do look like an outlier, but keep in mind that he was set to play in the low 30s against the Bucks before the game got out of hand and he sat the 4th.

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.
Tim Frazier - FD 3500 DK 3400
Opponent - POR
FD Proj. Pts - 20.53 DK Proj. Pts - 21.61
Bismack Biyombo - FD 4200 DK 4600
Opponent - BOS
FD Proj. Pts - 25.46 DK Proj. Pts - 26.01
The two best punts going, and it really isn't close. The more I turn it over in my mind, the more I believe that Alvin Gentry didn't hand Frazier the starting job just to pull him after 15 minutes or whatever today. Both of these comes with the caveat that they need their respective starters to sit, but if they do, I'm all systems go on both so I can spend up elsewhere.

Kevin Durant - FD 10400 DK 10100
Opponent - PHI
FD Proj. Pts - 50 DK Proj. Pts - 53.12
With Covington out, the Sixers don't even have anyone who can pretend to cover Durant. Noel is simply not quick enough, and if this falls to Jerami Grant, Durant could spend the whole game on the foul line. There's obvious blowout risk here, but again, the "optimal" lineup isn't always the safest.

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!