Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/6/16

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

Carmelo Anthony will play
But that doesn't mean you should trust him. I'll be taking a game to see if he's going to get his pre-rest minutes. I wouldn't even touch him in a big tournament tonight. This also depresses scoring dependent guys like Arron Afflalo.

Bojan Bogdanovic is playing
Yes, this qualifies as news! Not because you want to play Bogdanovic necessarily, but because this should take minutes away from speculative guys like Sean Kilpatrick and Markel Brown.

What We're Waiting to Know

Will the Clippers, Cavs, or Thunder rest anyone today?
Arguably the biggest unknown, and biggest needle mover of the day. All three teams played yesterday, and don't seem to have a lot to gain by playing anyone big minutes on the second half of a back to back. Then again, teams are weird, and I'm prepared for anything. Still, if I had to choose a big money player for safety tonight, I'd be starting with teams with something to play for (like Harden or Lillard) and steering clear of the locked in squads.

Nicolas Batum's status
Batum was a late-ish scratch last night, and freed up significant fantasy value for his teammates. Jeremy Lamb got a slight boost, but Jeremy Lin was the big beneficiary. In spite of a little elbow tendinitis, Jeremy Lin went out and played 40 minutes against the Raptors, pouring in 34 fantasy points with a well rounded 21/4/7 line. This is no fluke - Lin has put up numbers like these as a starter in the past - so monitor this situation closely.

Jose Calderon and Kristaps Porzingis's availability
Both are listed as doubtful, but it's not a sure thing just yet. Derrick Williams has provided solid value on nearly minimum prices, and is certainly capable of a monster if things break just so. On the point guard side of things, it's a little bit murkier. Jerian Grant looked to be the big winner, but Langston Galloway put up a monster night in the Knicks last go-round. Either point guard should be considered a speculative play.

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.

James Harden - FD 10900 DK 10800
Opponent - DAL
FD Proj. Pts - 53.65 DK Proj. Pts - 56.67

James Harden is showing up in every optimal lineup on both DK and FD. The Rockets are still in the hunt and will be running him into the ground. Spend money saved elsewhere right here.

Jeremy Lin - FD 4200 DK 4100
Opponent - NYK
FD Proj. Pts - 22.29 DK Proj. Pts - 23.33

Lin is also showing up across the board, on both sites. Pair him with Harden, and shooting guard is full on FD. You can work him into your lineup in several places on DK. As mentioned above, this is dependent on Nic Batum’s status, so be sure to come back for an update later.

Markieff Morris - FD 5500 DK 5300
Opponent - BKN
FD Proj. Pts - 29.63 DK Proj. Pts - 30.73

Markieff is a must-play everywhere. The minutes are key here, and we think he’s very likely to get back above 30 tonight. Note that he’s slotted into the generic Forward slot on DK.

Henry Sims - FD 4000 DK 3500
Opponent - WAS
FD Proj. Pts - 23.6 DK Proj. Pts - 24.29

Sims is your Center in all lineups on DK and most on FD. You can find the cash for Harden (and at least one more big ticket item) right here. The alternative on FD is Alexis Ajinca.

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!