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.
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Matthews has missed two games with a hip sprain, but practiced yesterday and is fully expected to go tonight. Dallas is hurting in the back court with Deron Williams and J.J. Barea still out so there could be a lot of minutes to go around presenting some value even in a tough match up with the Spurs.
Embiid was held out for three games with a sore knee but returned on Friday against Houston only to complain about more soreness following the game. Nerlens Noel has been a tremendous fantasy value in recent games without Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, who is currently questionable. Consider Noel an excellent play now, and if word comes that Okafor is out, he will push to must play territory.
Curry will miss his first game of the season tonight as the Warriors travel to Portland to take on the Blazers. Shaun Livingston will most likely draw the start and makes a nice tournament play. The rest of the Golden State starters all see a nice boost in expectation as well with Kevin Durant (see below) moving to near must play status. KD sees a 6.2% usage differential with Curry off the court this season.
DeRozan has missed 3 games already with an ankle sprain. Expect Norman Powell to draw the start again if DeRozan sits for one more. If he is cleared to play, I would exercise caution rostering him until we see how comfortable Toronto is returning him to his full usage.
Fournier practiced on Saturday for the first time in two weeks. He will be evaluated after shoot out and a decision will come closer to game time.
This game doesn't have a ridiculous spread, I'll assume Portland is getting a boost for being the home team, though honestly, I think a mere 8 points is being overly generous. That said, I still find Durant to be one of the top plays of the night and an excellent way to pay up. Portland really has no one to contain him and even if this one gets away from the Blazers, it should be after KD does enough to pay value. If this one really does stay as close as Vegas is calling, and Durant gets full run then he could be in line for a huge night. I'll deploy him in all formats based on that.
DeMar DeRozan is still considered questionable as of 10:30AM and if he misses another game then Kyle Lowry makes a great option against the Magic. Orlando is a bottom 10 team defensively and especially generous to opposing point guards. In the last 3 games without DeRozan Lowry has paid 4.09X, 5.65x, 5.06x at this salary, running the court for 40.3 minutes per game. If DeRozan does play, Lowry loses some value, but since Toronto may be cautious with an active DeMar, Lowry could be a good tournament play. Should he sit again, Kyle Lowry provides nice safety for your cash game purposes.
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