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

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Aaron Gordon is out and the Magic are hurting.
Gordon suffered a calf strain Friday night against the Blazers leaving the game after 24 minutes. The discomfort is strong enough that he was ruled out yesterday well in advance of todays game with the Pistons. This leaves Orlando without Gordon, Evan Fournier, and Terrence Ross who have missed several games each, while Arron Afflalo and Jonathan Isaac are each listed as questionable. This could lead to more run for Mario Hezonja, Jonathan Simmons, and DJ Augustin if if Afflalo and Isaac join the others on the bench.

Zach Randolph and De'Aaron Fox are ruled out for the Kings.
Sacramento will rest Z-Bo today against the Raptors, while Fox was ruled out as expected after being listed as doubtful with a quad contusion. George Hill becomes a somewhat more intriguing play with Fox out, while Skal Labassiere and Willie Cauley-Stein will benefit from Randolph's vacated minutes.

The Cavs will rest Dwyane Wade.
Wade played two games in three days and will get the tail end of Cleveland's back to back off to rest his sore knee. Kyle Korver and Jeff Green will see additional minutes in his place.

Otto Porter did not practice on Saturday and is listed as questionable for today's tilt with Cleveland.
Porter played only three minutes on Friday before being forced to leave with a hip bruise. We are considering him unlikely to play given the fact that he did not practice with the team yesterday, though more word should come following shootaround.

Serge Ibaka is out today for Toronto.
Ibaka is dealing with a sore left knee and will be held out of today's contest with the Kings. Pascal Siakam should pick up the start for Toronto and becomes an intriguing value play at PF.

What We're Waiting to Know

Avery Bradley is a game time decision against the Magic today.
Bradley was a late scratch on Friday for Detroits game against the Pacers, and is being considered day to day until more word on his status is released. Luke Kenard started in Bradley's spot on Friday and put up a 9/5/4/1 line in 18 minutes while Langston Galloway saw more time off the bench, both can be considered as punts if Bradley sits out again today.

Thaddeus Young is questionable for the Pacers game in Brooklyn.
Young played 37 minutes against Detroit on Friday but at some point suffered an injury to his knee and is dealing with soreness. We will look for more word on his status following the teams shoot around though for now he is listed as questionable and the team may just give him a rest day to nurse the knee following five straight games of 37+ minutes each.

Every Lineup Guys

DeMar DeRozan FD - $9000 DK - $8400
Opponent - SAC
Proj Pts FD - 40.74 DK - 41.06
It's pay up day at the two as our top plays are the top tiered shooting guards going today. In the early slate no single player appears in all 25 of the top lineups in our optimizer, but DeMar DeRozan leads the way appearing in all but one. As James alluded to in the picks article, Double D is slightly over priced, and his two best performances in the past month have come against the defensively inept Suns. There are just two games on the early set, so we have to brush aside the negatives and look at the positives. One of those two games against the Suns was this past Wednesday and he dropped a season high 37 points on the Phoenix defense, which he followed up with an equally impressive 31 points against Brooklyn on Friday in just 29 minutes. The Kings aren't quite as poor defensively as Phoenix and Brooklyn, and there's blowout risk here, but if the game does get out of hand it could come courtesy of another 30+ point shooting clinic put on by DeRozan.

Victor Oladipo FD - $9700 DK - $9300
Opponent - BKN
Proj Pts FD - 47.58 DK - 47.83
Now while DeRozan is a top play in the early set, if you're going the all day slate or just holding off for the evening set, bypass DeMar and pay all the way up for Victor Oladipo. 'Dipo is showing up in the top lineups everywhere in our system where the Pacers game in Brooklyn is in play. His salary is starting to push to the point where it's questionable if he can remain a top play, but he is certainly in consideration in a matchup with the Nets. These are two of the fastest teams in the game that love to run the court and take a ton of shots. The game sports a combined 102.3 pace and has a projection of 216.5 from Vegas with Indiana as a mere three point favorite. Outside of an underwhelming performance against former teammate Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, Victor O. has been on fire as of late and should continue his hot streak tonight in the Barclays Center.

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