Free Player Lab TrialBasketball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice
Daily Fantasy NBA News and Injury Updates - 12/8/17
Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NBA optimizer, our NFL Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.
First time with NBA or NFL? Be sure to read our free NBA and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.
What We Know
Evan Fournier is out with a sprained right ankle.
Fournier will miss at the very least tonight's game against the Nuggets, and tomorrow in Atlanta with a sprained ankle suffered on Wednesday against the Hawks. Aaron Afflalo will likely draw the start in fournier's place, and should see a significant number of minutes as well.
Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown expect to play tonight in San Antonio.
Although the word is both expect to play, Morris is being called a game-time decision after missing wednesdays game with a knee issue and originally being listed as questionable for tonight. Brown meanwhile will likely play with protective goggles after missing the last game with an inflamed right eye. Even if Morris plays, look for Aaron Baynes to remain in the starting rotation against the Spurs front court, while the return of Brown will send Marcus Smart back to a reserve role.
Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green are both probable.
Iguodala played through knee pain on wednesday, while Green was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Green will see how things feel following shoot around, though word is he expects to be good to go tonight in Detroit. Iguodala meanwhile should be expected to continue playing through the knee issue as long as it doesn't worsen. If that is the case he stands to see a significant bump in usage with Steph Curry out for at least a couple of weeks with an ankle sprain. Zaza Pachulia is also out for the Dubs, but as long as Dray is back in the rotation, I'd expect to see him eat a sizable chunk of those minutes.
Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller are each out for the Hornets.
Zeller has been ruled out indefinitely with a medial meniscus tear in his knee and will be joined on the injury report tonight by Frank The Tank, who suffered a sprained ankle six minutes into Wednesday's tilt with the Warriors. This should lead to a windfall of minutes for Marvin Williams who will likely draw the start at power forward for the hurting Hornets.
Willie Cauley-Stein did not travel to New Orleans.
WCS strained his lower back against the Bucks last weekend and did not travel with the Kings on their road trip to Cleveland earlier this week, and New Orleans tonight. This will likely mean more of Jakarr Sampson and the suddenly Zach Randolph once again tonight.
What We're Waiting to Know
Anthony Davis is questionable for the Pelicans.
The glass brow has missed three straight contests with a groin strain, and though it is encouraging that he wasn't immediately ruled out tonight, we still have to wait on word following shoot around to see if he is ready to return to the court. Dante Cunningham has started the last three games in Davis' place, and would likely do so yet again if Davis misses number four tonight.
Dennis Smith Jr. is listed as questionable for the Mavericks tonight in Milwaukee.
Smith is designated as questionable after sitting out Thursday's practice with a hip strain. If Smith feels he is unable to go following the teams shoot around, then expect to see yogi Ferrell and J.J. Barea absorb the bulk of Smith's minutes.
Tyreke Evans is questionable tonight.
Coming out of nowhere, we get word that Evans is dealing with hip soreness and is questionable for tonight's tilt with the Raptors. While Evans will likely be a game-time decision, if he does in fact sit this one out, Mario Chalmers should draw the starting nod in his place.
Myles Turner and Cory Joseph are each listed as questionable for tonight's game against the Cavaliers.
Turner is dealing with soreness in his calf and the Pacers have designated him as questionable for tonight's game against the Cavaliers. Joseph is also listed as questionable with a sore shoulder once again after carrying the designation going into Wednesday's game against the Bulls, though he did wind up playing 31 minutes that night. If he's unable to go Lance Stephenson will see a slight bump but nothing to get excited over. Turner's injury doesn't seem to be anything too serious, but we will have to wait for more word to come down following the teams shoot around, in the meantime keep Domantas Sabonis and Al Jefferson in mind as beneficiaries of Turners 30 or so minutes.
Every Lineup Guys
Jakarr Sampson FD - $4200 DK - $3400
Opponent - NO
Proj Pts FD - 18.78 DK - 18.9
Zach Randolph FD - $6700 DK - $5900
Opponent - NO
Proj Pts FD - 30.49 DK - 31.12
The system is feeling Sac-town tonight as two of the Kings are appearing in all of our top lineups. The Kings head to New Orleans to play a Pelicans team that will most likely not have Anthony Davis back in the front court, in a game with a modest 210 point projection and an 8.5 point spread. Sacramento is without Willie Cauley-Stein once again, the big guy isn't even with the team on this road trip, and on Wednesday in Cleveland JaKarr Sampson, drawing his first start of the season, and Zach Randolph saw 32 and 31 minutes respectively, and paid solid fantasy value. The sites quickly took notice of the situation, particularly FanDuel where Sampson is priced $700 higher than he was on Wednesday, though he still remains a solid value play on both sites, and appears in the top lineups for both in our optimizer. Z-Bo on the other hand only appears in the top lineups on DraftKings, where he is still underpriced for the minutes and usage he has been seeing lately. In his last three games he has paid 8X, 5.6X, and 8X DKPPD at this current price, and though he's not showing up in the top FanDuel lineups right now, that doesn't mean he's a fade there either. The Pelicans play a much faster game than the Kings normally do, and both of these guys are solid cash plays with plenty of upside as well, especially, though not only, on DraftKings.
