Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 2/19/16 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! START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Now let’s look at some news that’s come in throughout the day to see if anything’s changed in our minds or in the NBA landscape. What We Know Kawhi Leonard is out He was a late scratch (thanks for nothing, Pop) last night, and Kyle Anderson got a good amount of run. Still, the minutes in that game were all over the place for everyone. Anderson is more of an interesting tourney play than a double-up guy for me, just because he's simply not very good. This news is also significant for LaMarcus Aldridge, who gets a 10%+ usage bump when Kawhi's not on the floor. His usage also soars to 33%+ when both Duncan and Leonard are off the floor, which will inevitably happen in this one. Amar'e Stoudemire, Luol Deng, and Justise Winslow should see increased roles With Whiteside AND Bosh out, it's sort of unclear how the Heat are going to handle things. My gut tells me they are going to play Deng and Winslow more, and that they play Stoudemire as much or more than they have all season. The Hawks are basically a league average match-up for each of these guys, and each has plenty of value at current prices. EDIT: Casey, a member of our DFSR community, points out that the ATL bigs could eat the piecemeal Miami bigs for lunch. I tend to agree - Stoudemire isn't a true 5, and Horford certainly is. Millsap will be a very tough match-up for Deng as well. It should be a slow paced game, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see a big game out of either of those guys. Tobias Harris is coming off the bench Basically just means that whole collection of guys (Tolliver, Harris, probably Stanley Johnson) are a stay-away until we see how this plays out in at least 1 close game.   What We’re Waiting to Know Marco Belinelli and Omri Casspi's mouths...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 3/13/15 NBA baby! Another nice Friday slate, lots of games, lots of injuries, medium amounts of fun. Let's do it. Ready to make the leap and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks? Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster. Point Guards Elfrid Payton - FD 6200 DK 5800 DFSTR 4800 A lot of people will be on Payton here because he just put up a tremendous game against Boston a short while ago, and it makes sense. He put up nearly a triple double while getting his way in 42 minutes out there. Most of Payton's perceived risk comes from the fact that the Magic kinda suck and could get blown out at any moment, but these two teams are evenly matched to the point where I think he'll get all the run he wants. I think it's another big game brewing. Chris Paul - FD 10600 DK 10300 DFSTR 8400 While perhaps not the best play on a points per dollar basis, Paul deserves a nod as the best big money play at the position (and one of the best on the board) tonight. With 4 50+ fantasy point games in his last 6 games, Paul's production with Blake out has been indisputable. And this is a particularly good match-up. It should be a hotly contested game, which mitigates Paul's blow-out risk. Dallas' back-court has also played some particularly porous defense this season, allowing 8% more scoring to opposing point guards this season. All in all, a great investment of 10k+ salary if Paul's ankle injury is only minor. Marcus Smart - FD 5000 DK 5200 DFSTR 3900 Smart, like a lot of young ball handlers, is absolutely maddening to watch when you've got him on your squad. 35% shooting! But it actually winds up raising his floor, because all of that terrible shooting is priced in already. With Smart, you get significant steals upside, something like 4/4 in boards and assists, and whatever shots happen to fall in the basket that night. His game log contains plenty of 5x and even a near 7x points per dollar performance (against Orlando!) in recent times, and while there's some risk here, I'm not sweating it too much tonight. Why? The opponent. The Celtics should be able to hang here, and the Magic's young back-court should give Smart ample opportunity to wreak havoc. I like it for all formats. Update: Shaun Livingston is starting for Curry and is a fantastic play Also considered: Reggie Jackson, but I'm sweating the blow-out risk here....

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 1/26/15 The NBA is in full swing and you’re here to get the best value plays in the industry. Enjoy! Ready to make the leap and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks? Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel and DraftKings. And now - for the next month - you can get access to our Football projection tools AND our baskeball projection tools for the same price! Sick deal.   Point Guards Langston Galloway - FD 4800 DK 4300 DFSTR 4800 Langsanity cooled off just a tad last game against the Magic. But just a tad. He still saw 32 minutes and his price hasn’t come close to catching up with his opportunity. It doesn’t look like Calderon will be back for this one, though to be honest, I’d probably play Galloway even if Jose was around. It’s really just the difference of him playing the one or the two. He is seeing big minutes at very cheap prices. He’s putting up double digit shots per game whether Melo is there or not (a good sign) and should see plenty of run in this one. Update: The Knicks/Kings game has been postponed Mo Williams - FD 5800 DK 6000 DFSTR 5500 After a three game stretch of just horrible shooting, Mo got off the schnide last night against the Hawks with a 20/7/6 line that more than paid the day. He’s a solid option tonight again against the Thunder though there is of course some blowout risk. If the game even stays a semblance of close, Mo is locked into big minutes at the point. His price is still low thanks to that shooting rough patch and I think you can rather safely buy him here. Dante Exum - FD 3700 DK 3500 DFSTR 3000 Still coming in at close to the minimums for a dude running the point for the Jazz. He’s seen a nice minutes increase thanks to the new starting gig and the Jazz have been running sets with both he and Burke on the court at the same time. Exum has been steadily paying these prices since his promotion and with the amount of run he’s getting I’d say he’s a safer cash game play. The pace of play in Boston makes it even more enticing as he should see a volume increase. I think he’s a bit safer than Williams relative to price, though probably doesn’t have the same upside. Russell Westbrook - FD 10700 DK 10300 DFSTR 8000 If you want to spend up here tonight, Russell is...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 1/21/15 The NBA is in full swing and you’re here to get the best value plays in the industry. Enjoy! Ready to make the leap and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks? Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel and DraftKings. And now - for the next month - you can get access to our Football projection tools AND our baskeball projection tools for the same price! Sick deal.   Point Guards Damian Lillard - FD 9000 DK 9500 DFSTR 7500 Our system doesn’t love him here, but it hasn’t fully grasped that Aldridge is out tonight. When Aldridge is on the court Lillard’s usage rate is about 24. When the big guy is gone? Damien’s rate goes up to a whopping 36. In what should be a high volume game against the run and gun Suns, Lillard could put up a million shots. His price tag is high but I still think you are getting the money in safer considering the circumstances. Langston Galloway - FD 4000 DK 3600 DFSTR 3500 How many people in the world, Galloway included, would have thought about three weeks ago that this guy would be near the top of the list of value plays on a given DFS day? Zero? That’d be my guess. But here’s the thing: he started at the two last game against the Pelicans, played more than thirty minutes and 21/5/3. That’s a healthy line and is impressive because he was able to get up 14 shots in a game where Melo also played. I think he sticks in the starting rotation for now and has a great matchup against Philly. His prices are still low across the industry and this is a price + opportunity situation we love. John Wall - FD 8600 DK 9200 DFSTR 7800 Wall’s been struggling (fantasy-wise) a little of late and has seen his price really come down in the short term. This is a fantastic time to buy the guy even in the matchup against OKC. While they are about league average in allowing scoring and assists to points guards, playing Wall here is mostly about the price. With such a big slate, you’ll be able to work multiple expensive pieces into your lineups. The value is there on Wall and his sick passing. Mo Williams - FD 6100 DK 6200 DFSTR 5200 A rough game against Charlotte on Monday shouldn’t have you worried about buying Mo in this spot. He’s locked into big minutes at the point (as long as Rubio is out, which you’ll...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 1/15/15 The NBA is in full swing and you’re here to get the best value plays in the industry. Enjoy! Ready to make the leap and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks? Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel and DraftKings. And now - for the next month - you can get access to our Football projection tools AND our baskeball projection tools for the same price! Sick deal. It’s an odd day in the NBA as there is the early, 3:30 game between the Knicks and the Bucks in London and then two games in the evening. This will be an abbreviated picks column because of it. The early slate has me worried on sites like FanDuel that don’t allow late swaps (it’s an eternity between the early game and evening slate). I’ll focus mainly on the evening games as I think those are a little easier to break down, but will give a couple of quick thoughts on the Knicks and Bucks guys as well.   Early Game The Knicks are an utter mess right now and there rotations make it a little tough to find value. That’s mostly because they consistently get blown out and subsequently the minutes are all over the place. Combine that with not knowing if Carmelo is going to play (or how much) and you have a total mess. If playing the early slate I would consider Cole Aldrich. But beyond that it’s really buyer beware. There will certainly be some guys who hit value for them (they are all so cheap because again, they suck) but parsing it out ahead of time is super dicey. On the Bucks’ side, we have some of the same uncertainty but for a slightly different reasons. Jason Kidd yanks around minutes like crazy, making the “safety” on some guys anything but implied. I would definitely consider Zaza Pachulia and Giannis Antetokounmpo but the minutes have dipped in the short term. Khris Middleton is intriguing but again, the run isn’t locked in. This is all mostly to say that this early slate feels like a total stay away for me. Great freerolls for miles over at Scorestreak, by the way. Get involved today by clicking the banner below! And they have a great offer: refer a friend, have them play $25 worth of games and get a $25 Amazon gift card.   Evening Slate Big Money Fair warning: This slate isn’t exactly the most ripe with value. This is for a couple of reasons. One is that you are going to...