NBA DFS is widely popular among DFS players, but also one of the most time consuming to research. Players rest and sit-out daily, and this makes accurate minutes projections some of the most valuable information when building lineups. DFS Karma does the work for you in our Projections Portal — with minutes, fantasy points, value and more rates projected out nightly in an easy to read table. You can gain access to the projections by signing up for an NBA premium subscription here. This article will aim to identify some of the important injury situations to monitor throughout the day, and give you an idea of where to go if/when news breaks. Let’s get into Thursday…

Players Listed As Questionable

Yesterday’s slate was truly insane from an injury perspective. As I highlighted in this article, the entire Nuggets team was essentially ruled out but we didn’t receive the news officially until less than 30 minutes prior to lock. Today looks much less busy, with only six games and minimal big names to watch. Random stuff can always pop up in this league, so don’t be shocked if things look different by the afternoon. For now, I’ll highlight the big names to watch and I’ll be around to answer any questions throughout the day in Discord. You can join the Discord for free here.

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Lamelo Ball ($7,000) and Gordon Hayward ($5,100)

I think it’s likely that Ball misses again tonight, while Hayward is probably closer to a true GTD. Without Ball, Terry Rozier ($5,800) will continue to be one of the top plays on the slate and dominate the offense. He’s posted 52, 33 and 39 fantasy point games since ball went out and would see extra usage in the event that Hayward misses also. If you take both off the floor — we see a 31% usage rate for Rozier which is a 4% increase from his season-long rate. PJ Washington ($5,800) gets the biggest per minute boost and he would become viable in the mid-tier. It’s a small sample size, but Mark Williams has a huge 1.4 fantasy point per minute rate should all these guys miss, though he doesn’t have the most secure minutes. He is someone you could look at if making 10+ teams.

Donovan Mitchell ($6,700)

Mitchell looks doubtful to play tonight for the Cavs, which puts emphasis on a few guys on medium-sized slate. Darius Garland ($6,500) would be a top-overall play on the slate owning a 30% usage rate and 1.35 fantasy points per minute with Garland off the floor. Both big-men get boosts as well, but it’s worth noting that Jarrett Allen ($5,600) actually sees the biggest usage-rate increase at 5%. Caris LeVert ($5,100) would step into the starting lineup and be one of the highest-owned players on the slate against Houston.

Isaiah Stewart ($5,400)

This is pretty big news on this slate actually, since it would open up some mid-tier plays for us. If Stewart is out — Saddiq Bey ($4,900) will step into a starting role and he’s topped 29+ fantasy points in three straight games. It would also help out Jalen Duren ($5,200) who is coming off a 50 burger in their last game.

Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)