Last Updated on March 6, 2026 2:22 pm by Mike Passador | Published: March 6, 2026

It’s playoff season in fantasy — if your league’s playoffs didn’t start the week of March 2, they surely start the week of March 9 — which means it’s extra important to play the schedule. Your time to wait around for upside stashes to hit is over; you need games and you need them now. Planning your path through the week can yield a handful of extra games and an insurmountable edge in fantasy.

That holds especially true this week, as one team ends up drawing the rare five-game week at a time that could not possibly be more impactful for fantasy managers.

The Philadelphia 76ers are the lucky ones and should be a hot commodity on the waiver wire. There isn’t a ton of surplus value on that roster but with Joel Embiid injured, the two centers — Andre Drummond and Adem Bona — are must-adds, even if Embiid returns at some point in the next couple of games. Dominick Barlow is also worth adding given the sheer volume he’ll have next week, while guys like Kelly Oubre and VJ Edgecombe need to be rostered (as they have been for most of the year). More on the schedule and how you can weave your way to extra games after the jump.

Injuries to Watch

Short-Term Stuff (hopefully…)

Jonathan Kuminga missed Wednesday’s game with more left knee troubles, robbing him of a chance to continue his big run as well as our chance to see how things will look next to Jalen Johnson in a non-blowout. The wait continues.

Jayson Tatum (right Achilles) is back on Friday night and the Celtics don’t have many back-to-backs the rest of the way. He’s going to play sparingly for a while but it’s about as good a schedule as you could ask for.

Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis are out with sprained right ankles and the Bulls haven’t said anything about their timelines yet. Just make sure Tre Jones and Collin Sexton are rostered.

Jarrett Allen left Cleveland’s last game with a right knee injury and Donovan Mitchell is still out with a groin issue. Fingers crossed for quick returns there.

Aaron Gordon is said to be returning on Friday while Cam Johnson is nursing a right ankle issue. Gordon’s timeline was just a week ahead of Peyton Watson’s, so perhaps he’ll be back from his hamstring strain in the not-too-distant future…

Ausar Thompson rolled his right ankle pretty good on Thursday night and Ron Holland left with an eye injury. It could be Javonte Green time in deeper leagues.

Kristaps Porzingis (general illness) at least traveled with the Warriors on their road trip, so we might be graced by his presence this weekend. Moses Moody (right wrist) has also missed the last couple of games.

John Collins (neck) will miss the next two games and be evaluated before the team’s home game on Monday. You’d hate to do it, but this uncertain timeline puts him near drop territory.

Isaiah Hartenstein suffered a left calf injury vs. the Knicks, adding to his persistent right calf troubles this year. The Thunder will be patient here, which means Hartenstein is likely to miss time unless it’s truly a minor issue.

Joel Embiid wrapped up his three-game timeline because of his oblique strain so we must wait to see what comes next. Kelly Oubre (illness) missed the last two games and VJ Edgecombe (back contusion) is sitting on a one-game absence.

Collin Murray-Boyles (left thumb) has missed a couple games but there’s no reports of a long-term problem here… yet. The urgency has dipped since Jakob Poeltl is back and finally playing well, but fantasy GMs are certainly missing Murray-Boyles’ output.

Deandre Ayton (knee) and LeBron James (left elbow) both got banged up on Thursday; one of those guys is a lot more important going forward than the other.

Impending Evaluations

The Thunder said Jalen Williams (right hamstring) would be evaluated in approximately two weeks back on February 19. That was 15 days ago. If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s return is anything to go by, we might just see Williams disappear from the injury report overnight one of these days.

Keegan Murray (left ankle) is supposed to get reevaluated in about a week or so, but we’re not expecting him to play much from here.

Ja Morant (left elbow) got an update that resulted in another evaluation in a couple of weeks. It would be shocking if he was back this year. Elsewhere in Memphis, Santi Aldama (right knee injury management) was briefly cleared to play on Tuesday before getting scratched and ruled out for Wednesday as well.

Anthony Davis (left hand) has been cleared to begin individual on-court activity (sounds fun!) and will be evaluated again in a couple of weeks. At this point it feels like he’ll make some token appearances barring any setbacks, but likely too late for most fantasy GMs.

Norman Powell (groin) is still out week-to-week. Given how the Heat usually play it, we won’t know about Powell’s return until 24-48 hours before he’s ready.

Steph Curry (right knee) is about a week out from another reevaluation. The Warriors are pretty much locked into the Play-In so there’s no real urgency here. Fantasy GMs should be starting to sweat if they haven’t been already, as having Curry ready for that do-or-die game is going to be much more important than the rest of the regular season.

Mark Williams will be evaluated in 2-to-3 weeks after sustaining a stress reaction in his right foot. So long, partner.

Ivica Zubac (left ankle) is expected to play at some point this season but we’ll believe it when we see it at this point.

Jalen Smith (right calf strain) is expected to start ramping up his activity right around now and the Bulls did upgrade him to doubtful prior to their last game. We’ll see how that goes.

Schedule Breakdown

Weekly Info

Games played:

Five games: Your Philadelphia 76ers.
Four games: Half the league has four games, including GSW, NYK, SAC, DAL, DET, UTA, LAC, BKN, CLE, MIL, MEM, IND, MIN, TOR, DEN.
Three games: There are 13 teams with a three-gamer next week — ORL, MIA, POR, ATL, CHA, LAL, HOU, BOS, PHO, CHI, SAS, WAS, OKC
Two games: Your New Orleans Pelicans.

Back-to-Backs (B2Bs) This Week:

The Sixers, Kings and Grizzlies all have two back-to-backs. That’s the other side of the coin from a Sixers perspective, and the expected tax on a five-game week. It could end up being a three- or four-game week for a few players but the Sixers really only have on obvious candidate for rest in those spots, and he’s already hurt anyway.

There are 17 teams with one back-to-back set: GSW, NYK, DAL, DET, LAC, BKN, CLE, MIL, IND, MIN, TOR, DEN, ORL, CHA, HOU, PHO, CHI.

Lastly, 10 teams have no back-to-backs: UTA, MIA, POR, ATL, LAL, BOS, SAS, WAS, OKC, NOR. Obviously the Pelicans would be on there, and managers invested in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can rejoice. Managers invested in Keyonte George can be cautiously optimistic.

Start/Sit Decisions for Weekly Lineup Leagues:

If you play in a league with Daily Lineup Changes, this does not apply to you, so you can move along to the next section.

Your big questions here are the Sixers — mostly Joel Embiid — and the Pelicans.

Embiid is guaranteed to miss two games at minimum because of the back-to-backs, but that assumes he’s healthy enough to return from his oblique strain and shin injury and knee soreness in the first place. If Embiid doesn’t get cleared to play this weekend, it’s going to be very tough to trust him. At this point managers in weekly leagues may need to treat Embiid situationally. If you’re a heavy favorite in your matchup, playing it safe is the way to go. If it looks like you’re in need of a miracle and streaming won’t get you in the fight, you might as well roll the dice on the guy who can uncork first-round value.

As for the Pelicans, you can start Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy, and probably Dejounte Murray. The spacing between games might result in Murray getting his minutes limit bumped up too, which is nice. Those guys are not lineup locks, however, depending on what your next matchup calls for. Murphy would be but his recent absences make you bristle a bit; as long as he makes it through the weekend without more injury tags you probably have to start him. After that there’s really no need to think about anyone else unless you’re in a deeper league and streaming for specific stats. Even then, it’s hard to imagine you couldn’t do better with another option.

The teams with four games and no back-to-backs are… the Jazz. It’s a shame that you couldn’t get that alignment from a team that’s more predictable, but smoke ’em if you got ’em.

Teams with three games and a back-to-back: Orlando, Charlotte, Houston, Phoenix and Chicago. The players to watch out for in that group are Jalen Suggs, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis first and foremost. The Bulls have been hit-and-miss with their injury updates and it would be Peak Bulls if they said that Giddey would be out for a week the first thing on Wednesday morning, well after lineups have locked. Hopefully we got some kind of news out of Chicago by the end of the weekend. As for the rest, Jabari Smith and Amen Thompson are battling recent injuries, as is Devin Booker, but we’re optimistic that they’ll be able to suit up if you need them. That said, someone like Smith might be on the borderline if you have a four-game alternative waiting to go. Smith should play three games, but if he only ends up in two, it could ruin you.

Daily Info

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Mike Passador

Mike graduated from Boston University’s Dual Degree Program with a BA in Economics and a BS in Business with Concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. He is a faithful supporter of Toronto sports and the Detroit Lions and is always ready to be let down. Tweet to him @Mike_Pandador, but if you badmouth Jose Calderon you might get blocked.

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