Last Updated on March 8, 2026 12:51 am by Keston Paul | Published: March 8, 2026

We have a 10-game Sunday to finish off the week. Let’s dive right in, but first, Alex Sarr is back for Sunday’s game!

Alex Sarr is not listed on the Wizards injury report and will be available to make his return tomorrow against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Sarr had missed the last 10 games with a right hamstring strain. pic.twitter.com/v0BYBYzFhX

— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) March 7, 2026

Looking for fantasy playoff preparation? Click here for the Fantasy Basketball Week Ahead.

Top Pickups

This is the “general must-add” section regardless of the slate. If these players are being overlooked and remain chilling on the waiver wire, consider adding them to your squad.

Gui Santos (26%)

I am going to keep mentioning him because I feel like he is still going under the radar. Santos had 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two triples and two steals in 37 minutes. Santos has been doing this for a while, so make sure he is rostered.

Quentin Grimes (22%)

Grimes finally sparked to life with 26 points, three triples, six rebounds, three assists and two steals on Saturday. This is less a reaction to that — although, that performance helps — and more a combination of a five-game week coming up, VJ Edgecombe’s back injury and the fact that Tyrese Maxey hurt his right hand at the end of Saturday’s game and is going to have tests done on it.

Everything might be breaking for Grimes to have a big week, even if it only becomes a one-week play.

Ousmane Dieng (4%)

I am going to open with this: I don’t think Dieng is must-roster, but I do think he is intriguing. Head coach Doc Rivers seems to like him and his “apparent chemistry” with Giannis Antetokounmpo (certainly not Cam Thomas — who just played six minutes on Saturday). Dieng should continue to start for as long as Kevin Porter Jr. is out, but Dieng did also start ahead of Ryan Rollins and alongside KPJ in a game that the Bucks lost badly, so maybe Rivers would not go back to that.

Anyway, if Dieng somehow finds a way to continue starting, he is interesting for points and treys with the potential for across-the-board production sometimes

On Saturday, Dieng had 11 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and three triples in 32 minutes. I would label Dieng as a “strong streamer for Sunday with flier appeal beyond that.”

Games

Celtics – Cavaliers @ 1:00 ET
Knicks – Lakers @ 3:30 ET
Pistons – Heat @ 6:00 ET
Mavericks – Raptors @ 6:00 ET
Wizards – Pelicans @ 7:00 ET
Rockets – Spurs @ 8:00 ET
Magic – Bucks @ 8:00 ET
Pacers – Trail Blazers @ 9:00 ET
Bulls – Kings @ 9:00 ET
Hornets – Suns @ 10:00 ET

Teams on Second Night of a Back-to-Back

Note: Teams on the second night of a back-to-back must submit their injury report by the release of the 4:15 pm ET Official NBA Injury Report. 

Magic, Pistons, Bucks

Magic: Jonathan Isaac (left knee soreness) and Jase Richardson (low back spasms) were out on Saturday, but that isn’t too impactful for the fantasy landscape.
Anthony Black exited Saturday’s game with a low back strain, which should put him in jeopardy for Sunday’s game as well.
Jalen Suggs might also get a night off on Sunday, given his injury history.

Pistons: Cade Cunningham (left quad contusion) and Ausar Thompson (right ankle sprain) were out on Saturday. Thompson picked up that injury in Thursday’s game. There is a chance that Saturday was just a “maintenace day” for Cunningham, maybe.
Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff said that Thompson is “likely to miss some time,” so you can expect him to remain sidelined on Sunday in all likelihood.

JB said Ausar is likely to miss some time with his right ankle sprain. Sounds like he’ll definitely miss tomorrow’s game in Miami at the very least. Cade is more day-to-day.

— Omari Sankofa II (@omarisankofa) March 7, 2026

Bucks: Kevin Porter Jr. (right knee swelling) has missed two games in a row and is “uncertain” at best for Sunday.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo playing on Saturday, I would expect him to sit out on Sunday for injury management.

Teams on First Night of a Back-to-Back

Cavs, Knicks

Mitchell Robinson always sits one leg of a back-to-back and since he is available on Sunday at the time of writing, he should be out on Monday.

Donovan Mitchell has been nursing a right groin strain for the past four games, but is probable (likely to play) for Sunday’s game. There is a non-zero chance that he sits out on Monday, but it isn’t a guarantee either.
Jaylon Tyson (neck strain) is questionable for Sunday, so he might get a leg of the back-to-back off.
Jarrett Allen (right knee tendinitis) exited Tuesday’s game with the injury, could not practice on Friday and is out on Sunday, so his status moving forward is generally uncertain.
Dean Wade (right ankle sprain) is probable for Sunday, so he should be fine.

Top Stories to Watch

Jayson Tatum has a friendly schedule in terms of back-to-backs:
Week of March 9 to 15: Three games (Tues-Thurs-Sat), no B2Bs
Week of March 16 to 22: Four games (Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun), no B2Bs
Week of March 23 to 29: three games (Wed-Fri-Sun) with a Sun-Mon B2B into the next week
Week of March 30 to April 5: Sun-Mon B2B from the previous week, four games (Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday)
Week of April 6 to 12: Four games, Tuesday, Thursday-Friday (one B2B), Sunday (might sit that last game too)

For anyone who stashed him, you will be hoping that he doesn’t have to miss any non-back-to-back games and that makes the above schedule pretty strong, especially if he sits out on March 30 (the Monday vs. the Hawks) rather than March 29 (the Sunday vs. the Hornets), which would be logical since the Hornets on the Sunday should be the tougher opponent, requiring him to play in that one. Tatum also apparently has “no minutes restrictions,” but should be handled carefully as we saw on Friday when he played 27 minutes.

Nikola Vucevic will be re-evaluated in 3-to-4 weeks: Neemias Queta had still been trending positively for 12-team leagues with Vuc around, but more as an “up-and-down specialist” rather than being outright must-roster. Now, Queta is clearly must-roster again. Deep-league managers can monitor what Luka Garza is doing. You can drop Vucevic in redraft leagues.

Donovan Mitchell practiced on Friday and is probable for Sunday’s game: The bad Cavs schedule hopefully gave Mitchell adequate time off to fully recover.

Jarrett Allen did not practice on Friday and is sidelined for Sunday’s game: Allen is dealing with right knee tendinitis. We should get Dean Wade (probable) or Jaylon Tyson (questionable) starting at PF with Evan Mobley shifted over to center.

Max Strus appears to be close to his season debut (Still out for Sunday): Strus seemingly went through most of Friday’s practice and I think his return should be coming in the next week or two. He likely won’t be a fantasy option, as he should be carefully eased in, but 15-to-20 minutes of Strus could just add to a crowded group of role players, siphoning fantasy appeal from the guys we like, such as Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill and Keon Ellis. For now, it isn’t an issue just yet.

Trae Young’s minutes: Young was on a 17-to-20-minute limit during his Wizards debut on Thursday and played 19 minutes. I don’t think his minutes will rise too much from there, so the question would be, “is he viable?” I think Young might do enough to be a specialist for dimes and treys, so yes, but you likely need to have a Yahoo IL+ or the ESPN IR that allows you to stash players sitting out back-to-backs.

 Derik Queen’s role may not be enough in a two-game week: Queen’s role has been variable over the past two weeks and he just played 13 minutes on Friday. With the Pelicans having two games next week, in a H2H format, I don’t think you can hold Queen in a 12-team league. You would need him to play 30-plus minutes to be useful in a standard league across two games and that is far, far from guaranteed. I think you would be better off streaming his spot in a H2H playoff matchup.

Is Kevin Porter Jr.’s right knee swelling a concern?: KPJ is a hold for now, but that is the knee where he had the meniscus tear early in the season. Since he is only out game to game for now, obviously, you hold him, but keep track of updates as Ousmane Dieng could benefit as the fill-in starter if KPJ ends up missing time.

The Chicago Injuries: Tre Jones and Collin Sexton could be 12-team beneficaries if the Bulls remain short of bodies. Jalen Smith should always be on your 12-team radar if healthy as he only needs around 25 minutes to put up value, if he is healthy.

Remember, the Suns have five games in the March 16 to March 22 week: That could boost Oso Ighodaro as a potential pickup for H2H leagues as a volume play. Grayson Allen is must-roster and Royce O’Neale should also be on your radar for that week. If you have a bye in the March 9 to 15 week, adding a Sun in advance makes sense.

Paolo Banchero is balling?!? Here is the blurb I wrote on Saturday:
In the nine games Banchero has played since the All-Star break, he is the No. 46 9-cat and No. 15 8-cat performer per game. He is averaging 25.4 points (.485 FG% and .844 FT% on 7.1 attempts per game), 1.2 triples (.314 3P%), 9.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.7 blocks and 4.1 turnovers across 36.9 MPG in that timeframe. While the turnovers are still horrendous and the defensive stats may leave some wanting, Banchero is actually providing the value in points, rebounds and assists that managers who drafted him in the early rounds were hoping for. This is a small sample size, but for fantasy, this is as good a time as ever for him to go on a run like this.

A quick note for Monday:

Warriors’ current plan is to rest Kristaps Porzingis on Monday night in Utah and play him on Tuesday at home against the Bulls. He stretched to 23 minutes tonight and told Kerr postgame he felt fine.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 8, 2026

I would guess that Al Horford should play on Monday and sit on Tuesday to counter this.

Pending Injury Designations for Sunday:
As I provided last week, here are my typical notes from when I’m blurbing to monitor for Sunday’s games.
Q = questionable or 50-50 shot at playing
P = probable or likely to play
D = doubtful or likely to be out

Donovan Mitchell – P
Dean Wade – P
Jaylon Tyson – Q
Landry Shamet – Q
LeBron James – Q
Maxi Kleber – Q
Marvin Bagley III – Q
Cooper Flagg – Q
Dwight Powell – P
Brandon Ingram – Q
Pistons B2B (Out Saturday: Cade Cunningham), Ausar Thompson expected to be out
Andrew Wiggins – Q
Magic B2B (Out Saturday: Jonathan Isaac, Jase Richardson, Anthony Black in-game injury)
Bucks B2B (Out Saturday: Kevin Porter Jr.)
Matas Buzelis – Q
Josh Giddey – Q
Jalen Smith – Q
Patrick Williams – Q
Andrew Nembhard – Q
Aaron Nesmith – P
Pascal Siakam – P
Deni Avdija – Q
Kris Murray – Q

Per reports from Saturday evening.

---

Stay up to date on news for this slate with our NBA Blurb Feed! 

Check out our Live Injury Report to see who is probable, questionable, doubtful or sidelined for this slate!

---

Streamers

We are not including players who are either most likely on a roster or should be on a roster.

Streamers for Standard Formats

Neemias Queta (must-roster) – blocks, rebounds, FG%

Sam Hauser – 3s, 3s & also 3s

Jaylon Tyson (questionable, wait for update) – across-the-board stats

Sam Merrill – 3s, 3s & also 3s with occasional low-end assists upside

Jose Alvarado – 3s, assists, steals & occasional upside for rebounds

Mitchell Robinson – FG%, rebounds, blocks, possible steals

Davion Mitchell – big assists with upside for steals

Jaime Jaquez Jr. – points, rebounds, assists, usually good FG%

Pelle Larsson – low-end points, 3s, assists with upside for general stats

Naji Marshall – points, rebounds, steals with occasional upside for assists (with good percentages)

Max Christie – hit-or-miss points & 3s with very occasional upside for steals or FT% if he gets to the line

Brandon Williams – points, assists, steals & some potential for 3s or FT%

Khris Middleton – points, rebounds, assists, & upside for 3s & steals

PJ Washington – points, 3s, rebounds, steals, blocks & occasional assists (poor percentages)

Daniel Gafford – blocks specialist with FG% and potential for rebounds

Marvin Bagley III (questionable, wait for update) – points, rebounds, FG% & occasional chance of blocks

Tre Johnson – points, 3s, possible steals

***Justin Champagnie (risky, he may not play) – rebounds, steals, blocks, points, possible 3s
(Champagnie did not play vs. the Jazz on Thursday, so there is a chance he is held out vs. the Pelicans who are bad, albeit not tanking)

Bilal Coulibaly – steals, blocks, rebounds, assists & bad percentages

Will Riley – hit-or-miss points & 3s, rebounds, assists, steals

Derik Queen – across-the-board upside

Reed Sheppard (must-roster) – points, 3s, steals, assists & sometimes blocks

Tari Eason (must-roster) – steals, blocks, rebounds & occasional scoring upside

Julian Champagnie – 3s, rebounds, steals, scoring upside (& occasional blocks)

Keldon Johnson – points, rebounds, FG% & upside for 3s or a steal

Aaron Nesmith (probable, should play) – points, 3s, steals & potential rebounds (possibly bad FG%)

T.J. McConnell –  points, assists, steals

Jay Huff – blocks specialist, upside for 3s & occasional potential for rebounds

Jarace Walker – general stats with potential for bad percentages

Toumani Camara – some points, 3s, rebounds, steals and may get two or three assists

Jerami Grant – points, 3s, possible rebounds, steals

Scoot Henderson (boom/bust) – points, assists, FT%, possible 3s, steals

Robert Williams III – blocks, rebounds, FG% & some upside for steals

Collin Sexton – points, assists, FT% & occasional upside for 3s or steals

Tre Jones – assists, steals, FT%, points

Jalen Smith (questionable, wait for update) – rebounds, 3s, some blocks & general upside

Nick Richards – rebounds, low-end points, FG%, potential for blocks
Guerschon Yabusele – across-the-board stats but boom-or-bust
(both may be less good if Smith plays)

Maxime Raynaud (must-roster) – points & rebounds with upside to produce in all areas

Nique Clifford (must-roster) – hypothetical general stats with possibility of bad efficiency

Malik Monk – points, 3s, FT% & upside for assists & maybe a steal

Precious Achiuwa (apparently he’s must-roster) –  rebounds, points, steals, blocks

Moussa Diabate (must-roster) – points, rebounds, FG%, blocks & upside for steals

Grayson Allen (must-roster) – points, 3s, upside for assists, steals

Royce O’Neale – 3-and-D stats, rebounds & upside for assists

Oso Ighodaro – low-end points, rebounds, steals, blocks

B2B Watch for Standard Formats

Wait for the official injury reports of the Magic, Pistons & Bucks before streaming their players. 

Isaiah Stewart – blocks, rebounds, points, 3s, solid FG%

Duncan Robinson – 3s with occasional upside in other areas

Wendell Carter Jr. – solid across-the-board value but mainly points & rebounds

Bobby Portis – points, rebounds, possible 3s

Ousmane Dieng – a bit of everything

Kyle Kuzma – points, rebounds & occasional upside in other areas

Streamers for Deep Leagues

Baylor Scheierman – 3s & rebounds with a chance for points, assists

Luka Garza – points & rebounds with low-end upside for threes & a couple of assists

Dennis Schröder – points & assists with upside for steals, 3s, FT% & low-end out-of-position rebounds

Keon Ellis – steals, 3s, upside for blocks

Dean Wade (probable, should play) – rebounds, 3s & low-end potential for steals or blocks

Landry Shamet (questionable, wait for update) – boom-or-bust points & 3s

Jake LaRavia – general stats but mainly steals

Rui Hachimura – points with upside for 3s and rebounds

Marcus Smart – steals, assists, rebounds & upside for 3s

Luke Kennard – points, 3s, occasional upside for assists

Jaxson Hayes – low-end big-man stats

Kasparas Jakucionis – points, 3s, assists with upside for steals & rebounds

Myron Gardner (needs Andrew Wiggins to be out) – 3s, rbounds, steals, points if he gets hot

Klay Thompson – 3s specialist with points if he gets hot

Ryan Nembhard – mainly assists with some upside for 3s or points

Bub Carrington – points, assists, 3s, out-of-position rebounds & occasional chance of a steal

Jeremiah Fears – points with upside for assists, steals, 3s

Yves Missi – blocks, rebounds, FG%

Bryce McGowens – points with upside for 3s

Dylan Harper – points, assists & upside for a steal, some rebounds

Quenton Jackson – points, 3s & some potential for assists

Micah Potter – 3s, rebounds

Ben Sheppard – very boom-or-bust points & 3s with occasional upside for rebounds

Kobe Brown – steals, blocks, possible rebounds, occasional 3s

Matisse Thybulle – steals & blocks specialist, low-end occasional upside for 3s

Vít Krejčí – very hit-or-miss 3s & points with occasional steals upside

Isaac Okoro – low-end boom-or-bust 3-and-D stats

Rob Dillingham – points, assists, 3s, likely bad FG%

Patrick Williams – low-end 3-and-D stats, rebounds

Leonard Miller – rebounds, points, low-end blocks, steals, 3s

Drew Eubanks – decent blocks, rebounds

Grant Williams – 3s, rebounds

Ryan Dunn – steals, blocks, upside for rebounds

Khaman Maluach – blocks

B2B Watch for Deep Leagues

Wait for the official injury reports of the Magic, Pistons & Bucks before streaming their players. 

Ron Holland II – steals, out-of-position rebounds, occasional scoring outbursts

Daniss Jenkins (12-team stream if he has a chance to start) – points, 3s, assists, steals
Marcus Sasser (threes, assists, steals) will also be an option if Cade Cunninghan and Ausar Thompson remain out. 

Javonte Green – steals, blocks, rebounds, occasional scoring upside

Tristan da Silva – points & 3s with upside for rebounds & steals

Jevon Carter – 3s, steals

AJ Green – 3s, 3s & 3s with occasional outbursts of rebounds or assists

Jericho Sims – hope for big-man stats