Injury Report

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Note that teams have until 1 p.m. local time on the day of a game to submit their report for the second leg of a back-to-back, so look out for updates throughout the day as appropriate.

Teams that have a Friday-Saturday B2B: 

Mavs, Pistons, Clippers

On Friday: Dereck Lively II, Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons were out.

Cade Cunningham was out on Friday.

Anthony Davis was out on Friday.

Kawhi Leonard should sit on Saturday since he was active on Friday.

Note that the Hawks, Bucks and Knicks have the Saturday-Sunday back-to-back if you are looking to add volume over the weekend. 

At the time of publication, we do not have the lines/spreads for the Saturday games yet so I will add them in later. 

New York Knicks @ Atlanta Hawks

Game Time: 3:00 pm ET

DraftKings Lines

NYK -4 (-175), ATL +4 (+145)
Game Total: 236

Key Storylines

Brunson back?: Chris Haynes told us on Thursday that Jalen Brunson will practice on Friday and be listed as questionable for Saturday. On Wednesday, Stefan Bondy also told us that Miles McBride and Cam Payne were very close to returning as well. All three practiced on Friday according to reports.

That means the values of Delon Wright, Landry Shamet and even Tyler Kolek could disappear, but it is a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back for the Knicks so there is chance that Brunson, Payne and McBride only play one leg of the back-to-back if they return.

Officially, Brunson, Payne and Robinson are questionable while McBride is still out.

Nothing new: Vit Krejci got a singular spot start recently which was interesting but then the team went back to Mouhamed Gueye right after (who does not play actual starter-level minutes to be fair). It seems like neither Gueye or Krejci will actually play enough for 12-team consideration consistently.

Stream of the Game

Zaccharie Risacher – Sat-Sun B2B boost – points, 3s, rebounds

Alternatives: 

Caris LeVert – pts, 3s, asts
Georges Niang – 3s

–deep league line–
Mitchell Robinson – questionable – big-man stats
Terance Mann – pts, 3s, maybe more
Precious Achiuwa – if Robinson is out – rebs, stls, blks
Mouhamed Gueye – stls, blks
Vit Krejci – 3s, asts, stls
Cam Payne – questionable – 3s, asts (12T if he plays and Brunson doesn’t)
Dominick Barlow – blks
Landry Shamet – 3s, pts

Of course, if both Brunson and Payne remain out, Delon Wright is a 12-team stream for defensive stats and more.

Memphis Grizzlies @ Detroit Pistons

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET

DraftKings Lines

MEM -1.5 (-118), DET +1.5 (-102)
Game Total: 239.5

Key Storylines

Morant-ball: Earlier in March, I pointed out that Ja Morant only had three 30-point games to his name this season, but since then, he has gone on a scoring tear. The Taylor Jenkins and Noah LaRoche system with fewer pick-and-rolls is gone now with new interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo integrating his ideas more completely (some of his ideas were already being used) and we will see where that takes us. It may be a little less good for guys like Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. who might (or might not) take more of a backseat offensively to a Morant-led system. Again, we are observing the results, albeit in a small sample.

Bickerstaff: Not counting whatever happens on Friday, whether the questionable Cade Cunningham plays or not, the Pistons are 5-5 in games without Cunningham this season. A .500 win rate is solid without the guy who carries most of their offense and Bickerstaff’s defense-first, hardworking mentality seems to have shifted this team significantly.

Of course, having actual shooting on the court (Beasley and albeit streaky, Hardaway plus Harris) and decent rotations (not the all-bench lineups Monty Williams was putting out there… and starting Killian Hayes) helps as well.

Look out for the Saturday report on the back-to-back from Friday.

Stream of the Game

Santi Aldama – general stats

Alternatives: 

Dennis Schroder – assts, pts, stls (especially if Cunningham is out)
Malik Beasley – 3s, pts (probably not on the wire though)
Scotty Pippen Jr. – asts, pts, stls (borderline 12T tbh but hot hand?)
Tim Hardaway Jr. – boom/bust 3s and pts

–deep league line–
Isaiah Stewart – rebs, blks (should return from suspension)
Luke Kennard – 3s, pts, maybe asts
Jaylen Wells – 3s
Simone Fontecchio – 3s
Ron Holland – points

Minnesota Timberwolves @ Philadelphia 76ers

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET

DraftKings Lines

MIN -14.5 (-1050), PHI +14.5 (+675)
Game Total: 225.5

Key Storylines

Downturns and Upturns: Rudy Gobert has been sensational lately with massive rebounds and FG% influence.
However, Naz Reid has been a bit dicey and Jaden McDaniels really has not been 12-team-worthy in recent weeks. At this point, it is probably too late to tell you to move on but if McDaniels is your worst player and you can stream his spot for two games instead, I would not be opposed to such a move.

Adem Bona: I am going to self-pat on the back a bit here. If you are in our SportsEthos discord, Bona is a player I mentioned as a potential silly-season beneficiary on one or two occasions when we had questions in there.
I can’t claim to have expected this level of output but as both a Sixer fan and a fan of the NBA Draft (you should read our NBA Draft Profiles), the knowledge came in handy here.

Stream of the Game

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