There are plenty of injury situation to evaluate and keep an eye on leading up to tipoff of Monday’s eight-game NBA slate. So, monitor the newswire and come back here to see who benefits in the What If Matrix.
Programming Note: I will be on vacation (Vegas, baby!) starting on Wednesday this week, so I will only be writing my NBA What If Matrix and NBA Hot Sheet articles today and tomorrow (Tuesday). These will also be my last NBA articles of the season as we plan to wrap up all of our NBA coverage at the end of this week so that we can turn our attention to the upcoming MLB season next week.
This article will attempt to list all of the relevant injury situations to monitor for the day’s NBA slate and provide guidance on which players will benefit with either an increase in minutes or usage or both if that player is ruled out. I will also place an asterisk (*) by players that I think are worth DFS consideration if that player is ruled out. Players that have been out for at least five consecutive games I will not list as general playing time and usage patterns should be established.
This will NOT be an interactive article that is continually updated throughout the day as I hope to capture all of the potential relevant injury situations that could impact DFS lineups for the night and pre-determine what players benefit. Ideally, you monitor late-breaking news leading up to tipoff, find out a player is ruled out and come check the matrix below to see who the players are you should consider for your DFS lineups based on that news.
NBA What If – Monday, March 19
| Team | Player | Status | If OUT |
| Bucks | Tyler Zeller | Questionable | Thon Maker (minutes) |
| Bulls | Kris Dunn | Out | Cameron Payne (minutes)* Jerian Grant (minutes) Denzel Valentine (usage)* Antonio Blakeney (usage) |
| Bulls | Zach LaVine | Out | Justin Holiday (minutes) Antonio Blakeney (minutes) Denzel Valentine (minutes)* |
| Bulls | Lauri Markkanen | Out | Bobby Portis (minutes/usage)* Noah Vonleh (minutes) Cristiano Felicio (minutes) Denzel Valentine (usage)* |
| Bulls | Noah Vonleh | Questionable | |
| Cavaliers | Cedi Osman | Out | Jeff Green (minutes)* |
| Cavaliers | Rodney Hood | Out | Jordan Clarkson (minutes) JR Smith (minutes) Kyle Korver (minutes) |
| Cavaliers | Larry Nance Jr. | Out | Jeff Green (minutes)* Ante Zizic (minutes) George Hill (usage) |
| Cavaliers | Kyle Korver | Questionable | Jordan Clarkson (minutes) JR Smith (minutes) George Hill (usage)* |
| Cavaliers | Kevin Love | Questionable | Jeff Green (minutes/usage)* Ante Zizic (minutes) LeBron James (usage)* |
| Grizzlies | Andrew Harrison | Questionable | Mario Chalmers (minutes) Wayne Selden (minutes/usage) |
| Grizzlies | Marc Gasol | Questionable | Deyonta Davis (minutes)* Jarell Martin (minutes/usage)* Tyreke Evans (usage)* JaMychal Green (usage)* |
| Heat | Dwyane Wade | Out | Tyler Johnson (minutes) Wayne Ellington (minutes)* |
| Heat | Hassan Whiteside | Out | Kelly Olynyk (minutes)* Bam Adebayo (minutes)* James Johnson (minutes)* Josh Richardson (usage) Goran Dragic (usage)* |
| Hornets | Cody Zeller | Out | Frank Kaminsky (minutes) Willy Hernangomez (minutes) |
| Hornets | Nicolas Batum | Out | Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (minutes) Jeremy Lamb (minutes/usage)* |
| Kings | None | ||
| Knicks | Courtney Lee | Questionable | Frank Ntilikina (minutes) Trey Burke (minutes/usage) |
| Lakers | None | ||
| Nets | Dante Cunningham | Out | Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (minutes)* Jarrett Allen (minutes)* Jahlil Okafor (usage) |
| Nets | Allen Crabbe | Probable | Caris LeVert (minutes)* Joe Harris (minutes) |
| Nuggets | Garry Harris | Out | Will Barton (minutes/usage)* Devin Harris (minutes/usage) Jamal Murray (usage) |
| Pacers | Domantas Sabonis | Out | Trevor Booker (minutes) Thaddeus Young (minutes/usage)* Myles Turner (usage) |
| Pacers | Myles Turner | Questionable | Al Jefferson (minutes)* Lance Stephenson (usage) |
| Pistons | None | ||
| Sixers | None | ||
| Spurs | None | ||
| Warriors | Stephen Curry | Out | Quinn Cook (minutes) Shaun Livingston (minutes) Nick Young (usage) Andre Iguodala (usage) Draymond Green (usage)* |
| Warriors | Klay Thompson | Out | Nick Young (minutes/usage) Quinn Cook (usage) Draymond Green (usage)* |
| Warriors | Kevin Durant | Out | Andre Iguodala (minutes/usage) Nick Young (usasge) Draymond Green (usage)* |
| Warriors | Omri Casspi | Out | Jordan Bell (minutes) |
| Warriors | Quinn Cook | Probable | Shaun Livingston (minutes) |
| Warriors | Andre Iguodala | Probable | Jordan Bell (minutes) Nick Young (minutes) |
| Warriors | Kevon Looney | Probable | Jordan Bell (minutes) |
| Warriors | Zaza Pachulia | Probable | JaVale McGee (minutes) |
| Warriors | Patrick McCaw | Probable | Nick Young (minutes) Quinn Cook (minutes) |
