Small slate on Thursday with just five games on tap which equates to a short list of injuries to watch with Kyrie Irving as the key status to monitor.
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 – Thursday, March 8
| Team | Player | Status | If OUT |
| Celtics | Kyrie Irving | Questionable | Terry Rozier (minutes/usage)* Shane Larkin (minutes/usage)* Al Horford (usage)* Marcus Morris (usage) Marcus Smart (usage) Jayson Tatum (usage) |
| Heat | Wayne Ellington | Probable | Rodney McGruder (minutes) Justise Winslow (minutes)* Dwyane Wade (usage) |
| Hornets | Michael Carter-Williams | Out | Malik Monk (minutes/usage) |
| Nets | None | ||
| Sixers | None | ||
| Spurs | Pau Gasol | Out | Davis Bertans (minutes) Joffrey Lauvergne (minutes) Dejounte Murray (usage) LaMarcus Aldridge (usage)* Kyle Anderson (usage) |
| Spurs | Rudy Gay | Questionable | Kyle Anderson (minutes)* Dejounte Murray (usage) |
| Suns | Troy Daniels | Questionable | Josh Jackson (minutes)* Elfrid Payton (usage)* |
| Thunder | None | ||
| Timberwolves | Jimmy Butler | Out | Nemanja Bjelica (minutes) Jamal Crawford (minutes/usage) Jeff Teague (usage)* Andrew Wiggins (usage)* Karl-Anthony Towns (usage)* |
| Warriors | Andre Iguodala | Doubtful | Nick Young (minutes/usage)* Omri Casspi (minutes/usage) JaVale McGee (usage)* |
| Warriors | David West | Doubtful | JaVale McGee (minutes)* Kevon Looney (minutes/usage) |
| Warriors | Jordan Bell | Out | JaVale McGee (minutes)* Kevon Looney (minutes) |
