NBA DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups, Injuries & More Today: Thursday Playbook

Published: Jan 29, 2026

It's Tuesday, January 27th, and we have an 8-game NBA DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel.

We have an interesting slate on our hands today because there are some LOW totals on the board as Brooklyn/Denver is sitting at 209 implied points, Detroit/Phoenix is 214.5, while Miami/Chicago is all the way up to 238. The stars are out as Cade Cunningham, Jalen Johnson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Joel Embiid are taking the floor.

Before actually diving into the meat and potatoes, welcome to the NBA DFS season. If this is your first time reading our column on NBA DFS picks, I just want to welcome you and give you a few tips and tricks on what you should be looking for each night.

News outlets: reliable sources that give us injury news & starting lineups
Pace of play: who's playing fast vs. who's playing slow. Which teams get a pace-up spot (more possessions) vs. pace-down (fewer possessions)
Usage rates: is a percentage of how many plays that player is being used in
NBA DFS Projections
Lineup Generator
NBA Ownership

NBA DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, January 29th

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Pre/Post-Lock Update Section

This section will be used for anything that changes from the morning until right up to roster lock.

Injury updates, players we’re higher on than we were in the morning and so much more.

All status updates after contest roster lock will be made in the Fantasy Alarm Discord: https://discord.gg/2yATJxXe8G

Adding Kyle Kuzma to player pool. .99 FP/min and 23.2% USG without Giannis & KPJ
Adding Dru Smith to player pool. 1.02 FP/min, 16.5% USG without Herro & Mitchell
Adding Cooper Flagg to player pool. 1.22 FP/min, 26.5% USG without AD, DLo, Lively & Marshall
Josh Giddey is OUT
Jalen Smith is 1.3 FP/min without Giddey & Tre Jones.
Ayo Dosunmu & Kevin Huerter are both over 1 FP/min without them too

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 1/29

Nikola Jokic - OUT
Giannis Antetokounmpo - OUT
Jamal Murray - IN
Joel Embiid - IN
Anthony Davis - OUT
Devin Booker - OUT
Trae Young - OUT
Cooper Flagg - IN
Russell Westbrook - OUT
Alex Sarr - IN
Onyeka Okongwu - OUT
Jalen Williams - OUT
Kevin Porter - OUT
Aaron Gordon - OUT
Tyler Herro - OUT
Jalen Green - OUT
Collin Gillespie - IN
Paul George - IN
Jonas Valanciunas - IN
Tari Eason - OUT
Cameron Johnson - OUT
Christian Braun - OUT
Kristaps Porzingis - OUT
Zaccharie Risacher - OUT
Tre Jones - OUT
Ajay Mitchell - OUT
Noah Clowney - OUT
Malik Monk - OUT
Klay Thompson - IN
Davion Mitchell - OUT
Egor Demin - OUT
Quentin Grimes - OUT
Cam Thomas - OUT
Steven Adams - OUT
Dorian Finney-Smith - OUT
Cason Wallace - QUEST
Marvin Bagley - OUT
Alex Caruso - OUT
Tristan Vukcevic - OUT
Ziaire Williams - OUT
Terance Mann - IN
Caris LeVert - OUT
Gary Harris - OUT
Cole Anthony - IN
Alperen Sengun - IN
Jalen Johnson - OUT
Josh Giddey - OUT
Naji Marshall - OUT
Brandon Williams - IN
Jalen Smith - IN
Brandon Miller - IN
Grant Williams - OUT
Rudy Gobert - QUEST
Mike Conley - OUT
Norman Powell - IN
Kel'el Ware - IN

NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews

In the section below, I’m listing the most notable things we need to look at in Las Vegas, including notable O/U and spreads. Not every game is listed, but every game listed has the pace and defensive numbers listed.

NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks

Here are the core players I’m looking at for my NBA DFS picks tonight. You can see the full analysis of tonight’s NBA DFS projections and player pool below or skip ahead to building the best lineups possible by locking these into the aforementioned lineup generator now.

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Stacks

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