Happy Friday everyone! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it to Friday, which is an awesome accomplishment in itself. Any success in DFS tonight is just gravy! We’ve got a nice seven-game NBA slate tonight. Seven games is a near-perfect number in my opinion because it isn’t many games as to be overwhelming, but it’s also not a three-game slate where we all like the same players. Tonight’s slate is shaping up to be a mid-range night (the majority of desirable plays are in that $5,000-$7,500 price range), as opposed to a stars and studs night, where we try to jam in a couple high-priced studs and fill out our roster with value plays. Let’s take a look:
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Guards
Kyle Lowry (TOR): $7,600 @ LAL
I loved using Kyle Lowry in cash lineups last year, and this year is really no different. He’s consistent, he’s going to play around 35 minutes, and tonight he’s going to play against a bad Lakers defense in a pace-up game (223.5 O/U). This game should stay fairly close, and I don’t see how Lowry doesn’t hit value, with 45-50 DK point upside. He’s likely going to have a high ownership percentage, but that won’t matter in cash lineups. He’s viable in all formats, although I don’t love using him often in GPPs because his upside always seems capped around 50 DK points.
Happy Friday everyone! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it to Friday, which is an awesome accomplishment in itself. Any success in DFS tonight is just gravy! We’ve got a nice seven-game NBA slate tonight. Seven games is a near-perfect number in my opinion because it isn’t many games as to be overwhelming, but it’s also not a three-game slate where we all like the same players. Tonight’s slate is shaping up to be a mid-range night (the majority of desirable plays are in that $5,000-$7,500 price range), as opposed to a stars and studs night, where we try to jam in a couple high-priced studs and fill out our roster with value plays. Let’s take a look:
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Guards
Kyle Lowry (TOR): $7,600 @ LAL
I loved using Kyle Lowry in cash lineups last year, and this year is really no different. He’s consistent, he’s going to play around 35 minutes, and tonight he’s going to play against a bad Lakers defense in a pace-up game (223.5 O/U). This game should stay fairly close, and I don’t see how Lowry doesn’t hit value, with 45-50 DK point upside. He’s likely going to have a high ownership percentage, but that won’t matter in cash lineups. He’s viable in all formats, although I don’t love using him often in GPPs because his upside always seems capped around 50 DK points.
Spencer Dinwiddie (BKN): $5,200 @ NYK
In general, DraftKings pricing has been pretty tough this year, but Dinwiddie is incredibly underpriced in this spot given his minutes and usage in a pace-up game (220.5 O/U). The Knicks are poor defensively against guards and Dinwiddie should play around 30 minutes. At this price, he only needs ~25 DK points to hit value, and in 30 minutes he should be able to hit that easily. He definitely a consideration in cash lineups and I’d be comfortable using him in GPPs as well, although I expect his ownership to be fairly high tonight since he’s one of the only players who seems grossly mispriced on tonight’s slate.
Forwards
Kevin Durant (GSW): $9,400 vs. WAS
Whenever we see a game with a whopping 231 O/U, we want/need some exposure to that game. In this case, it’s the late-night hammer, with Washington visiting Golden State in Oakland. There is some blowout potential here (Vegas has the line at Golden State -11), so we need to be careful, but this game should move at an incredible pace and I can see KD hitting value in three quarters here. Draymond Green ($7,400) is also viable at forward here, but I like KD more for GPPs because of his monster upside. If this game stays close, and that’s a big “if,” since the Wiz are all the way across the country in a late game against a good team, KD has 60-65 DK point upside. His floor is around 45 DK points, which comes close to value, but the main reason to roster him here is for that potential upside. He’s not my favorite cash play, but he’s a great tournament option tonight.
Paul Millsap (DEN): $6,300 @ ATL
I like Millsap against his former team at this price tonight. His price the lowest it has been this season, because of the projected game pace (207 O/U) and the fact that he has underperformed so far this season. That being said, I think he has a solid floor of around 32 DK points, with 40-45 point upside tonight. I’ve watched Atlanta several times this season already (it’s not for the faint of heart), and their defense is truly atrocious. Millsap’s upside always seems capped around 45 DK points, so I’m not really interested in him in GPPs, but I think he’s a really nice cash game play in this spot because of his solid floor and generally consistent play.
Centers
Dwight Howard (CHA): $7,100 vs. HOU
It pains me to recommend this play. I have never been and am not currently a fan of Dwight Howard, but I’m willing to tap into my utilitarian side and look past that bias for the benefit of the greater good tonight. Dwight been so solid this season, and I simply can’t avoid him tonight. This game has a nice 211 O/U (high for a Charlotte game), and Howard has scored over 35 DK points in each of his first four games, going over 40 DK points in two of those games. I’d set his floor at 33-35 DK points tonight, with a really nice ceiling of 45-50 DK points.
Nikola Vucevic (ORL): $6,900 vs. SAS
I recommended Vooch last Friday, and he scored 63 DK points. This week, he’s a bit riskier, but I still like him at this price. Vooch has played like a $7,500+ player, and his price is depressed tonight because of the match-up against San Antonio. The projected pace of this game is not terrible (207 O/U), and the Spurs have actually not played great defense against centers so far this year. I don’t really recommend Vooch for cash tonight because I can see a floor 30 DK points, which would be well below value. For GPPs, however, I love his upside (ceiling ~50-55 DK points), and I love the fact that he’s going to be relatively low-owned tonight.
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Jason Biggins is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him @biggsportsfan