The cash-line in tonight’s nine-game slate is going to be astronomical because there are so many value plays available to us. The day after the trade deadline, role players often see extra minutes while their new teammates see minimal minutes in order to get acclimated. To go with all of that, there are three superstars playing tonight, and each of them is in such a great situation that we are virtually forced to use all three tonight along with a handful of value plays. As you might have guessed, this means I’ll be recommending the stars and scrubs approach.
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Point Guard
Jerian Grant (CHI): $5,200 vs MIN
Often times, when a player goes from 15 minutes per game to 35 minutes per game, it takes a few weeks for their salary to catch up with their expected production. That is exactly what we have here. Grant has given fantasy owners 26.4 FanDuel points per game over his past eight, which is above 5x value. He isn’t a must-play, but at this salary, he is pretty close to it.
T.J. McConnell (PHI): $3,800 vs NO
In order to get the three stars into our lineup, one corner had to be cut and it is with the cheap McConnell. He has been inconsistent since returning from a personal issue two weeks ago. Still, we are talking about a player who plays 20+ minutes per game and is averaging 20 FanDuel points per game over the last month which like Grant, is above 5x value.
The cash-line in tonight’s nine-game slate is going to be astronomical because there are so many value plays available to us. The day after the trade deadline, role players often see extra minutes while their new teammates see minimal minutes in order to get acclimated. To go with all of that, there are three superstars playing tonight, and each of them is in such a great situation that we are virtually forced to use all three tonight along with a handful of value plays. As you might have guessed, this means I’ll be recommending the stars and scrubs approach.
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guard
Jerian Grant (CHI): $5,200 vs MIN
Often times, when a player goes from 15 minutes per game to 35 minutes per game, it takes a few weeks for their salary to catch up with their expected production. That is exactly what we have here. Grant has given fantasy owners 26.4 FanDuel points per game over his past eight, which is above 5x value. He isn’t a must-play, but at this salary, he is pretty close to it.
T.J. McConnell (PHI): $3,800 vs NO
In order to get the three stars into our lineup, one corner had to be cut and it is with the cheap McConnell. He has been inconsistent since returning from a personal issue two weeks ago. Still, we are talking about a player who plays 20+ minutes per game and is averaging 20 FanDuel points per game over the last month which like Grant, is above 5x value.
Shooting Guard
James Harden (HOU): $11,800 vs DEN
If you must leave one of the big three out of your lineup tonight, Harden would be my recommendation. With that said, it will be difficult to do considering Denver is 29th DVP versus shooting guards this season. Harden has been playing unbelievable basketball over the past two weeks with 57.8 FanDuel points per contest. Tonight, he’s got a decent shot at 70+ for your lineups.
Kyle Korver (CLE): $3,600 @ ATL
Frankly, you could get by with four value plays from the Cavs alone this evening. There were so many moving pieces on that roster that minutes are going to be up for grabs with the remaining veterans. Korver, who has been right around 5x value over the past two weeks, should see 5 to 10 bonus minutes against his old team.
Small Forward
LeBron James (CLE): $11,500 @ ATL
James was struggling for a while but broke out of his slump Wednesday with 72.5 FanDuel points. While it isn’t safe to expect a repeat performance, you can virtually guarantee 40+ minutes and a heavy enough usage rate that tonight he may be the safest superstar play of the month.
Taurean Prince (ATL): $4,500 vs CLE
With Prince, there is always a risk that he puts together a crummy game. With that said, he has averaged 27.2 FanDuel points per game over his last four, which is above 6x value. Cleveland isn’t expected to put up much in the way of defense this evening with Jose Calderon, Jeff Green, JR Smith and Kyle Korver all seeing substantial playing time, so a blow-up game for Prince appears quite possible.
Power Forward
Jabari Parker (MIL): $4,000 @ MIA
Miami may be tough on defense, but it isn’t too common to see a player of Jabari’s skillset priced so low. Granted, he should see only about 25 minutes this evening as he slowly returns back to full action, but when you consider that he averaged 0.99 FanDuel points per minute last year, you’ve got to think he is a strong bet to reach 5x value this evening.
Jeff Green (CLE): $3,900 @ ATL
Even above LeBron and The Brow below, Green is the lock of the night. If his ownership is below 70% in cash games, I’ll be shocked. We should get 30+ minutes from him and a usage-rate double of what we typically see. In cash games, we are usually shooting for 5x value, but tonight Green should be expected to return 7x with an outside chance at 10x.
Center
Anthony Davis (NO): $11,700 @ PHI
With DeMarcus Cousins out for the year, Davis has been going bonkers on the league. Prior to Tuesday’s nightmare matchup against Rudy Gobert, Davis went for 57+ FanDuel points in five consecutive games. It further helps that this game is expected to be high-scoring with an over/under at 231.5. If that weren’t enough, Philly has been the easiest team for opposing centers this season.
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