Tonight’s 10-game slate features seven stars with salary’s over $10,000. Some are in terrific matchups (Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant), but there are legitimate concerns with each that will keep them out of my cash game lineups. Rather, I’ll be spending down on some lesser names for lesser costs who have been performing like stars. That, and the value plays on this slate are so minimal that our hands are nearly forced. In fact, every single player in my lineup costs at least $5,400. I don’t believe I’ve ever done that before. Let me show you how it all came together:
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Point Guard
Frank Mason (SAC): $3,900 vs ORL
Typically, I list the highest priced player at each position first, but Mason is such a lock that I made an exception. De’Aaron Fox is not expected to play versus the Magic tonight because of a back injury he is dealing with. That means Mason should get around 30 minutes like we saw against the Pelicans Wednesday when he went for 32.2 FanDuel points. With the quality of defense or lack thereof, from the Magic, 10x is a legitimate possibility with 5x being a virtual guarantee.
Tonight’s 10-game slate features seven stars with salary’s over $10,000. Some are in terrific matchups (Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant), but there are legitimate concerns with each that will keep them out of my cash game lineups. Rather, I’ll be spending down on some lesser names for lesser costs who have been performing like stars. That, and the value plays on this slate are so minimal that our hands are nearly forced. In fact, every single player in my lineup costs at least $5,400. I don’t believe I’ve ever done that before. Let me show you how it all came together:
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guard
Frank Mason (SAC): $3,900 vs ORL
Typically, I list the highest priced player at each position first, but Mason is such a lock that I made an exception. De’Aaron Fox is not expected to play versus the Magic tonight because of a back injury he is dealing with. That means Mason should get around 30 minutes like we saw against the Pelicans Wednesday when he went for 32.2 FanDuel points. With the quality of defense or lack thereof, from the Magic, 10x is a legitimate possibility with 5x being a virtual guarantee.
Lonzo Ball (LAL): $7,500 @ DEN
If you used Lonzo at all toward the beginning of the season, you might be tempted to stop reading right here, but the matter of the fact is that he has been substantially better since he returned from injury. Lonzo has now hit 35+ FanDuel points in 4 out of his 5 games including a 49.9 versus the Spurs. This evening, the Lakers and Nuggets have a massive 229.5 over/under and if you weren’t aware, the Nuggets are dreadful on defense versus point guards.
Shooting Guard
Victor Oladipo (IND): $9,900 vs ATL
Oladipo is another guard with a cake matchup this evening. The Hawks have done little to slow down opposing guards this season, so although Oladipo has given fantasy owners a few stinkers in the past week, he is a good bet tonight to reach value. Keep in mind, too, that he has shown 70 point upside in the past month.
Bogdan Bogdanovic (SAC): $5,800 vs ORL
If you haven’t watched the kid play, do yourself a favor and tune into this game. He is the best player on the Kings and has lately been given the keys to the offense. He is coming off a 0 point flop of a game which oddly happens with Bogdan occasionally, but he’s also got 36+ FanDuel points for lineups in 5 of his last 10 games, which would be 6x value tonight.
Small Forward
Jonathon Simmons (ORL): $4,500 @ SAC
Mario Hezonja (ORL): $4,300 @ SAC
It is tough to turn away from Kevin Durant tonight with Curry out, but the Magic are without both Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier this evening. Simmons has a massive usage rate when those two are out of the lineup and both players have showcased rediculous fantasy upside when they get touches. Simmons put up 48.4 FanDuel points in a game last month while Hezonja reached 51.2 just a few days later. Both games happened with Gordon out. One of these two, and potentially both, are going off for 7x value or more tonight.
Power Forward
Nikola Mirotic (NO): $6,700 vs WAS
I mentioned earlier that Mason is a lock, but it is Mirotic who is the absolute lock of the evening. Anthony Davis is expected to miss tonight’s game, which means we get to see the Mirotic show. It may not sound all that exciting, but Wednesday he went for 26 points and 10 rebounds. In fact, he has flashed 60 point upside earlier this season. He and Jrue Holiday should split the usage and both hit value tonight.
Draymond Green (GS): $7,700 @ POR
Steph is already ruled out tonight so many will lean on Durant, but the man I want is Draymond. He has been on a terror lately, posting 53.4 FanDuel points thanks to a triple-double last night against the Spurs. He has now hit 40+ in 5 of his past 11 contests and should have no trouble doing it once again in what should be a high-scoring close-fought contest in Portland.
Center
Nikola Jokic (DEN): $9,700 vs LAL
Speaking of high scoring, did I mention the Nuggets have an implied total of 118 points tonight? Well, it needed to be brought up again. The Lakers can’t defend big men to save their lives, so Jokic, who is coming off a massive 36 point, 13 rebound, 6 assist game, should eat them alive on his way to being the top overall player of the night.
Others I love this evening
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