Welcome to the Tuesday edition of FanDuel lineup advice. Tonight’s slate features just four matchups to choose from, with four of the eight teams playing in the second of back-to-back games. All four games have expected point totals in the 220s, and only four players check in at a salary over $10,000. This is a great slate to take some shots on tournament plays, so I’ll give my advice from that perspective. When taking on a tournament, it’s important to look beyond the consistent points and try to find some contrarian plays with big upside and low ownership. With that in mind, let’s dive into tonight’s slate.
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Point Guard: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($3,900)
The Clippers offer up plenty of value tonight, as they will be without starter Danilo Gallinari and sixth-man extraordinaire Lou Williams. Gilgeous-Alexander, the rookie from Kentucky, should once again fill in as a starter and see plenty of minutes. He’s averaging 30.2 FanDuel points over the last five games when seeing at least 30 minutes of court time, and that includes the 13.3 FD-point clunker he put up Sunday. Recency bias will probably keep his ownership lower than teammate Patrick Beverley. For $800 cheaper and with arguably a higher ceiling, Gilgeous-Alexander is my preferred tournament guard from the Clippers.
Welcome to the Tuesday edition of FanDuel lineup advice. Tonight’s slate features just four matchups to choose from, with four of the eight teams playing in the second of back-to-back games. All four games have expected point totals in the 220s, and only four players check in at a salary over $10,000. This is a great slate to take some shots on tournament plays, so I’ll give my advice from that perspective. When taking on a tournament, it’s important to look beyond the consistent points and try to find some contrarian plays with big upside and low ownership. With that in mind, let’s dive into tonight’s slate.
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guard: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($3,900)
The Clippers offer up plenty of value tonight, as they will be without starter Danilo Gallinari and sixth-man extraordinaire Lou Williams. Gilgeous-Alexander, the rookie from Kentucky, should once again fill in as a starter and see plenty of minutes. He’s averaging 30.2 FanDuel points over the last five games when seeing at least 30 minutes of court time, and that includes the 13.3 FD-point clunker he put up Sunday. Recency bias will probably keep his ownership lower than teammate Patrick Beverley. For $800 cheaper and with arguably a higher ceiling, Gilgeous-Alexander is my preferred tournament guard from the Clippers.
Shooting Guard: CJ McCollum ($6,500)
McCollum will likely be an afterthought on tonight’s slate. Many DFSers will choose between rookie phenom Luka Doncic and Suns star Devin Booker at shooting guard, making him another potentially low-owned tournament option. The Trail Blazers are one of the four teams playing the second game of a back-to-back. Yet McCollum is averaging 23.1 points per game on zero days’ rest this season, which compares favorably to his 20.5 points per game average on the season. He also takes on the Thunder, who have allowed the seventh-most FD points to shooting guards this season and the second-most over the last 15 games.
Small Forward: Paul George ($10,400)
I’m not going to get too cute on this one. Even in tournaments, you have to play some chalky upside studs, and George is my preferred choice tonight. The numbers speak for themselves, as he’s put up over 40 FD points in six consecutive games and over 50 in three of the last four. The matchup with Portland is better than you might think; the Trail Blazers have given up the fifth-most FD points to small forwards on the season. While George’s ownership will likely be high, Kawhi Leonard’s return from two games of rest will probably cut into it, at least slightly. I still prefer George over Leonard, however, as the Raptors could definitely blow out the Kings and play Leonard sparingly in the second half.
Power Forward: Montrezl Harrell ($7,800)
I mentioned earlier that the Clippers will be without some key contributors tonight in Gallinari and Williams, so you can expect more usage from Harrell. He drew the start Sunday and saw his usage spike up to 25.2% from his 21.7% for the season. Likely starting again tonight against the Mavericks, he’ll look to get back on track with his rebounding. We’ve seen Harrell put up over 50 FD points in multiple games this season, so he definitely has the ceiling you’re looking for in a tournament.
Center: Jusuf Nurkic ($9,200)
Karl-Anthony Towns is probably the chalkiest option in tonight’s slate—and rightly so given his matchup tonight—but that also makes the center position an excellent pivot point in tournaments tonight. Nurkic is $1,400 cheaper than big KAT and has practically the same ceiling. He has put up over 50 FD points in two of his last three games and posted a ridiculous 88.1 FD points on New Year’s Day. Choosing Nurkic over Towns could yield a massive payoff if he outperforms the T-Wolves center tonight, which is well within the realm of possible outcomes.
If you start your lineup with these five players, you’ll have an average of $5,500 per player to spend on your remaining four roster spots. Make sure to take a look at the Suns tonight, as there’s plenty of value to be had with DeAndre Ayton likely to sit. Richaun Holmes and Dragan Bender could be tremendous values. Just make sure to monitor Holmes, who’s questionable with a foot injury. Raptors reserves like Fred VanVleet could show up big time if the game does get out of hand in Toronto. Small slates like tonight’s offer a great opportunity to mix it up and take some tournament shots, so get a little crazy and enjoy it. Good luck out there!
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Aaron Larson is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Aaron, check out his archive and follow him @aalarson.
