A nice six-game slate for this Thursday. All games start between 7:00 PM EST and 8:00 PM EST except for one late night hammer game that starts at 10:30 PM EST. Out of the 12 teams playing, half are on back-to-backs. There is a wide range in the totals as well, ranging from 217 (Cleveland at New York) all the way up to 239 (Philadelphia at Oklahoma City). Even though it is only six games we have plenty of studs to choose from, with nine players at $9,000 or above. Many of them are in tough match-ups though.

We already have some injury news with DeAndre Jordan being ruled out again, which means that Mitchell Robinson should again see all the minutes he can handle (but we are paying a premium now). Also, DeMarcus Cousins sat out in Wednesday’s contest due to rest purposes but is expected to be back tonight. One key injury to watch is the status of Jeff Teague. He sat out yesterday’s game against Atlanta and if he sits again tonight, Tyus Jones would be almost a must play even in a tough match-up at only $4,500.

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Studs

Nikola Jokic (C – DEN): $10,000 vs. UTA
On paper, a match-up against Rudy Gobert is not someone I look to roster players against, but Jokic is a different animal. He affects the game in so many different areas and has dominated this match-up twice already this year. In the two games this year he is averaging a triple-double with 17.5 points, 15.5 rebounds, and 11 assists on a 25.9% usage rate (which is actually down slightly from his yearly usage rate of 27.4%).

Nikola Vucevic (C – ORL): $9,300 vs. GS
The career year continues for Nikola Vucevic. He leads the Magic in usage rate at 27.1% and dominated in the first match-up against the Warriors. With the Warriors on a back-to-back after a tough loss in Miami and the Magic being rested, this game should stay close giving Vucevic his full complement of minutes. In the three games since the All-Star break Vucevic has averaged 55.3 DK points and at a salary of just $9,300 that would be just under 6X, so there is plenty of upside at this price as well.

***Note: I will never talk someone off of playing Paul George, but with Joel Embid out for this game the line moved up slightly with the Thunder favored at -8.  The fear of the blowout is why I preferred the two Nikola’s.**

Core Plays

Mitchell Robinson (C – NY): $6,400 vs. CLE
With DeAndre Jordan out of the lineup the last couple of games, Mitchell Robinson has been on a tear. Over the last two games, he is averaging 16 points, 14 rebounds and 5.5 blocks. Not only is he producing but he is seeing the minutes. He has seen 30 and 33 minutes over the last two games respectively. The Knicks rotations can vary quite a bit from game to game, but Robinson seems locked into his minutes regardless when Jordan is out.

Justise Winslow (PG/SF – CLE): $5,000 @ HOU
I do not fully understand the price of Winslow. This is the lowest price he has been at in over a month, and it isn’t like he is playing poorly. Justice has been over 31 DK points in both of the games since the All-Star break that he has played (missed one due to a sore knee). Even if he ends up at 31 again, he will be at 6.2X.  He does not have a super high usage rate for the year (20.3%) but he usually sees minutes in the mid to upper 30’s and contributes in all areas of the stat sheet.

Value Plays

Henry Ellenson (PF/C – NY): $3,700 vs. CLE
Really out of nowhere, Ellenson played 36 minutes off the bench in the last game against the Magic. He had a really nice stat line with 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists. As mentioned above the Knicks rotations are all over the place so this is a GPP play, but with DeAndre Jordan out of the lineup again Ellenson should see some more run off the bench against the Cavs.

Mike Scott (SF/PF – PHI): $3,800 @ OKC
Scott has seen over 30 minutes in the last two games. Add to that, both Joel Embid and Boban Marjanovic will be out and there are a lot of minutes out there for grabs. His 15.6% usage rate over the last two games is nothing to write home about, but for $3,800 I will take a shot in GPP’s on a guy that is going to play 30 minutes, is blowout proof (as he should get his minutes either way), and in the highest scoring game on the slate.

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Bryan Fleischmann is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Bryan, check out his archive and follow him @bfleisch51.