We have a nine-game slate on the board for this Wednesday evening with some big-time names out due to injury. Scores have been sky high in these situations this year, so you really have to pay close attention to your lineup if you want to have a chance. Let’s talk about some strong, core plays to help you build your lineups tonight!

Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel

Guards

Spencer Dinwiddie (PG – BKN): $7,000 vs. Warriors
Kyrie Irving will miss another game tonight, which opens Dinwiddie up for a big role. We saw Dinwiddie be one of the better guards for fantasy purposes earlier in the year with Irving was out for a long stretch. In Monday’s game, Dinwiddie took a backseat to Caris LeVert, only shooting 12 times and handing out just four assists. That disappointing game has kept his price down, and I think there is a real chance for his shot attempts to get near 20 and for those assists to push towards ten. The Warriors have been a horrible defense this year, adding 9 fantasy points to their opponent’s average total while allowing a 5.9x return to guards. Sign me up for some discount Dinwiddie tonight.

Reggie Jackson (PG – DET): $5,000 vs. Suns
One of my favorite things to do is to play a guy that is coming off a stretch of horrible shooting performances. Jackson had one of the more impressively bad shooting nights of the year on Monday, making just one of his 16 shot attempts. I’m pretty sure you and I would make more than one shot if we were given that many opportunities in an NBA game. That is not the real reason to play Jackson, however, the real reason is that Derrick Rose remains out for this game, and he was really hogging the ball for the Pistons. The matchup is just average, but there should be a lot of opportunity for Jackson here. There is an easy double-digit shot projection here with rebounds and assists upside to boot, Jackson is a really strong play here.

Caris LeVert (SG – BKN): $4,500 vs. Warriors
In the Nets game on Monday without Irving, LeVert launched 20 shot attempts and scored 29 points while chipping in seven assists. For some reason, his price remains at $4,500 for this juicy matchup with the Warriors. We just talked about Dinwiddie, but I really don’t think you have to choose here – I think you can play both of these guys. Between the two of them you should easily clear 30 shot attempts and 15 assists, so for $11,500 you are looking at a really nice floor/ceiling combo from your two guard spots. This is a really nice spot for the Nets and these two should see a ton of usage tonight.

Forwards

Kristaps Porzingis (PF – DAL): $8,700 vs. Grizzlies
The price is coming up for Porzingis as Doncic misses more games, but I still do not believe it is quite where it should be for tonight. In his last two games without Luka, Porzingis has taken 40 shots (17 three-pointers), scored 73 points, and grabbed 24 rebounds. He has been doing everything for the Mavericks and should be projected for an easy 40+ FanDuel points tonight with upside for something like 70. The Grizzlies are one of the most exploitable defenses for fantasy purposes, as they have added 8.3 fantasy points per game to their opponent’s totals while allowing an average 5.5x return on salary to big men. The Mavericks have a pretty high 117 expected points total, and Porzingis is sure to be heavily involved in that – he is a great play at this price.

De’Andre Hunter (SF – ATL): $4,300 @ Timberwolves
Hunter is a really low fantasy point per minute contributor (0.78), so this is really only a punt play if you need a cheap forward. The reason he is in this article is just how bad the Wolves have been against small forwards. They have given up an average return of 5.9x to wing players this year, and Hunter is at least a reliable source of minutes. He has played 30+ minutes in four of his last five and is averaging 31 for the year. He does not have much of a ceiling, but he is a good cheap play tonight.

Sekou Doumbouya (PF – DET): $3,800 vs. Suns
The Pistons are one of the most favorable spots to go to for value tonight, as the injuries are really opening up a lot for these cheap guys. Doumbouya has been playing minutes in the twenties lately, and he saw 26 minutes in that Monday game without Rose and Morris active. He took 15 shot attempts in that game, but made just two of them. Because of that, his price has stayed near minimum, which is just wrong if he is given that opportunity again tonight. I probably would not play Doumbouya if Morris plays (he is questionable now), but I think he is close to a lock if Morris does not.

Centers

Andre Drummond (C – DET): $9,900 vs. Suns
We cannot be all over the Pistons without also liking Drummond here. He took a huge amount of shots without Rose on Monday, putting up 22 shots, scoring 25 points, and adding his usual monstrous total of rebounds (18 in this case). The price is high, so there is a somewhat low floor in this situation, but Drummond is a really safe source of fantasy points given how many rebounds he can be relied on for. This is a 20/20 game waiting to happen, so I am all over Drummond in some tourneys, and he is obviously perfectly fine in cash games as well.

Deandre Ayton (C – PHO): $8,600 @ Pistons
Ayton has had a rough year overall but has been humming right along lately. He has played been playing 30+ minutes and shooting the ball a ton. In his last two games, he has taken a ridiculous 49 shot attempts (it’s very rare to see a center taking that many shots). That has led to him scoring 25, 20, 16, and 31 points in his last four games while grabbing 17, 14, 6, and 9 rebounds. He has been awesome for fantasy purposes, and I don’t think the price has quite caught up to it. The Pistons have also really been giving up big scores to centers this year, giving up an average 5.9x salary return to centers. Get Ayton in there before he gets above $9,000.

Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool

Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him@JonPgh.