Welcome to Sleeper Picks. Sleeper’s newest offering promised plenty of entertainment and action, and they delivered. We will break down our top three picks for tonight’s NBA action. Sleeper is quickly becoming one of the most popular season-long fantasy platforms, and they are expanding into other areas based on demand. Each week in this space, we’ll talk about some strategy for the new platform while providing our favorite NBA more/less picks.
NBA Sleeper Picks Player Predictions (1/7)
Anthony Edwards (G/F – MIN): 19.5 points (alt line)
Ant-Man must have heard the TNT desk because he has been on a tear since their comments, following up his career-high 53 point performance with a 37 point outing last night against the Los Angeles Clippers. Ant-Man is still shooting far too many threes, but when he is hitting them at a high clip and mixing it up enough to keep defenses on their heels, who cares? Edwards is going to go back into passive mode sooner or later, but concerns over whether or not he will even crack the 20 point barrier have dissipated. However, we still need to see more before we start tapping his full lines again. Edwards has scored fewer than 20 points in seven of his 17 games since the start of December, so there is no rationale for hitting an outlandish 26.5 as opposed to the 19.5 alt line despite the decreased multiplier. Hit the More on Ant-Man for Tuesday night Sleeper Picks.
Pick: More
LeBron James (G/F – LAL): 19.5 points (alt line)
LeBron continues to defy father time and has seemingly found his groove again after a poor month-long stretch from mid-November to mid-December, during which he scored 20 or fewer points in seven of his 10 games played. LeBron has scored 21 or more points in each of his last seven games, with five of them being of the 28+ point variety. The Lakers take on the short-handed Mavericks tonight, so we could see a more passive LeBron due to no Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving on the other side, but he should still be able to hit the 20 point mark if he is active. The King is dealing with a foot injury but is expected to play and receive a full complement of minutes, barring a blowout, of course. Light up the More on LeBron for Tuesday night basketball.
Pick: More
Amen Thompson (G/F – HOU): 7.5 rebounds (alt line)
Amen is back from suspension and has been inserted into the starting lineup due to the injury to Jabari Smith. Amen has averaged 15.2 points and 10.6 rebounds in his last six games and should be a steady contributor on the glass now that he has a consistent role. Thompson is one of the best rebounders in the league, regardless of whether he is at his natural point guard position or tapped as a wing or even a four. Amen managed just eight rebounds against Washington back in November, but with an expanded role, he should be well clear of the eight he needs for the alt line tonight. Tap the More on Thompson for Tuesday night’s NBA action.
Pick: More
Writers note: The lines are constantly changing on Sleeper (and sometimes expiring), so there is a high probability that one or all of the numbers may no longer be the same when you open your app. There are excellent values when they are first posted, with the only catch being that they are not all released at the same time. Vigilance could provide a solid return on investment this season, literally.
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Raju Byfield is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Raju, check out his profile and follow him @FantasyContext.