The Locks
Nikola Jokic- We have a weird five game slate on tap tonight, and there’s an abundance of meh value, which leads me to Nikola Jokic as my first plug in. Joker has been one of my most-owned players this season in DFS, he’s averaging around a fantasy point and a half per minute, and outside of James Harden, Paul George and Giannis Antetokounmpo he is playing like a dark horse MVP candidate. That being said, he draws the nuts matchup tonight against the Houston Rockets who have been decimated by centers since Clint Capela went down.
New York Knicks (LOL!)- There’s just nothing better than a five game slate with CHALK KNICKS! In the wake of the Kristaps Porzingis/Tim Hardaway Jr trade, the Knicks are going to be extremely thin with none of their newly acquired players set to make their debut tonight. There are four options that stick out as cash game options to me– Mario Hezonja, Allonzo Trier, Kadeem Allen and Damyean Dotson. I would rank them in order that I have them, and they are all set to be 40+% owned meaning at least two makes sense in most cash builds.
Russell Westbrook- Given all of the Knicks value, I think it’s pretty clear we have enough cap space to fit in another stud with Joker, and with Chris Paul expected to play, I’m going to lean towards Westbrook on FanDuel. He has the highest floor/ceiling combo on the slate, and I’ll never pass up the opportunity to go stars and scrubs in cash games.
Fill-Ins
Nuggets- The Nuggets, outside of Nikola Jokic, provide some solid value I will be attacking in cash games tonight, particularly in Monte Morris and Paul Millsap. This is the game of the night with a 224 O/U and just a 3.5 point spread, and after a rough stretch last week Millsap has topped 29 minutes in each of his last two games. We should see the same range of minutes tonight in a close game, and he is under-priced across the industry.
Donovan Mitchell- You could also include Ricky Rubio in this section in a dream matchup with the Atlanta Hawks, even at an elevated price tag. The Utah Jazz feature the highest implied team total on the slate, and I love locking in his floor at one of tonight’s weakest positions.
GPP Plays
Kemba Walker- This is one of my favorite tournament plays on this slate, despite the tough matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. They are a top-ten defensive team against point guards, and they play at an extremely slow-pace which lowers the chances of him hitting a ceiling output. The thing that attracts me to Walker tonight is his price of just $8,100 on DraftKings. This is simply too cheap for a player of Walker’s ability at home, even in a tough matchup.
Rudy Gobert- I know everyone loves narrative street, and everyone on Twitter.com has given their fire take on Rudy Gobert being moved to tears due to his All-Star game snub. Well, not only do we have that going for him, but also the matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks are a terrible defensive unit, but they also play at an extremely fast-pace which bumps the ceiling up for Gobert and we should see a Gobert 20/20 game incoming following up Andre Drummond last night.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
